Fingerpicks

[WineRider]

Mmm, Interesting thread, although I have the same picture of Tony's picks and fingers on my wall and have tried every which way to use them in all the shapes, bends, hand position and practice. I still have failed miserably to use the damn things. For a start, they frustrate the hell out of me, because I can't tell the difference in tone at all between using finger picks or not. I use a thumb pick (delrin) which works for me, but not for everybody. I have spent hours looking at the Mickey Adams vid. of him altering the shape of his picks, the upshot is, you need to be an expert picker who can tell the nuances of the shaping. His picks are a totally different shape to Tony's and Basil's, which says to me that all picks are a personal thing. I seem to recall this conversation a long time ago, and one steel player, said he doesn't change the shape of the picks at all, just takes them out of the packet and uses them...(he is one of the hardest working players never being out of work). Now to throw a stone into the pool and see the ripples: Why is it that blues players that I know never use picks at all, some of the gospel pickers use 1 finger pick and 1 thumb pick, some use Delrin speed picks... Who is right and who is wrong...in my book nobody, it will always boil down to what suits the person doing the picking and whether or not you are playing for money, playing for your own satisfaction oàr just trying to master a new musical instrument. In my young days flat picks were considered all the rage, with uke. players using felt picks, now they use one or two fingers...Is it all down to FASHION?

[Will C]

I'm right with you there on the difficulty of getting used to picks. 40 years of playing a guitar with my fingers/nails, and after all that time *I know where my fingertips are*! With picks that changes, and it's a hindrance. Best to start with them on Day 1, perhaps. But I don't recall guitar purists saying you can't play with decent tone unless you use picks.

And ukes - what's with the felt plectrum thing? I use a plastic flat pick, and I play the hell out of the strings, but I have to because I'm leading a group of 24-30 people and I have to be heard. It's my "dynamic" I think. It all comes down to personal preferences.

But I do have to concede that, with steel, I can hear a difference in tone and sustain if I use picks.

[lilguy43uk]

I think the idea of a felt pick with the ukes is that wear on the relatively soft strings will be negligible. Having said that I have tried picking on the uke with plastic picks as well as a flatpick but I much prefer my fingers.

[WineRider]

I'm right with you there on the difficulty of getting used to picks. 40 years of playing a guitar with my fingers/nails, and after all that time *I know where my fingertips are*! With picks that changes, and it's a hindrance. Best to start with them on Day 1, perhaps. But I don't recall guitar purists saying you can't play with decent tone unless you use picks.

And ukes - what's with the felt plectrum thing? I use a plastic flat pick, and I play the hell out of the strings, but I have to because I'm leading a group of 24-30 people and I have to be heard. It's my "dynamic" I think. It all comes down to personal preferences.

But I do have to concede that, with steel, I can hear a difference in tone and sustain if I use picks.

Hi Will, thanks for picking up the 'poison chalice' it has been said on this site about the use of picks and tone, so if I can find it I'll post it. When I first started with a Uke in 1954 it was delivered with the 'very latest' felt pick, but I do accept that if you are trying to stay on top of that many Uke's you are going to use far more that felt or fingers. Joel Katz plays both Uke and Lap Steel and I have yet to see a shot of him using picks...thumb or fingers. Mike Neer uses picks at times and he is quoted as saying he has recorded with and without and no one has picked up on which recording had or didn't have picks used.

But as you know I'm a c---p player...I can build 'em but can't play 'em, and I must say that trying to persevere with picks has caused me far more frustration than worrying about tone or sustain. On this last bit I think it is more to do with pickups and amps and or how the strings are on the lap steel. George L has made one recently and has the strings through the body...the same as all mine.

[Ken Byng]

This is an interesting topic, and one for which there probably is no easy answer. As far as playing without picks, Bobby Seymour played this way for much of his playing career with significant success. Former Southampton player Dave Nash discarded finger picks some time ago and is still playing very fluently without them. Buddy Emmons and Paul Franklin have toyed with playing without finger picks, but I would say that their dalliance with bare fingers didn't last too long.

My own personal view (for what it's worth) is that you get better tone and more sustain with fingers picks. However, I can remember the first time that I donned a set of thumb and finger picks aged 14, and they really felt alien at first. However, with perseverance it became second nature in the end. Tony's photo showing the curvature of his picks show an ideal angle for me. I believe that it is worth sticking with the picks in the long term.

[mick hearn]

I use Dunlop .018 and have followed Mickey Adams little trick. It works great for me. It is very much a personal thing. I still use finger nails on electric guitar though.

Will C - If you want volume try a charango - those little south American things. I got one and played it with a pick. It was deafening. The only drawback is they have strings similar setup to a mandolin - 5 groups of 2. It uses Ukulele chords as the tuning is similar. Now all I need is a luthier to come up with an 8 string version but carved the same way. Suppose I could approach one but would be expensive.

[sabatica]

Ultex picks retain their shape and rigidity and perform like real shell picks IMO.

https://www.jimdunlop.com/product/9072r ... cCategory=

[Haddock]

Indeed an interesting topic and fun to see how many different ways there are of skinning a cat! I came to steel after 5 string banjo so the picks were second nature but I still find differences. On banjo I use Ernie ball finger picks which go to a tiny point with a bit of a curve on them but these feel wrong on the steel where I find a straighter shape better. I discovered a thumbpick in Eagle music shop called a propick which is the best I've ever come across and I now use it on guitar, banjo and steel. It has a metal shell which is easy to shape to your thumb and the pick bit is a little plastic spike. Highly recommended!
There are an excellent set of tuition videos on the Sierrasteels.com website by Joe Wright which are great for picking techniques and exercises. Also try picking really hard, slowly at first which will help build up the muscles. And no harm in wearing the picks all day to get used to them but I suggest taking them off before going to the toilet.....

Cheers

[sabatica]

Not sure I would ever recommend anyone playing without fingerpicks.

for the amount of hours practice required you will shred your fingertips.

Also You can't get crisp clean fast articulated notes with fingers period. Buddy used to the them off sometimes when he was practicing/figuring out a song or parts, as I recall which makes sense as it allows you to write down with a pen. But heck I have learned to do it with them as well.

Simply put I only think picks should be used with regards to blues players with their copious amounts of distortion to hide their inaccurate intonation and poor technique fingers or picks won't make them sound better only practice.

Practice: I started focusing on Tom Morrell and Jernigan technique recently and its confident HARD playing so I practice with Headphones and am practicing picking hard now. Wish I did from the start as I am now starting to get some single note speed.