Andy Martin Fingerpicking Technique 

You're a beautiful freak, Andy.

Basically we love you Andy. There I said it. And since I'm pretty sure it's true for everybody watching your channel, just know that you rock, and make the best, most concise but still musical demos the internet has to offer. Plus, good music taste. Just saying.

I like that Andy isn't just another bland wannabe blues player. He just plays

I’ve been wondering about your picking style for so long. There’s no way for anyone to replicate your style, because the guitar is just an extension of your mind and you grew it organically. Awesome!

I've come to a crossroads where I think I may have to start playing this, or something similar, due to hand issues caused by aging... I may be on the very brink of rheumatoid arthritis and being able to keep my hand closed, anchored against the body, and holding the pick itself have all become markedly harder. The few times I have gone to it actually feels more 'natural' because I started very much like you explained you did. I guess it's all a matter of 'Adapt and survive'. Thanks for this man

Best player on RU-vid.

6:31 "something like just a simple lead..." *plays something unacceptably syrupy and sexual * also, I am immensely interested in a part two.

Finally!! Lol the video we all have been waiting for. Thanks so much Andy✌🎸

Haha yes! The milk carton from Blur’s Coffee and TV!

Oh the amount of time he saved trying to find his lost picks around the room

Amazing how articulate and clear Andy plays. I've been bringing pickless and hybrid into my playing lately. Slow process but fun and rewarding when the results start coming 🤘

Takes ten fingers to play a guitar, you tell 'em! No one as tasty, versatile, tone majestic, diverse, gutsy, smooth, emotive and colorful as Mr. Martin. Can make music with anything, always listening and reacting and creating. No one like him out there. A musician's guitarist!

I was convinced for ages that Andy was palming the pick (which in itself is pretty clever) and I kept trying to spot it. I finally realised that he didn't use one at all. It's the pinching his forefinger and thumb together as if he was holding a plectrum that fooled me for so long.

"It's good enough for Rock-n-Roll!" 3:08

Interesting. Thanks for sharing, Andy. I’ve been a fan of your videos since the early PGS days and am glad to find out you have your own channel now. Very cool!

What a goddamn legend, we would love part 2.

Such a cool humble dude. Thanks, Andy!

truly awesome technique. Im so jelly! Thanks for sharing.

Some videos you just have to watch, there is just no question about it. After years of learning from your pedal demos (you ARE the best) this was one such video. I just want to say a sincere thanks for the help along the way - I suspect you have given a lot more guitarists a wisdom boost than you may know, thanks for being a blessing to many Andy!

Late to the party but glad i found this vid. Love your playing in your demos man, it looks like you have a job you truly love, enjoy it.

I never got on with picks, I can totally relate to Andy’s style. 👍

Love your playing Andy! Thanks for sharing your secrets and style with us!

So much Inspiration and awesome quality of playing has a name: Andy Martin thanx so much Andy!

Thanks for doing this video Andy. You renew my love for technique with the tools.

Yeah man!!! Waiting impatiently for Part 2!!!

Awesome technique. It's cool to see how other people approach the instrument. thanks for the awesome videos. always a pleasure to watch you play.

Superb video Andy, thanks for posting. Your technique is terrific. Very dynamic and expressive.

Thanks so much for this, definitely using that tremolo picking technique, you’re the best! Part 2 please!

Andy - been learning from you . . . since Forever. Appreciate all that you do. Stay Safe brother. ( digging the Zeppelin = spot-on, as usual )

Love it!!! I studied classical guitar for a while and have always struggled with making finger style sound rock n roll. Thanks for the demo Andy. Can’t wait for part 2.

Thanks for sharing this, Andy. Always dug your unique picking style.

Thanks so much Andy!! Very usefull. Make part 2 please.

Andy I still watch this every couple of months. Thanks for sharing what you do.

Amazingly wonderful ! X🤘🏻X

I am one of the many who have marvelled at the way you play guitar Andy. I really enjoy watching you play. Thanks for this explanation. 👍

That's awesome Andy! I usually switch between pick and fingerstyle as what's better for the song but you just gave me a way to ditch the pick altogether! You're a great inspiration for all of as finger-picking freaks, thank you so much!

Love watching Andy’s magic right hand. Every time I try this, it kills my finger nails and they chip and break. Btw, you picked the coolest part of the “Since I’ve been Loving You” solo!

Extremely interesting and cool. I've always enjoyed your PGS demos, Andy. I use a lot of hybrid picking, and can get by with folk fingerstyle, but nothing close to what you do with your right hand. This gives my some ideas to work on---thanks!

love your playing style! Thanks

You’re amazingly talented❤️

I can't play like you, and it's not just the pick... love your style. Thanks for sharing, Andy!

a highly evolved form of playing. Thanks for sharing.

Fair play to you for this lesson mate! I will have to watch this one many more times to figure out what you are doing and how I can assimilate this as my playing style is very "dance like" and this kind of picking surely suits me as I never use a pick.

