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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2013 9:28:25 GMT
I'm in the early stages of learning blues slide guitar and I'm using MM's DVD as a training aid. Having done a bit of research it seems that using finger-picks is encouraged, I also noticed that Michael uses them. I have two questions: firstly is there any particular type of finger pick which is best. I have two types, one being similar to what Michael uses with the plastic sitting on the finger pad and rolling back over the natural nail, the second is made by Alaska Pic this sits around the nail and clips under the top of the natural nail. I wondered whether there is any reason for using one or the other. I find the Alaska Pic easier to use but would persevere with the other if it's going to be a real benefit. www.eaglemusicshop.com/guitar-finger-picks/alaska-set.htm?utm_source=googlemerchant&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googlemerchant&gclid=CLiYyMiGoLoCFVMbtAodvHwAFwSecond question is are finger picks better than acrylic nails,I have acrylic nails on my picking hand which I have been using for acoustic guitar for some time and comparing these to the plastic finger-picks there doesn't seem to be too much difference but that could be because I'm a novice and I'm not really digging in to the strings. I'd appreciate any comments other than having acrylic nails is a bit girly (I'm not) and no I don't paint them
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Post by Michael Messer on Oct 18, 2013 10:32:02 GMT
Hi Bluesdog,
What type of fingerpicks you use and whether you use any at all, is a matter of personal taste.
I use Dunlop heavy gauge white plastic fingerpicks (which I heat & bend to the shape I like) and a Fred Kelly large heavy Delrin thumb pick.
Many players use metal fingerpicks and find them easier to get on with. There is less mass with metal and therefore it is closer to your finger and less obtrusive. I prefer the tone of plastic picks.
Personally speaking, and I know that quite a few forum members do like them, I do not like the Alaska picks.
Acrylic nails are fine, if that is what you like. Growing your own nails and strengthening them with superglue is also good.
While there are no rules, only logical personal preferences, I cannot name a top National or Dobro player that uses Alaska picks. However, as I have said, I do know that a few forum members use them and like them.
I hope that is helpful information.
I am pleased you are enjoying the DVD. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Shine On Michael.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2013 11:14:55 GMT
Horses for courses. I think if you chose picks, you would be encouraged to use certain types, but IMO it would be wrong to encourage you to use picks instead of fingers/thumb, in the same way that I wouldn't say you must use fingers/thumb not picks. If you keep researching, you'll find any number of legends doing it both ways, or even 'flatpicking' (using a plectrum and picking with the remaining fingers). Having used a thumbpick for picking for thirty+ years, I'm personally VERY happy to have ditched it, and for the last few years I have either used bare fingers/thumb or flatpicked. TT
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Post by Matt on Oct 18, 2013 13:24:01 GMT
I quite liked playing my Dobro with plastic fingerpicks, but I found that even after shaping them, a few days later they weren't sturdy enough on my fingers. Metal picks are a lot easier to fit snugly and exactly how I like, although I will probably try again with plastic at some point. I cut the length of my thumb picks down a bit with nail clippers then sand the edge smooth too.
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Post by mikenewport on Oct 18, 2013 19:49:07 GMT
Hi Bluesdog I sort of agree with Deuce on this. It's very much horses for courses. I use fingers and thumb and I'm hopeless at growing nails! so the Alaska pic doesn't work for me. I have tough hands and have the same sort of hardness on my picking fingers as my fretting fingers. However I have tried and had some success with these picks ( link below). Picks give a completely different sound, eg volume and tone so it's probably worth persevering for that 'extra' technique. www.eaglemusicshop.com/banjo-accessories/fred-kelly-delrin-freedom-picks.htmThey work very well for a strumming stroke as well as they're meant for frailing banjo. I also use the same make speed pick. Good luck. Mike
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Post by bublnsqueak on Oct 19, 2013 5:00:24 GMT
Hi Bluesdog I sort of agree with Deuce on this. It's very much horses for courses. I use fingers and thumb and I'm hopeless at growing nails! so the Alaska pic doesn't work for me. I have tough hands and have the same sort of hardness on my picking fingers as my fretting fingers. However I have tried and had some success with these picks ( link below). Picks give a completely different sound, eg volume and tone so it's probably worth persevering for that 'extra' technique. www.eaglemusicshop.com/banjo-accessories/fred-kelly-delrin-freedom-picks.htmThey work very well for a strumming stroke as well as they're meant for frailing banjo. I also use the same make speed pick. Good luck. Mike +1 but with Dunlop on my thumb Paul
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2013 5:28:20 GMT
I am not using picks at the moment - regressed without thinking, but I went through a stage there when I read this and that and we need this - and I have a box full of 'try outs', but I ended back with the ones that just about every shop in the world sells: Dunlop mediums. Easy to get.....on the way to a gig? Some of the others are 'import only'.
Like anything, I think it is what you get used to.
A guitarist that is gigging most nights - without picks, the fingers would be a bleeding mess.
BluesKing777.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2013 9:01:53 GMT
Thanks for all the comments, I'm certainly going to persevere with picks, I'll give it a go with the Dunlops on my fingers and a bumblebee thumb pick, the Alaska Pics aren't really a problem for me so it will be easy for me to change back if I need to.
