Polish acoustic guitar maverick Marcin Patrzalek says that guitar picks are “the most limiting thing in the world,” while adding that to play with one would be disrespectful to his musical heritage.
A master of fingerstyle percussive playing, Marcin won Poland's Got Talent in 2015, before reaching the semi-final of the American version of the talent show four years later. Along the way, he's also racked up a score of viral YouTube videos, putting symphonies and rock and pop classics through his inventive lens.
When he released his debut album, Dragon in Harmony, last year, Guitar Player went as far as to suggest that he may be the best thing to happen to acoustic guitar since Segovia. He’s certainly reframing the instrument’s reputation for a new generation of players and listeners.
But one thing you won’t find the percussive player doing is hitting the strings of his signature Ibanez MRC10 with a piece of plastic.
“Even if I play electric, I'm not gonna use a pick,” he says during an impassioned rant in a new video with D’Addario. “Why do I need a pick? I have five picks right here on this hand.”
While the influence of modern electric guitar aces like Tim Henson can be heard on tracks like “Classical Dragon” — which features a guitar solo from the man himself — Marcin’s foundation lies in classical guitar and flamenco. That goes some way to explaining why he calls himself “an enemy of the pick.”
“No self-respecting classical player is going to play with a pick,” he attests. “I can’t even imagine what that would look it. Same with flamenco, how are you doing a rasgueado [a fanning technique involving multiple fingers] with a pick? The pick is the nails, dude.”
Talking to Total Guitar last year, Marcin said his Frankensteinian playing style can be defined by his classically-trained left hand, having started his studies from the age of 10, and flamenco-driven right-hand techniques. The percussive antics of Tommy Emmanuel and Jon Gomm are also a key part of his DNA.
“There is no space in my brain to play any differently with my left hand because he gave me a complete vision,” he said of his first and eccentric classical guitar tutor. At 13, he went to Valencia, dubbed by many as “the Mecca of flamenco,” to transform his right hand. The fusing of those two traditional styles echoes in his physicality.
“My left hand is obviously normal; it needs to be able to tap and to play like any guitar player,” he says in the new video. “But I am a true enemy of the pick. I don't use a pick, ever.”
For Marcin, using a pick would mean playing with four fewer, and it goes against his whole ethos of breaking past limitations, while still respecting tradition.
“The lamest comment you can give to an artist is, ‘Oh, you shouldn't be doing that.’ Like, do you hear yourself?” he says. “Ever since my first video — 'Toxicity' by System of a Down — it keeps happening where people have this preconceived notion of what playing the guitar is, and they can't open their minds to appreciate a new style.
“But what that tells me is only that it's good ‘cause I'm reaching new people, I'm reaching people who have never seen this sort of style before. It's a beautiful thing,” he expands. “Now I’m playing percussive guitar at Fuji Rock and Montreal Jazz Festival — these are very mainstream outlets for musicians. This style doesn't usually get this sort of opportunity.
“So even though there's a fight between the purists and the new ways, I think it's a good thing. And I think it just says that this is the next big thing, you know?”
Elsewhere, his fellow acoustic game-changer, Tommy Emmanuel, has reflected on the night he showed up Les Paul at his request. The American made sure he had the last laugh, though.
