Finger picks

[gregcharles]

Hi Michael, I want to thank you for your great site I am really enjoying all the playing and gear tips. I have played blues guitar on electrics for some time but have struggled to play slide well. I am really enjoying all the readers and participants helpful comments. I enjoyed the question about how to get a good vibrato, to which there were several explanations. I personally struggled with it until recently when I started using a heavy slide which helped me slow the vibrato down when desired.

I have a question about picks. I have been playing some fingerstyle after giving up my plectrum a few months ago. Playing electric guitars I have enjoyed the tonality of finger and nail to the string and have also found much better tone and sustain playing slide. Playing my resonator is much the same pleasure however with the heavy string gauges I am running out of nails fast. I have tried the metal national picks and plastic picks as well but it seems a very difficult conversion. When using the picks on the index and middle fingers the angle from the hand/arm position is naturally off with the string so the pick hits the string at a right angle and not striking the string flush. With the wound strings the pick scrapes against the winding making a filing sound. Is this something that you make adjustments for or am I missing something? I am also not clued in on the length that the pick should protrude from the end of the finger, any rule of thumb?

[Michael Messer]

Hi Greg,

Thank you for your kind words about our forum.

Finger & thumppicks - this is a discussion that often comes up. There are no rules about how to wear picks, it just takes practice and it doesn't come easily as they are odd things to wear. Finding the picks that you are happy with is also something to work at.

I wear Dunlop heavy gauge white plastic thumb & fingerpicks. I buy a box of 25 of each and as they vary in shape I only keep the ones I like, which in the case of fingerpicks is around 50%. I do not adjust their shape in hot water as for me it ruins them. Thumbpicks are easy as most fit well and feel good. I wear the fingerpick quite long and very tight. My fingers are now pick-shaped after so many years. The picks do scratch on the strings so you have to get your angles right. After a while the picks should file into your playing shape and will no longer scratch. I keep my picks going for as long as possible. I haven't bought any new fingerpicks for two or three years.

Many resonator guitar players and flat-top acoustic guitar players wear metal fingerpicks and plastic thumbpicks. I did for many years, but since 1989 have worn plastic constantly. Metal picks do have some advantages, but once I tried the plastic ones I preferred both the tone and the feel. Plus, plastic picks will not scratch the front of your guitar.

It is a personal taste thing and the only way to form an opinion of preferences is to try lots of different types.

I do play my resonator guitars without picks too. 15/56 gauge with your fingers should be fine. Once again, there are no rules and maybe you should try a lighter set of strings.

Do what feels right to you and use mine and other players' experiences as a logical guide to what works and what doesn't, not as a set of rules.

I hope that helps?

Keep in touch and let me know how you get on.

Shine On
Michael

[pascal]

Do you still own the ones I sent you years ago? ("calico" ones)
Still have just a pair of them, they're far the best I ever tried.
I just can't use the new ones, don't know where to find them again (they were from the 60' said the seller)...

[gregcharles]

Hey Michael, Thanks a bunch, I guess it will take time.... I do have some Dunlop plastic picks and even though they have an L on them (large?) they are tight as all heck. The tone is more agreeable and good point about the finish of the guitar, but you mention not heating them, surely they don’t need to be that tight do they? Perhaps I could have them permanently installed, my wife would love that. Can they be spread so they are not so tight or should I try to find the next size up?
Thanks again, greg

[Michael Messer]

Bonjour Pascal,

Yes I do use the old plastic ones you gave me, but because they are old and wonderful I do not use them all the time.

A bientôt,
Shine On
Michael,

[Michael Messer]

Hi Greg,

The tightness of a fingerpick is not easy to explain, but yes I wear them very tight.

It is up to you if you want to try heating them to adjust the fit. I find that it ruins the elasticity in the plastic and stops it gripping.

Good luck!

Shine On
Michael.

[Deleted]

Hi Greg

Michael's advice to me a few month's ago has proved invaluable.
Make sure you're wearin' 'em the right way round

Cheers Michael

Rob

[Deleted]

Funny you should mention wearing them the right way around... I guess then I'm not the only person who tried to put the finger picks on with the plectrum over my nail, like some sort of Halloween claws. Hahahaha.

I'm still not getting the hang of finger picking with finger picks, but at least I have them on correctly now. I wish I could just use my fingers, but I can't get any volume that way.

[Steverb]

I have had numerous attempts to use fingerpicks over the past three decades and couldn't get on with them at all. OK, I admit that the first couple of times I was trying to use them the wrong way round. Then, when I went to the Pocklington blues weekend last November, someone showed me these:

cgi.ebay.co.uk/STEEL-FINGER-PICKS-plectrum-guitar-fingerpicks-pick_W0QQitemZ300328024732QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item45ecf1fa9c

These have been a revelation to me. It took me about three days to get used to them and I haven't looked back since. Using these picks has not only enabled me to get the most from playing slide on my tricone but has also rekindled my interest in more general blues fingerpicking, which I had all but given up on because I couldn't generate enough volume. The great thing about these picks is that you can easily bend them so that the 'business end' is only a couple of milimetres away from your nail, so you don't get that feeling of playing with gloves on that normal plastic picks give you. You can also damp the strings with your finger pads (unlike plastics) and they adjust to sit tight on your fingers without feeling like a tournique.

