Can you play Fingerstyle on a Dreadnought?

MichaelWatts · September 2021

Hello everyone

I recently made a video on this subject (I do love dreads but I struggle with them for fingerstyle) and I'd love to hear your own experiences!

All the best

Michael

Toms_Dad · September 2021

Davey Graham used to. Dreadnoughts are too big for me though, I struggle to get my arm around them comfortably. Same problem with archtops. Too big and too deep.

Mellish · September 2021

I can't add anything to this. I do use a Dread but I'm a strummer. But I'd guess you can fingerpick with a Dread. I mean, why not? Donovan managed it and did it well

drofluf · September 2021

Like @Toms_Dad I find Dreadnaughts uncomfortable to play, it feels like I’m trying to hug a wardrobe. But as you showed with the Flying V it’s possible to play any style of music on any kind of guitar. But, for a given player, it will sound better on a more “appropriate” guitar and I’m sure, ergonomics aside, a good luthier could build a great sounding Dreadnaught for fingerstyle but it may not sound so great flatpicked.

DiscoStu · September 2021

Mine's a Dread and I play fingerstyle a lot. I've never had a small acoustic so it's all I know.

malcolmkindness · September 2021

I find the best answer is a 12 fret dreadnaught with wide string spacing and nut. That's why I have a Ditson 111.

Jimbro66 · September 2021

Toms_Dad said:

Davey Graham used to......

I seem to remember Paul Simon did too.

Mellish · September 2021

And what about Ralph McTell?

sev112 · September 2021

Very much so, and jumbo
finger style can benefit from wider nuts and longer scale length
also ease / mellow tone, rather than “strangled” tone on some parlours

GTC · September 2021

No reason why not - although it might benefit from using lighter strings than the usual mediums / light-mediums commonly found on dreads.

ICBM · September 2021

Yes, I do - I prefer the big deep tone. I don’t like wide (or deep) necks so a standard dreadnought with a 1-11/16” nut is perfect. I’m small and skinny too, and I don’t find the size a problem.

As GTC said I also like 11s - with a medium action I don’t find the loss of tone or volume a lot of people say you get with anything lighter than 13s on one.

BillDL · September 2021

I never had a smaller bodied guitar until about 18 months ago. I always played all styles of "acoustic" music on my dreadnaughts. I like Thomastik-Infeld SB111 Spectrum Bronze 11-52 strings because they feel looser and are a bit easier on the fingers than 12s, but they have a rich low end that tolerate and even seems to like being tuned down a half step. They are expensive, but I keep them clean and they seem to retain their tone and windings for quite a while. I'm quite a light fingerpicker and I find that smaller bodied steel-strung acoustics sometimes lack that low end unless I beef up the string gauge. I am, 6' 5" and have arms like an orangutan, but even then I occasionally find I get a sore arm where it hangs over the body. Unfortunately my belly is beginning to resemble a silverback gorilla full of leafy fart gas and a deep bodied acoustic sits less comfortably against my front than it used to, which is the main reason I bought a Grand Auditorium and OM. I do enjoy the variation in tones from these different body sizes, but I wouldn't say that I fingerpick more or less on one than the other, I just pick differently.

Lewy · September 2021

I think for the kind of fingerstyle I play the dreadnought is perfect - muted alternating thumb in either the John Hurt or more thumpy Travis style. The dominance (no pun intended) of open chord shapes in the approach means that .013s aren't a problem either so I don't need a different setup between finger and flatpicking.

I imagine if you're a more sophisticated fingerstylist then it might all be a bit indelicate with a dread.

idiotwindow · September 2021

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

lincolnblue · September 2021

I play fingerstyle on all my guitars including a dreadnaught. I don't think I've particularly found it more challenging or difficult. I play a lot of fingerstyle though so may I'm just more used to it - I guess if you don't do it too often it may feel more strange with the bigger body shape?

McSwaggerty · September 2021

I'm mainly an acoustic finger picker and had a Martin D18 a few years back. I found it was just too big and awkward for me, so sold it and got myself a parlour - the difference for me was night and day..
I am now quite comfortable with a 000 size but can't ever me see me going back to a dreadnought.

stickyfiddle · September 2021

I had a dread as my only acoustic for the last 7 years, until about a month ago (Dove followed by HD28).

I just added an Atkin forty seven which is arguably better for finger style but I still love the 28

DavidR · September 2021

Can you play fingerstyle on a dreadnought?

You can do anything!

drofluf · September 2021

Seems it comes down to two separate, but personal, factors: the ergonomics and the sound. Personally I find Dreadnaughts too big to play comfortably so whether I like the resulting sound is moot.

MichaelWatts · September 2021

Thank you so much for all your responses! It is certainly a delicate balance of sound and ergonomics.

MichaelWatts · September 2021

malcolmkindness said:

I find the best answer is a 12 fret dreadnaught with wide string spacing and nut. That's why I have a Ditson 111.

That is a hell of a guitar! I love those things!

Keefy · September 2021

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 · September 2021

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 · September 2021

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 · September 2021

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 · September 2021

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 · October 2021

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

Mellish · October 2021

@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 · October 2021

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 · October 2021

Yes, I realised that shortly after I'd posted

earwighoney · October 2021

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.

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Can you play Fingerstyle on a Dreadnought?

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