Technique
When Phil Keaggy plays acoustic, he uses acrylics on his three fingernails and thumbnail (he only has acrylics on his three fingernails due to him losing his middle finger in a childhood accident). Phil only played with a pick when he first started playing guitar, but then he eventually learned to play without it. While he still occasionally plays with a pick, he states that “not having a pick in my hand freed me up to play multiple notes simultaneously and do things like slapping harmonics.”
When playing electric Keaggy mainly uses a pick, but will occasionally play with his fingers. He states that this “opens up a whole different world of expression. The direct contact with the skin puts you more in touch with the strings, and you feel and hear things differently.” Guitarist Jeff Beck was an inspiration for Phil because of his unique finger picking techniques, which eventually helped Keaggy expand on his own playing style.
For vibrato, Keaggy moves the string up and down when performing blues, and in order to achieve a violin-like sound and do volume swells Keaggy will move the string back and forth. Phil also experiments with slower vibrato speeds in order to achieve a mellower sound. He states, “When I was a teenager I used to think I had to do a really fast vibrato, like Jim McCarty and Jorma Kaukonen. Michael Bloomfield did that early on, too, but as he got older he slowed down.”
When playing electric Keaggy mainly uses a pick, but will occasionally play with his fingers. He states that this “opens up a whole different world of expression. The direct contact with the skin puts you more in touch with the strings, and you feel and hear things differently.” Guitarist Jeff Beck was an inspiration for Phil because of his unique finger picking techniques, which eventually helped Keaggy expand on his own playing style.
For vibrato, Keaggy moves the string up and down when performing blues, and in order to achieve a violin-like sound and do volume swells Keaggy will move the string back and forth. Phil also experiments with slower vibrato speeds in order to achieve a mellower sound. He states, “When I was a teenager I used to think I had to do a really fast vibrato, like Jim McCarty and Jorma Kaukonen. Michael Bloomfield did that early on, too, but as he got older he slowed down.”