Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To play a stringed instrument, such as the guitar or banjo, by plucking individual strings with the fingers.
  • intransitive verb To play (a stringed instrument) by plucking individual strings with the fingers.
  • noun A pointed, slightly curved plectrum worn on the fingertip, used in playing a stringed instrument such as the guitar or banjo.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A type of plectrum that clips on to, or wraps around the end of the fingers and thumb.
  • verb music To pluck of the individual strings of a stringed instrument with the fingers

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

finger +‎ pick

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Examples

  • I fingerpick really fast at times, and I don't have to worry about these things falling off.

    Alexandra Marvar: Alexander Turnquist's 'Hallway of Mirrors': Harmonics, Reverb and Acrylic Nails Alexandra Marvar 2011

  • If you are sans band, and you play the guitar and sing along, probably you sing the melody and strum or fingerpick chords, i.e. the rhythm; least that's how it works for me.

    Changing the Tune Steve Perry 2010

  • She does not know he used to fingerpick guitar, so she will not miss hearing him play.

    Freud’s Blind Spot Elisa Albert 2010

  • I do have a whole bunch of songs that I strum or fingerpick whilst singing -- well, more like croaking -- along, ranging from The Kinks Lola, to Randy Newman's Sail Away, to some I've written, but since I'm focusing more on how to play the guitar, I don't spend as much time learning those as I do the instrumentals.

    Repertoire Steve Perry 2007

  • I actually fingerpick, or pluck, the chords, rather then using a pick.

    Roxanne '97, 7'' 1997

  • I actually fingerpick, or pluck, the chords, rather then using a pick.

    Roxanne, 7'' 1986

  • I actually fingerpick, or pluck, the chords, rather then using a pick.

    Roxanne, 7'' 1979

  • I actually fingerpick, or pluck, the chords, rather then using a pick.

    Roxanne, 12'' 1979

  • I actually fingerpick, or pluck, the chords, rather then using a pick.

    Roxanne, 12'' 1978

  • I actually fingerpick, or pluck, the chords, rather then using a pick.

    Roxanne, 7'' 1978

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