Fingerpicks

[lilguy43uk]

Learning something new (particularly at 74) is both an excellent challenge and a right royal (if enjoyable) pain in the 'arris at the same time.
I think that the greatest challenge challenge to learning lap steel (so far) is getting used to using picks. They feel so clumsy on my fingers and take away the sensory input from the fingertips that I'm used to with the guitar and the uke.

Any ideas on how to overcome this?

Thanks

[Tony Russell Davis]

Yes, sorry to say the only way is keep trying Nobody finds picks easy when they begin.
It's something I keep banging on about because too many guitarists transfer to steel and assume their old technique will work just as well. It doesn't, and there are reasons. Finger-picking guitarists will arch their forearm/hand over the strings and pick from that angle. Here the fingernail points are nicely placed to pick the strings in a clean way. On steel guitar the angle of attack on the strings is different because the hand, at the wrist, is turned clockwise more and rested on the strings (mentioned in an earlier post?). This is for the need to block with the palm edge and that angle of attack makes the picks hit strings more on their left side than just at the points. Also your fingers are more curled up under the knuckle for steel guitar.
I do need to concede that there are some (very few) good steel guitar players who don't wear picks. But they came to that decision after several years and for their own reasons. Remember that the default is play with picks on.
Please work on wearing picks from the start and it comes with practice: but if you keep changing (picks on, picks off) you'll never be comfortable either way.
Here's how I wear them, curled round the finger end, but you might prefer them straighter or further off the nail, you'll find your way as you go on. And I bend the ring part like a funnel, not cylindrical, and find that grips better.

[lilguy43uk]

Thanks Tony, I'll keep plugging on with them.

[tpj]

+1 on the keeping at it. I'm in the same boat, although a little younger . I grab 5-15 minutes most mornings to practice scales and technique. I also swap between the finger picks I like to use (brass propik 2) and ones that are harder (dunlops) which seems to help me get past the pick hurdle and onto just playing. I also spent about £30 on a variety of finger and thumb picks to see what worked best for my hands.

[lilguy43uk]

Thanks TPJ

Like you, I only practise in short bursts of 10-15 minute but I'm able to do so several times a day. I followed the image on Tony's post and curled the picks around over the fingers until they covered the end of the nail and I'm happy to say that I find it a little bit easier.

I'll keep on keeping on.

[lilguy43uk]

I've had a chance to play around for a while and thanks to Tony's picture, modified my picks slightly. This, in turn, has modified my style of picking.
What I had been doing was mostly trying to pick with a horizontal finger movement. Bending the picks has introduced an upward element to my picking and made all the difference in the world. Now I'm curling my fingers upwards instead of dragging them across the strings and it's much easier.

I have a bit of very simple tab to try out on and there are several instances on the tab where the playing of two notes on the C an A strings have not been simultaneous, but offset by a fraction of a second. Until I modified the picks I couldn't manage that, but I can now.

There is still a problem with the thumb pick and I struggle a little to get an even pick when paired with a finger but, hey, it's very early days yet and I know there's a long way to go. So, thanks again for all your help so far.

Jim

[lilguy43uk]

I'm convinced that fingerpicks (if not the spawn of the Devil ) are, at the very least, the computer cables of the music world. I can place them a foot apart on a table and turn my back for a moment only to find them intertwined in some kind of a weird mating ritual. Trying to untangle them is something else.

Seriously though, I'm starting to feel a little more at home with them on although I find that metal on the fingers and plastic on the thumb seems to be about the best for me at the moment. Experimentation will continue.

Cheers

Jim

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

I agree with you Jim, Metal on the fingers and Plastic on the thumb... I use Dunlop .25's in the metal, anything thinner tends to fall off and you cannot get the same attack on the strings...

[sabatica]

Fingerpicks - Brass - 0.025
Thumpick - Plastic - Medium I use Ultra that give the same rigidity as a real shell pick

All Dunlops

Wear them often until it becomes a part of your hand.

[lilguy43uk]

Now this is an education. I always considered picks to be picks to be picks. I never considered different materials or thicknesses. This is another avenue for me to explore so thanks for the information guys.