Hey Andy! Long time fan here. Thank you so much for this, very insightful! Please do a part 2!

I’m speechless. Your style is what I wish I grew up learning instead of the (what I now consider) more sterile, thumb-index pick style. Of course, it only matters what you do with the tools you do have but still… very impressed. That “sound” you have, those in between the note artifacts, that adds so much personality and style. I love listening to you play.

So great to finally hear the man himself explain. Thank you Andy 🤘

Awesome video .long awaited. Good enough for rock and roll. Yep 😎

Thank you Andy! You (and Jeff Beck) are the reason I am accepting that it's okay that I forgot how to play with a pick. 😎

It is always a great pleasure to see your demo videos! Tasteful licks, neat explanations and you appear to be a nice person. It is quite ironic actually that a man, who is relatively unknown by the general public I reckon, is 100X more interesting that the army of shredders on RU-vid!

A natural skill that's hard to emulate or copy. Thanks, Andy for sharing your secret. A big fan here!

Thanks Andy, enjoyed this one on one visit with you. Your Pro Guitar vids are outstanding and I happen to love playing with bare hand. Hoping you are good Andy. Yuma,AZ.

Love your style, man! Been enjoying your demos and playing for years now!

Thanks for the explanation - the whole thing is even more bewildering to me now.

That's amazing Andy! Now I got something new to practice!

Absolutely phenomenal playing on all levels! You’ve been playing this way without a pick ever since I meet you back in the Irvine days in 7th grade man. I feel thankful for those years we shared playing music together. Those jams definitely molded and shaped me into the player I am today. All those groups of various classic rock, blues, and Prog truly were the steppingstones that lead me to the more aggressive approach I take in my playing now. Great video brother!

Smokin'. So impressive. Love your style.

Would LOVE a part 2 with more details! I think I'm the same way - I've always felt using fingers to not only be more natural, but more versatile. Like you said, you can skip strings, play them simultaneously, etc. If I'm just trying to relax, or be creative, I almost never use a pick. I do have trouble getting a sharp, clean tone though, and I'm so impressed that you are able to sound so bright and precise without a pick!

Andy is just so excellent.

Thank you, and yes please for part 2. Love your style. I often play without a pick - just nowhere near your ability. It's all fun. Cheers!

I’ve been trying to figure out your right hand technique for like ten years. You’re amazing.

Thank you. Love your playing. It’s really articulate.

Thank you Thank you! I rarely use a pick, almost never.. and have never felt like I needed to. Now I know for sure..lol.. Awesome video, keep them coming please! Also glad you have your own channel, you deserve it!

Andy, dude, thank you for your demos my man.

Andy watching you play with your fingers when I was younger has really led me to using my fingers way more than a pick. I do the pretend pick thing, but I didn't realize I picked that up from you. I just kept losing picks so I adapted!

This is, in my humble opinion, the best tone you ever had! Cheers from Florence, Italy! :)

Love this! I'm a fellow finger-picker too so any support is so appreciated! Especially if you have any exercises to get the picking hand to be more dextrous and responsive. Thank you for the great video Andy!

Man, you're incredible! I love your fingerstyle picking. It's so much more personal and soulful. Thanks for being yourself and sharing your method. I love watching and listening to you play.

Big fan of you picking technique. I use a pick most of the times, but I just use my fingers as well. I started using my fingers to pick after repeatedly dropping my pick when I was first learning to play. I then started doing flat pick excesses using my fingers instead of a pick. I use my thumb for the down strokes and my index for the up strokes. Your technique has inspired me. I hope you do other videos demoing and giving lessons on your style or playing.

Just discovered your channel after year of watching your reviews on PGS. You're the best!

Awesome. thanks for explaining this.

Wow. All this time I thought you were hiding a pick in some way. You're truly an inspiration Andy!!

Great video! Cool to hear how it all came to be 😁🎸🎵👍

Little late to the party, but glad I found this because I have been curious about your picking style ever since I started watching your demos. Really great stuff here! I play with a pick 85% of the time, and have gotten really good at hiding it between my index and middle fingers when I switch to finger style. Anywho, cheers from Central Oregon.

Nice! Thank you

Thanks so much Andy. I do hope you do a part II to this video. Maybe a bit more on your tremolo picking?

Since coming back to guitar from a 16 year break (exploring other hobbies and just...life, man.) i’ve shifted musical tastes and playing finger style just is way, way more interesting to how I enjoy music. You mention “players of a certain age” and that clicks, er, tracks for me, that 16 years ago was late teens and it was all power/barre chords and low E chugged Metallica (however poorly haha) But now it’s a lot of slower ambient, finger style, rock, blues, etc and finger style acoustic has -always- slayed me, sonically. it’s wonderful. And I think the more demos and things I watch, you’re finger style playing really does help pull out dynamics in gear, so thanks for staying true to yourself, your style is awesome, and immensely helpful in understanding what a pedal/amp/etc will DO. Instead of how it sounds covering pop punk high gain chords for 6 mins. So thanks, this video really helped solidify my interest in keeping a pick out of my hand (less to lose on the floor) and also makes me wanna shove mini humbuckers into my les paul ahaha.