As far as thumb picks go, I use ordinary plastic ones but but file them shorter and then smooth off with emery cloth because I find the standard length too long.

I agree with Michael that the tone of plastic fingerpicks is better than the metal ones but, being unable to get on with plastics, I'm prepared to accept a slight loss of tone to gain a massive increase in volume over fingers alone.

I would be interested to know whether anyone has tried Alaska picks, which fit under the nail and come in plastic. I'm wondering if they could be the best of all worlds:

cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alaska-Finger-Picks-Plastic-Xtra-Large-Size_W0QQitemZ200445468831QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item2eab7b209f

If all else fails Greg, you could always try the old classical guitarists' trick - fixing slivers of table tennis ball under your nails with super glue:

home.scarlet.be/haustenne/Americaines/The_Ping-Pong%20Ball_Trick.htm

Personally, I've never been quite that desperate!

[tark]

My observation is that there are four things to consider with thumb and finger picks : Size & comfort, length, material and thickness.

Unfortunately most guitar shops have a very limited choice leading to the impression that what they have is all that is available. Mostly they stock heavy large celluloid thumb and finger picks and some metal finger picks, again often in one size.

It is very important to find the right size and to find picks that are comfortable. To some extent celluloid picks can be heated in very hot water and moulded to fit and the metal finger picks can be bent to fit. This still doesn't mean either are going to be particularly comfortable.

Length - when first trying thumb and finger picks it often feels like playing with stilts on your fingers. This is because the large picks that are all you could get from your local guitar shop are probably too big and too long. Thunb picks pose the biggest problem and are often absolutely huge paddle type jobbies. With the celluloid picks you can cut these down and file and polish them to a good shape. Once they extend past the thumb about the same length as when playing with a normal flat pick they feel much less peculiar. Usually, apart from getting the right size, once the thumb pick is at the right length, the finger picks should feel a little less peculiar as well.

Another problem with celluloid picks is that to be able to hold the thumb and fingers tightly they have to be made of relatively thick material. This results in a certain attack and tone. Personally I prefer the faster attack and brighter tone that comes from playing with slightly thinner picks. If you do too you have to seek out picks made from other materials such as delrin. I recommend the Fred Kelly speed picks (if you get the right size of these the length is just right too). Fred Kelly also does a clever finger pick which does go the 'wrong way round' over the nail. They are like clip on false nails (not like those odd Alaska picks that are designed to hook under the nail - horrible things).

The thick celluloid also seems to vary in hardness a bit. The 'calico' pattern (black and white blobs) seems to be harder so it gives a little brighter tone and wears down more slowly.

[Deleted]

I use Alaska finger picks on all the guitars I play. To me they are the closest to using fingers and fingernails.

I use Herco plastic thumb picks and found them superb until the plastic started to become lose on some and they began to fall off my thumb as I played.

The other day I bough a few metal thumbpicks. Perfect on the wooden Fyldes. Also on the brass Deco and the Steel Delta. But on the wooden Cannon the metal thumbpicks sound dead, while the plastic Herco sound full of tone.

I know a resonator guitar is a box of variable laws of physics, but the uniqueness of the Cannon in this regard puzzles me, yet does not surprise me!

[fitchmeister]

This thread prompted me that it was time to order some more picks - came across these

www.jimdunlop.com/index.php?page=products/pip&id=46&pmh=products/picks

I don't suppose they are new - i am normally behind the curve - but might save some effort from those of you shaping your own thumbpicks.

Cheers

Roj

[gregcharles]

Hey thanks to everyone’s contribution, I have learned more about finger picks than I thought possible. I am currently using metal picks one Kyser and a Dunlop .025 that I found. I sure hate the clicks against the guitar (caused by my sloppy playing no doubt) but I will prevail.

After reading all the material choices I tested out a few thumb picks I had picked up. The thumb pick that fit me the best was a Dunlop but was really dull sounding (celluloid?). After reading all your comments I switched to a National, et voila! the sound got brighter and more defined. I didn’t think there would be that much difference. The reason I steered clear of the National in the first place is that the pick is so short that I catch the part that wraps around your thumb with the string. Does that happen to anyone else? When picking, the angle and proximity to the string is so close it gets caught up and then, ka-plunk. I don’t seem to have that problem with the longer picks.

Seems like a lot of variables to get to something that works for you and sounds good. Anyway thanks for all the useful advice, I am finally getting the hang of finger picks and do love the volume, turn it up!!!

Cheers, greg

[Deleted]

Another alternative is to find a good fitting thumb pick, chop off the pick part and glue in a suitable flatpick.

[gouranga]

I used to do as Charlie is suggesting, and found it OK. But then I found Bumble Bee Thumb P's and have used them ever since. You can change the angle, the reach, and they come in light, medium, hard and x hard gauge. But anyone trying them should make sure they get the right-handed picks, unless your left-handed of course.
Take care.
All the best folks

Gouranga