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Post by Stevie on Mar 1, 2009 0:23:39 GMT
I found that I needed a large (Dunlop) thumbpick but that the the string contact part was too long / large for me. When I bought a medium one with a more reasonably sized tip, although it was too tight, I had great success by storing it concentrically over the top of the large one. It has settled into the correct size for me with no heat or wrenching. I leave it on there all the time because plastic does have a memory for its position. Hope this helps, Stevie.
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Post by jackstrat on Mar 1, 2009 10:09:12 GMT
As seems to be the case with a lot of folks on here, I've had a sometimes strained relationship with fingerpicks...however over a period of time I've kinda forced myself to take them out and give them a go...and it's definitely paid off...I'm much more comfortable with them now than ever before. However, I'm still not convinced that they are the sound that I'm after...I just love the warmer sound of my fingers on the strings, and there's certain types of string-dampening that are much harder, if not impossible to do with picks. The method that I'm really getting used to at this point in time is that of using just the thumbpick...great for clearly picked bass work...and it allows me to sit my right hand at a more comfortable angle. I guess what I'm getting at ultimately is that it's probably a good thing to have all the options 'to hand'...variety is the spice of life and all that!!
Niall
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Post by Stevie on Mar 1, 2009 11:09:08 GMT
I too find it unatural with finger picks. I'm still giving them a go but , for myself, it's not just picks / no picks. I damp the strings using the right hand fingers resting one on each string (is that what you mean by certain types of dampening Niall?) and I cannot do that with the finger picks on, it doesn't sound good to me. That in turn means that I have to use Michael Messer's DVD advice to use the slide on the ring finger because I can't seem to dampen with the left hand fingers with the slide on the little finger. Moreover, like you Niall, I too prefer that warmer sound without picks. I can't decide whether the picks sound is better, different or louder or all three together but I'm still persevering because I want to be able to do it even if I stick with bare fingers most of the time.
Stevie.
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Post by jackstrat on Mar 1, 2009 11:57:44 GMT
Yes indeed Stevie...that's exactly the kind of string-dampening that I'm talking about...I very often just let my fingers in-position on the strings...what probably started as laziness or bad technique on my part is slowly being incorporated into my style of playing...I guess that's part of the fun isn't it??!!
Niall
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Post by thebluesbear( al) on Mar 1, 2009 16:28:41 GMT
Hi
these issues i found and still find hard some days are better than others, at first it was a real pain this thread brings back loads of memories
al
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Post by clarke111 on Mar 1, 2009 18:58:28 GMT
Hey guys,
I'm the same as you Nial, I have got more used to finger picks now, but for me the warmer sound of bare fingers on the strings is the tone I'm after. I like you have spent the last few weeks playing with just a thumb pick and at the mo I'm pretty happy with the resulting feel and sound. If its good enough for Robert Johnson.....
Chris
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Post by mikeclement53 on Mar 14, 2009 21:18:55 GMT
An update,
I now have the Busker 'Deco and an assortment of picks! The 'Deco is fabulous and I would highly recommend one to anyone looking for a tricone resonator. The addition of picks to playing the 'Deco is certainly different in terms of volume and tone. It helps to pick up the bass volume and lessens the warmth of the brass body (moving towards the neck restores this). I am still finding picks awkward but percevering. I find the best combination for me at the moment is Herco thumb pick and Alaska finger picks. Thanks to all for your support.
Mike
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Post by malcolmmcinnes on Dec 10, 2009 19:10:54 GMT
I had problems using finger picks as they kept coming loose and just didn't feel right. Thought about it for a while and tried wrapping thin sticking plaster around the finger picks. This really did work well for me.Might be worth a try for you
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2009 22:53:12 GMT
I had played for 35+ years with only a thumb pic from time to time. Getting a Busker changed that and use Dunlop metal finger pics and a thick plastic thumb pic. I find there is so much more power in pics and a technique has evolved using them which would not have with finger nails. I have 3 Buskers and use these pics with all 3 guitars.
I play folk stuff too and use Artic (sp?) pics for this on a wooden guitar. I still find these take a while to get to each time I play, but in performance the first songs often have a longer than usual introduction until the fingers start to work as they should. They are 95% there, but still not as good as using the pics with the resonators.
As Markm implied what works for you works.
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Post by ken1953clark on Dec 15, 2009 8:17:40 GMT
I have never got on with picks, except a thumb pick when I was into Travis picking. But since the blues weekend at Pocklington I've been trying hard to use them and actually getting somewhere, even when typing. Anyhoo I use Dadi metal fingerpicks (the ones with a large hole in the middle where your finger peeks through, you still get the attack but you can damp as well) and a plastic thumbpick. If I need to do up strokes with the thumb pick I just support it with the index finger (i.e. hold it like a flat-pick).