Andy - Thanks so much for this - and I'd definitely vote for part 2, having been one of those requestors for an explanation of your technique, which I think is beautiful and organic. I admire the speed and attack you develop and the precision and musicality of your playing. My heroes included players like Bert Jansch, so learning finger-picking on acoustic first, it was natural to try and transfer that to electric. I'm at a crossroads (no, not THAT crossroads) deciding on whether to go back to a pick for electric, so this is bang on time for me and very appreciated. Specific requests and questions for a second part would include: * Tremolo picking exercises - I notice you anchor your thumb on the adjacent string. * Alternate picking exercises on the same string. * Nail care / profile (especially that thumb!) * Any tips / adaptations for RH muting or damping (something I'm struggling with) * LH adaptations - i.e. do you think you play more hammer ons, pull-offs & slides, i.e. you are doing more with your left hand to maintain speed. * Do you think that you play across the fretboard more as a result of being able to play arpeggios more fluidly with multiple fingers? (or put better...) How does your RH technique affect your phrasing? Every success with the channel!

Wow ! Thanks Andy for going over your style with such detail. It's unique, and I agree it's preferable than playing with a pick...which I still do. That may soon change.

YES! SINCE I'VE BEEN LOVIN' YOU!

Very cool. Watching Andy play, I've been struck playing with your fingers just gives you so much more sensitivity and precision, since your nervous system is never going to extend into a pick. You get the feedback of literally feeling the strings with your fingers as you play. Plus you have 5 (at least) different surfaces to hit the string with, simultaneously if you want. But I could never figure out a way to get the attack and speed of a pick on quick power chords and vibrato picking, something Andy clearly solved. It's funny, I think I transitioned from electric to focusing on acoustic guitar in my 20s in part because I liked playing with my fingers so much. (Might have to dig out my old teenage Strat and rethink things?!)

Yes we do wanna hear in as much detail as you are willing to share! Thanks for this video, it was so interesting, and that Page tone is great!

I've been playing for 46 years now, and about 45 of that without a pick. The reason I stopped using a pick was because I grew up on a farm many miles from a source of guitar picks. I could never keep track of them. But I wanted to play, so at some point I just stopped using them. The ability to switch between fingerpicking and strumming has really been an asset. Great stuff!

it just looks So cool and your attack is legendary using your fingers

Part 2, please! A masterclass would be amazing!

Am I the only one who thinks that guitar is amazing? Andy, you’re awesome. Great vid.

He esperado toda mi vida por esto ❤

For the longest time I only played with my fingers and thought I was doing pretty good until I found myself routinely shredding my index finger nail. I’ve enjoyed Andy’s demos over the years-definitely one of my favorite players to watch on RU-vid!

thanks for this - part 2 please!

I stumbled across your videos fairly recently, and there's something familiar about your playing style that seemed familiar, and I realize after watching this it's because I have a very similar style of playing, though I'm way far behind you in terms of skill (by a lot lol). I do the fake pick thing too, along with a bunch of the other techniques you talked about - I just like the way it sounds and feels to play this way. I actually started playing with a pick, and eventually gave it up because fingerpicking just seemed more natural to me. I remember how after I gave up picks it took a long time to build up enough callouses on my fingers that they'd stop blistering after long practice sessions! Thanks for making this video, I spotted a few things I'm going to have to try out!

I've started compiling a list of "Best Andy Covers" like when you did Lady Picture Show, Last Exit, Coffee and TV, etc... would love to see more of that on this channel!

Amazing video! Myself I transitioned to fingerstyle without even noticing just out of convenience when I hadnt a pick around...

unique picking.....gonna try that.....beautiful guitar by the way

HOLY COW!

Thanks man! You’re great! Say something when you make an album and thank you for all the help with the reviews

I so apreciate this video. I love Andy's playing and listen to his videos multiple time. He is one of my favorite players and is my favorite youtube demo guy lol.

One of a kind, most expressive player I’ve ever seen!

No lie… you’re my favorite guitar technique master!

I found my way to a similar place... when I dropped my pick I would go the same way, just using my nails as if choked up on a pick. Didn't occur to me to do it full-time until I heard Guitar Shop. Jeff Beck has been doing great kicks like this for a long time. That said, Andy's ideas in this video , just the noodling he's doing, are excellent. Props.

The PGS video of a Fender custom shop '62 Jazzmaster has always been my favorite PGS video. The opening piece is so good! Playing fingerstyle isn't uncommon in some genres but I've never heard or seen anyone do it to such an extent, even for stuff you'd think would be impossible to do without a pick. Do you ever do pinch harmonics? They're basically a strike followed by another touch to the string so I guess they're possible without a pick, but I don't think I've ever heard you do them. Cool to see you on your own channel, I'm sure you have a lot to share and I look forward to more videos!

This is my first time noticing Data and Milky in the background! Also, thanks for the breakdown of your fine technique.