Feel like your solos don’t quite sing? The key is using the right articulations to make your guitar “speak” to audiences

Andy Wood.

I started out primarily as a bluegrass mandolin player, an endeavor for which Olympian levels of flatpicking are often required to perform the melodies and solos you will hear from great mandolin players like Sam Bush, Bill Monroe and David Grisman.

When I switched to guitar, I worked hard to keep my alternate/flatpicking technique up to speed, and I also started using hybrid-picking techniques associated with country guitar while also incorporating various “rock” articulations, such as hammer-ons and pull-offs, and also using double-stops (two-note chords) and finger vibratos.