Can You Play Fingerstyle on a Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar?

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I love Dreadnought guitars - absolutely love them. Or do I just love the idea of them? they're fantastic flatpicking guitars but can they work for fingerstyle too?
There is only one way to find out.
I hope you enjoy this video and if you have any further questions please do get in touch!
Until next time, stay tuned!
Michael
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[@andorrasrevenge1683]

Who knew the real M Watts was an absurdist treasure and not the prim and proper TNAG presenter we thought! Love your work man!

[@paulboden7850]

Excellent points. When you took the pick to that Martin, it was like you opened an exciting new dimension. Great video!

[@CameraLaw]

Great to have found a video that answers the exact question I was asking with some style and nuance. Thanks. You hit all the salient points. I find the struggle rewarding mostly because my dreadnought produces a rich bass that cannot be matched by any of my smaller bodied guitars. But it does, as you show, come into its own better when flatpicked.

[@CapnPicard]

Hold up - I've ONLY played a dreadnought my whole live and ALL I do is fingerstyle,.. MIND BLOWN * great video by the way. ;) **just subbed because you're awesome.

[@johnlind5819]

Michael, this video was a pleasurable journey. I put myself through college playing the early edition Martin D-35 when the volume and projection to cut through the band was essential. After playing guitar for 25 years I literally quit to raise children and start a business. Years later I fell in love with Fingerstyle and wanted to learn this great approach, so sold my old D-35, my Gibson and all of my other guitars and departed on a journey buying Luthier-built guitars to support my love of Fingerstyle (instrument that I could not afford in college!) I am now founding a new organization called "Guitar Buyers Anonymous" to help with my problem! I have discovered that your videos seem to be at the root of my addiction.

[@gbye007]

When you hit that dread with the pick it sounded divine!

[@jimmyheathmusic3779]

Lots of great information. Thanks. Beautiful playing.

[@ceferinocarpio]

Great video! I've been playing finglestyle on dreadnoughts for around 8 years by now which started when I was 13 so I literally grew on to the body shape and it didn't occur to me to get a guitar with a smaller body shape until recently when it seems that smaller body guitars with 12 fret neck joins suited the more modern non-percussive fingerstyle guitar genre.

[@ericecklund676]

Michael, I have a 12 fret slot head Martin that you would probably enjoy playing. It is a 0000-18S, which is an M body size, but in 12 fret configuration. It has the dry woody tones of Mahogany, some of the deep bass response of a D-18 Dread, but it has the body depth of a 000/OM, along with the longer OM scale length. Fingerboard width is 1 13/16" so you have plenty of room for your fingers to not feel scrunched together, and it's a Modified-V neck, so it's very comfortable to hold. It's a wonderful fingerstyle guitar. Thanks for doing this very nice video on fingerstyle on a Dreadnought!

[@oldguitarguy59]

Excellent topic and video! I appreciate your approach to answering this question. There is something about dreadnoughts that I love and use a couple for classic 70's folk/rock in the vein of Jackson Browne, Jim Croce, James Taylor, Gordan Lightfoot, etc. I think they do well with this type of singer-songwriter music. That said, I agree that for more modern fingerstyle music, they may not be the best tool. I absolutely love your playing and it was enlightening to hear you play your style on the Martin. I MUCH prefer your modern fingerstyle guitars, such as your Kostal MD, for your style of playing. Thanks again!

[@sangirardiecavicchi648]

Love your videos Michael! Always interesting, well made and a joy to watch. Hope you’re fine, Greetings from Italy

[@kristijanhranisavljevic3510]

I have mixed feelings about this topic.

[@alastair6356]

I have had my dreadnought for over 45 years it has a rich sound and have recently rediscovered it for blues grass after watching your interview Molly Turtle but I do agree the smaller bodied guitars are easer for picking I play Celtic music and find smaller bodied cutaway's a lot more comfortable. I am glad I found this channel your playing is inspirational and full of good ideas which I steal shamelessly.👍😊

[@jannielsen6667]

Hi Michael, I came across your video as TH-cam suggested it to me (probably because I had looked at Martin dreadnoughts). Loved your playing and comments. Initially I thought it was amazing how similar it looked to the D-35 I bought “new to me” a few weeks back. When you mentioned where it came from I had to do a closer comparison and it confirmed I’m now the happy owner of this exact specimen 😉. It is a lovely guitar even though I can’t quite do it justice (yet, at least) after 35 years of only playing electrics guitars. The tone with a nice pick is just so bright and resonant. It was in such good condition I was in doubt whether it ever had been played - happy to see that it had at least one good outing!

[@mikeregan3265]

I've always liked the bassy punch of a good dreadnought when playing fingerstyle.

[@coreymihailiuk5189]

A good dreadnaught is served well by having an Adirondack top. That additional stiffness helps to project notes. I am glad you mentioned some of the many fingerstyle players who opted for a dread at some point in their careers. I also thought of Bruce Cockburn who played a big ole Martin on the first couple of albums. I noticed he is now playing a Collings dreadnaught these days. Those cats in Crosby, Stills & Nash managed to get some pretty nice sounds out of Martin dreadnaught back in the day. When you start to think about it you could make a rather long list of fingerstyle players who flirted with dreads. My next guitar will be a Collings dreadnaught.

[@cambium0]

I didn't know this was an issue and that some steel string guitars were basically meant to be flat picked. But I have been asking the same questions of my 1976 Yamaha FG-170. It's got a very narrow neck but an especially bright and vibrant sound. I can

[@bruceward1074]

Beautiful! As owner of a beloved '66 Martin D28 I've always wondered why people say it's not good for finger style. I aspire to play my fingerstyle as well as you do...

[@kinnjohn]

The great American singer-songwriter Jack Williams seems to excel with fingerstyle on a D 35. Bruce Cockburn has also dabbled in fingerstyle with a dread. Being, in all modesty, both a fingerpicking and strumming singer.songwriter myself, I've often felt most safe with my D35 , especially doing live gigs. This, however, changed a week ago, when I received an Adrian Lucas Pavillion 13 with euro spruce and osage orange. Now I'm a convert, and haven't touched my other guitars since. A great all-rounder! But , of course, the answer to your question, as you gave yourself, is yes. Thank you for your always inspiring videos!

[@coreymihailiuk5189]

For a number of years I have played smaller bodied acoustic guitars, OM, 000-28, etc, but I recently purchased a Collings D2H Traditional with a torrefied Adirondack top. I must confess that moving up to medium strings (13 -56) as a fingerstyle player has been a challenge but the depth of tone is incredible. The richness in the bottom end and the enhanced mids are to die for. You do have to work harder to extract those sounds but in the end I believe it's worth it. I would also agree that this larger body doesn't offer as many options for right hand placement and proximity to the sound hole, but the overall richness in tone makes up for other limitations. It does highlight the fact that there may be no "perfect" body shape and its likely impossible for just one guitar to provide everything that you could dream of sonically, but I am loving all the sounds that I am getting out of this big Collings. It's quite evident why a dreadnought was the go to guitar for so many great players over the years. All of them achieving different results of course, but all of them clearly under the spell of what a great dreadnaught can provide if you just hit the damn thing hard enough! LOL!