Can you play Fingerstyle on a Dreadnought?

Keefy

idiotwindow said:

I only have one acoustic, a D-28, and it has never occurred to me that it might not be suitable for fingerstyle.

Same here with my Taylor 310. All that me from playing fingerstyle on it are my fingers! Well ok, laziness.

Redlester

Many of the players I admire are/ were largely fingerpickers and all play/ played dreads for all or part of their careers:
Davey Graham 
John Renbourn
Ralph McTell
Pagey
John Martyn

My favourite of the lot, Bert Jansch, did play OM style models in the 60s, but of course later on and since the 80s played a stock Yamaha dread. I have never heard such beautiful guitar music or guitar tone.

I guess it's not so much what you play as the way that you play it.  

tomjax

I switch between a Gibson L-00, a Gibson J45 and various OMs for fingerpicking and I'm happy and comfortable playing on any of them. They all offer different tones of course, but I find each is equally suitable for fingerpicking. 

Open_G

I’d go as far to say that through the 70’s folk revival dreads were all the rage. 

In the same way that Ed Sheehan has shown you can strum dread style on a parlour, finger picked dreads are not the best horse for a course, but will get you there. 

Lewy

Open_G said:

In the same way that Ed Sheehan has shown you can strum dread style on a parlour

Has he though, or has he just shown that under-saddle piezos render any acoustic properties of the instrument largely irrelevant? 

bugileman

Yes you can. But not all dreadnoughts are suited to it. Bert jansch had no problem on his trustee Yamaha. 

Mellish

@MichaelWatts. Try a Martin M36. Still a Dread but slimmer waist which you may find gives a better fit, allowing the comfort you seek  

TimmyO

Mellish said:

@MichaelWatts. Try a Martin M36. Still a Dread but slimmer waist which you may find gives a better fit, allowing the comfort you seek  

It’s not a dread, it’s a 0000 

Mellish

Yes, I realised that shortly after I'd posted  

earwighoney

TimmyO said:

Mellish said:

@MichaelWatts. Try a Martin M36. Still a Dread but slimmer waist which you may find gives a better fit, allowing the comfort you seek  

It’s not a dread, it’s a 0000 

I think the 0000 or Small Jumbo is one of the most under rated body sizes out there. 

Mellish

earwighoney said:

TimmyO said:

Mellish said:

@MichaelWatts. Try a Martin M36. Still a Dread but slimmer waist which you may find gives a better fit, allowing the comfort you seek  

It’s not a dread, it’s a 0000 

I think the 0000 or Small Jumbo is one of the most under rated body sizes out there. 

Oh the Martin M36 is a great guitar. I tried one in GG and was so taken by it that I'd have bought it if I'd had £3k to spare. It's a very comfortable guitar, sits on the lap well. It's gone the Re-imagined way with 1 3/4 nut width which is a bit marmite to some  

tomjax

Mellish said:

Oh the Martin M36 is a great guitar. I tried one in GG and was so taken by it that I'd have bought it if I'd had £3k to spare. It's a very comfortable guitar, sits on the lap well. 

I tried one at a dealer recently too and was also very impressed, lovely guitar. And I was equally tempted but this one had a horrible spray job on the back and was full of spray dust and bits that you could feel in the lacquer. No idea how it got past quality control! 

Mellish

tomjax said:

Mellish said:

Oh the Martin M36 is a great guitar. I tried one in GG and was so taken by it that I'd have bought it if I'd had £3k to spare. It's a very comfortable guitar, sits on the lap well. 

I tried one at a dealer recently too and was also very impressed, lovely guitar. And I was equally tempted but this one had a horrible spray job on the back and was full of spray dust and bits that you could feel in the lacquer. No idea how it got past quality control! 

Blimey, that sounds a shocker. Playability OK? Good tone? Still wouldn't want it with that finish though. The one in GG had no issues but at £3k it was too much for me to find comfortably  

tomjax

Mellish said:

tomjax said:

Mellish said:

Oh the Martin M36 is a great guitar. I tried one in GG and was so taken by it that I'd have bought it if I'd had £3k to spare. It's a very comfortable guitar, sits on the lap well. 

I tried one at a dealer recently too and was also very impressed, lovely guitar. And I was equally tempted but this one had a horrible spray job on the back and was full of spray dust and bits that you could feel in the lacquer. No idea how it got past quality control! 

Blimey, that sounds a shocker. Playability OK? Good tone? Still wouldn't want it with that finish though. The one in GG had no issues but at £3k it was too much for me to find comfortably  

Yes, it played really well and had a lovely balanced tone. Just had a body paint job that was astonishingly bad. 

ICBM

tomjax said:

Yes, it played really well and had a lovely balanced tone. Just had a body paint job that was astonishingly bad. 

Definitely by Martin, or possibly refinished?

Not saying it’s impossible, but I’ve never seen anything like that on a Martin, and from what I do see, their QC is pretty good.

Mellish

ICBM said:

tomjax said:

Yes, it played really well and had a lovely balanced tone. Just had a body paint job that was astonishingly bad. 

Definitely by Martin, or possibly refinished?

Not saying it’s impossible, but I’ve never seen anything like that on a Martin, and from what I do see, their QC is pretty good.

Good question. I tried a lot of Martins before settling on an HD-28.They varied in playability and tone (that's to be expected) but none had finish issues  

tomjax

ICBM said:

tomjax said:

Yes, it played really well and had a lovely balanced tone. Just had a body paint job that was astonishingly bad. 

Definitely by Martin, or possibly refinished?

Not saying it’s impossible, but I’ve never seen anything like that on a Martin, and from what I do see, their QC is pretty good.

Couldn't say. It was a new guitar at an official dealer but who knows what journey it may have been on. 

Mellish

Well it COULD have left the Martin factory like that but it would be a rare thing IMHO. I'm a big Martin fan and I must have played over 100 in stores. High action, yes, but never saw a bad finish. You have  though  

ToneControl

I have 3 dreads, and play fingerstyle on all of them
However: I'm over 6 feet tall, and none of them has a narrow nut

The Avalon Americana one sounds great, not as lively as normal Avalons and Lowdens, less overtones, so good for getting a more focused sound with a more classical arrangement I find

The Goodall dread with Adirondack sounds amazing, but only after you thrash it with a pick for a few minutes, or put a ToneRite on it for 10 minutes. Basically Adirondack is very stiff, and doesn't respond as well to fingerpicking until you wake it up, straight after which it sounds great. To be honest, it still sounds better with a pick, it's off the scale with a pick.

The Larrive SD60 is a slope shouldered dread (12 fret), and this is the design I'd recommend trying:
nut is 1 and 7/8 inches (47.6mm), so wider than normal OMs etc
It's extremely responsive played in fingerstyle, often reviewed as a "tone cannon"

Do you still have the D35? are you able to try a tonerite on it to see if it makes fingerstyle work?

So I'd say - try a slope-shoulder wide nut, 12-fret dread
I suspect the 12 fret would be less of an issue for right shoulder movement too.

koss59

I’ve just recently picked up a limited edition 12 fret J45 and I echo the above comments about that being great for finger style. It just seems to respond a bit more with that bridge being further back.