Cheers Craig
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Post by twang1 on Oct 19, 2013 9:26:10 GMT
There are many picks to try out there, and luckily for us they are not expensive. I often use Alaska picks, on 2 fingers or just on my index, and it feels quite natural. The main thing about Alaska is that you can also play downstrokes, allowing different techniques. If you have acrylic nails you don't need any picks, or maybe just a thumbpick.
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Post by Michael Messer on Oct 19, 2013 11:02:52 GMT
There are many picks to try out there, and luckily for us they are not expensive. The main thing about Alaska is that you can also play downstrokes, allowing different techniques. ......Playing downstrokes with regular plastic or metal fingerpicks is a technique that I have used for as long as I can remember, especially when strumming rhythms. Shine On Michael
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Post by twang1 on Oct 19, 2013 12:44:41 GMT
There are many picks to try out there, and luckily for us they are not expensive. The main thing about Alaska is that you can also play downstrokes, allowing different techniques. ......Playing downstrokes with regular plastic or metal fingerpicks is a technique that I have used for as long as I can remember, especially when strumming rhythms. Shine On Michael You are absolutely right, Michael! I have a couple of regular picks and I just tried: with the plastic one is very easy; with the metal ones I have is difficult and they keep on falling. I'm sure there must be some others metal picks that allow that movement. There are some right hand techniques I got from flamenco players that work beautifully when I try to play indian music, and they require quite a bit of downstrokes. Best for me is with my natural nails, but if I want to keep them for more than a few gigs...I must wear a fingerpick. And I never got along with regular picks. With my surprise I got accustomed to the Alaska almost instantly.
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Post by bublnsqueak on Oct 20, 2013 18:48:55 GMT
There are many picks to try out there, and luckily for us they are not expensive. The main thing about Alaska is that you can also play downstrokes, allowing different techniques. ......Playing downstrokes with regular plastic or metal fingerpicks is a technique that I have used for as long as I can remember, especially when strumming rhythms. Shine On Michael I am new to picks. Getting on very well with the Fred Kelly Freedom Picks. How do downstrokes with conventional picks work Michael? Paul
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Post by Michael Messer on Oct 20, 2013 21:06:14 GMT
Hi bublnsqeak, I am pleased to hear that you are getting on well with your picks. Playing downstrokes with regular fingerpicks was something I learnt to do a long time ago when I only used metal National picks. Learning to use picks and to become totally proficient with them took me a long time and at times I went through pain and struggles to get there. I can remember catching them in the strings, especially with downstrokes and cutting my fingers because they caught on a string and were ripped off my fingers! This would result in having to deal with pain and blood at gigs! I can even remember the occasional pick flying off into the audience never to be seen again! For a while I tried taping them on, but that inhibited my movement, so I just persevered until eventually I could do anything wearing them. I used to wear them all day, whether I was playing or not. There were no choices, just old-style National picks. Sometime in the late 1980s I discovered plastic picks and found the tone better and they didn't cut my fingers to pieces! ...but they were more cumbersome and it was a whole new learning curve to get used to them. I have used heavy gauge plastic picks ever since and sometimes after playing gigs I am still wearing them half an hour later and don't even realise it. Downstrokes are done by strumming or plucking downwards at an angle so the pick can't catch in a string and fly off (known in the trade as 'throwing a shoe'!). When playing rhythm, which is a large part of playing any music, I use downward strums with the fingerpicks, I also use up strokes and strum with my thumb, and I use all three techniques at the same time to be able to play rhythm. This technique, which I found on my own, is a technique used by many lap-style Dobro players. Some people also strum upwards with the thumbpick, that is a technique I have never used. I still put them on sometimes when I am not playing, just so my fingers never find them odd to wear. Perseverance and practice, and hours and hours of it, is the only way to learn to play an instrument. Have fun Shine On Michael
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2013 23:39:00 GMT
Thanks for that, MM. Bleeding for the cause at your gigs could become an act! Up and down strokes with fingerpicks/thumbpicks.... I have worked on a lot of the Robert Wilkins style blues over the years - with the heavy thumb brush down and index finger brush ups! Picks off! For a while there, I tried taping some on with medical bandage tape - it worked great keeping the picks on through all challenges, BUT and there always is a BUT: it took forever to get them off and you ruined the tape doing it..... and Murphy's Law: at home - knock, knock, knock on the door, friends drop in; phone rings - answer with slide and picks is tricky; ha ha hee - need to go to the loo..... Could one of the Fingerpick inventors please invent an almond shape 'dual side' finger and thumbpick that you put your finger in; and slip off easily when and only when you want it to come off? We'll give them a hundred bucks each if they work! Almond pic: clairelight.typepad.com/seelight/images/almond.jpgBluesKing777.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2013 6:45:48 GMT
A guitarist that is gigging most nights - without picks, the fingers would be a bleeding mess. I don't think so! I don't gig every night ( a couple a month at the mo ), but I practice an hour or two a day, and no bloody messes. TT
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