Cheers
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Post by gouranga on Dec 26, 2009 20:05:05 GMT
Nice reading all this. Picks and I have never had a very good relationship. I keep trying, to me it's a bit like taking a bath with your socks or y fronts on. I can never get the feel of the strings right. I have even tried making my own picks, which was not toooo bad. I have bought all sorts, but will keep trying. But it's good to know that I am not the only one who has a hard time with picks.
Gouranga
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Post by bod on Jan 6, 2010 0:04:43 GMT
Almost, if not quite, off-topic here, but wanting to relate an unexpected (flat) pick-related moment from my guitar lesson today - just because I found it kinda fun and kinda interesting, too.
In short, it transpires that my struggles with barre chords and the sometimes rather long delays involved in changing between them both diminish significantly if I strum with the back of my nails rather than with a plectrum. This caught both me and my teacher by surprise - we only found out because I lost my favoured plectrum early on, couldn't get on with the alternastives to hand and so ended up carrying on without one, at which point some changes I've having trouble with for weeks improved quite noticeably!
On reflection this does make a certain amount of sense in that I've also had very little to do with plectrums until recently, so have been learning to use a plectrum in one hand while learning barre chords with the other, but even so was quite surprised as I had no idea that the pick in my right hand was "distracting" my left hand in any such way until things went so much smoother without it. (Still want to be able to use one effectively, but will work on barre chords and plectrums separately for a while, methinks)
Anyone had similar experiences?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2010 0:53:19 GMT
I used fingers for 30 + years. Then I got my Cannon and used Dunlop metal finger picks. Easy!! Problem was I could never get them to work well on my non resonator playing.
Later I found plastic Alaska picks and used them on my folk stuff. Much better because they work like finger nails so the fingers to the same action and my brain is used to that. But they never got to be as good as playing with my finger nails. I still used Dunlop metals on the Resos.
Then late on this New Years Day I tried the plastic on the Cannon and it sounded far better. Something to do with the string being plucked rather than stroked perhaps.
Anyway, now I only use plastic Alaska picks on all guitars and the resos sound better and I am finally getting as flash and as fast on the folk stuff as I used to be!
There is a moral here but I don't know what it is!
Does anybody want to make me an offer for 16 Dunlop 0.018 gauge steel finger picks. Some have black nail varnish on them to indicate 1st or 2nd finger!
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Post by Steverb on Jan 9, 2010 20:11:52 GMT
For years (read decades!) I could not get on with fingerpicks at all, which was a real problem because I have small, not very strong, fingers and crappy nails that splinter and break. I could pick pretty fluently but could never generate sufficient volume with just my fingers and thumb. A couple of years ago I started using plectrum and fingers, which works well for some styles (eg country) and I only had to keep two of my nails in working order. But, when I went to the Pocklington weekend last November I realised that it wasn't going to work for slide.
Thankfully, one of the guys at Pock showed me the metal fingerpicks that he uses (I can't remember his name but if a member of this forum, thanks very much indeed). They are not all-solid, like banjo picks, but have a metal loop which bends easily to the shape you want and sits much closer to your actual finger nail than plastic ones do. I searched on ebay and easily found some. Wow, major breakthrough! These are so much easier to get used to than plastic picks - your hand doesn't feel artificially pushed away from the strings and because they are metal you bend them to a tight but comfortable fit, so they dont feel like finger tourniquets. You can even bend them so that the pad of your finger brushes the string if that 'feel' is important to you. To my amazement I was able to use them reasonably well straight away and now feel totally comfortable with them after only a few weeks.
I do agree with Michael that the tone isn't quite as good as with plastics, although it's less of an issue on a reso than a standard guitar, but at least I can hear myself properly and can make the reso sing as it should - I would never be able to do that with just my fingers.
Actually, having got used to the metal picks, I have started trying to use plastics, with some success. They do sound better but are definitely not as easy to use as the metal loops. I intend to persevere and I reckon I will eventually end up using plastics all the time, but I'm not there yet. I've started to get used to the extra distance from the strings but I sometimes get accidental pinch harmonics (Billy Gibbons look out) which is very infuriating. But I would never have even got this far without having used the metal ones first - so my advice Mike is to give these metal loops a try - they are not at all like using plastics and I'm sure you could learn to use them.
I also find thumbpicks waaay too long and always cut them down, but I don't see the need to mess about with dremels or suchlike. I just use a stanley knife to cut them roughly to length/shape, then round them off with an ordinary file and then smooth them off with fine glasspaper.
Hope this is helpful.
Steve
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Post by Steverb on Jan 9, 2010 20:23:32 GMT
Oops, should remember to read the second page of a thread before replying. It sounds like Ken is using the same picks that I am (probably got the tip from the same guy) and getting good results. Glad to hear that you are also doing well with the picks Mike.
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