Do you use a pick?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Matt Stevens on February 6, 2010 at 11:11am

I ALWAYS Need a plectrum but i use fingers as well sort of a weird hybrid thing. Works for me but i need to work hard with my fingers to get the same volume as my pick.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Tryon on February 11, 2010 at 4:56am

I use both a flat pick and fingers. I don't use a thumb pick or finger picks, just my fingers. I am picky about flatpicks though I use Dunlop Stubbies 3mm. You'll often hear them referred to as jazz picks. They're very stiff and about half the size of "normal" picks and have a very sharp little point. I find that I am much more accurate with a Stubby than with any other pick but then I like to be close to the strings.

J.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Stevens on February 12, 2010 at 5:54am

The best and to be fair fastist guitar player i ever heard used finger picks - amazing technique a guy called Richard Beaumont

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Permalink Reply by Jason Tryon on February 12, 2010 at 8:31pm

I can't argue that, the fastest player I've ever run across uses finger pics as well. I can't even think notes that fast. :)

J.

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Permalink Reply by Rebelpicker on November 26, 2010 at 5:05pm

It depends on the song I'm playing whether I use a pick or fingers, some songs need to be strummed, others slowed down and finger picked.

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Clark on February 13, 2010 at 6:34am

I primarily use a flatpick since I generally strum and play some single note stuff now and then. It's either a med or heavy thickness. If I do fingerpick I just use bare fingers with a bit of nail. I tend to play acoustic blues (some open tuned slide) and folk music with the odd pop or children's song thrown in depending on the situation. I do like to use my fingers if I am playing slide in open tuning. It also depends on the type of sound I want too.

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Permalink Reply by Ed Mehollin on February 13, 2010 at 7:48am

I used to shun finger picks and thumb picks but given the fact that my natural nails are thin and easily broken and that I just object to glue on nails in principle, finger/thumb picks are my preferred thing these days on most songs. I have tried the clear plastic picks that supposedly fit over the finger and under the tip of your nails, they may be called Alaska Picks of something like that. You have to trim them a lot and I just found them to be a pain. I have tried the ProPick F-Tones that leave the meat of your finger tip open but they are rather stiff and produced a flat, muted tone, if you could fit them correctly. Some heavier steel or nickle picks I have tried are heavy feeling and so stiff that my finger tips swell and ache.

I went through a period of obsessed experimentation of trying anything that was new and purported to be the next best thing to sliced bread and bottled beer. Then I found these old Dunlop 0.013 gauge solid brass finger picks that I bought 25 years ago and put in the tackle box I use for all my guitar parts and I love them. They are thin, very soft and malleable and quite comfortable. I don't know if they are still available but they are great. The tone is perfect and you barely notice they are on. They are so soft though that they can be completely reshaped by just sticking them in the pocket of my jeans.

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Permalink Reply by Falling 4 You on February 16, 2010 at 2:02pm

It all depends on what type of music you are playing. If you play a song with a strum that requires a louder sound, then you use a pick. Remember, the thicker the pick the louder it will sound.
When you are playing with a group then I would also suggest you use a pick. But for me, like finger picking I just use my fingers. What ever works better for you. Personally I do like playing with a pick better, I have better control of everything, but if you played longer without one, then it would be better. It could also depend on how you like it to sound.
Just remember is you wont a loud sound, use a thinker pick. A thin pick will deliver a more smoother sound, that is why I like to use a thinner pick

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Permalink Reply by Bluepoet on February 19, 2010 at 1:27pm

I didn't use picks, for a long time, as my ears would get "tired" of the sound quickly. Sorry, for the obscure description, but I don't know how else to say it..also, I played bass before guitar, and my teacher really dissed anyone who used a pick for playing bass--he had a thumbnail that was like 2" long!!! Of course, he was crazy, but I didn't know that, for a long time...I was once so very young...sigh...

At the same time, I've always had a kind of obsession with picks. I almost always will buy some, when I go the the music store! I have hundreds of them, now! I've found that I like mediums most, but starting to use hard ones...started with thin, but can't stand using them, anymore.

A couple of years ago, as a result of my job, my nails started splitting, and so I was left with "uneveness" in my playing. I started using some of the picks I'd collected, and I'm using them about 30% of my playing time, now. I can't stand fingerpicks, but I recently found a thumb pick that I like, a propik medium...it has a more favorable, straight-on shape than the usual ones, and I like the sound it produces...especially in alternating bass note music, like bluesy stuff...

So, if I'm just strumming, I'll try using a pick, especially if it's strumming and sliding chords around the neck. Mostly, I like to play a kind of strum/arpeggio thing, and I need my fingers for that, and for the Travis picking folk music I love to play. I am not a true fingerpicking player, in that I use guitar as background for singing, not melody, but I like using my fingers, because they aren't as loud as the pick, and I have more control over volume and nuance of tone...

I'm still amazed at how many different tonal sounds can be coaxed out of an acoustic guitar, overall...

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Permalink Reply by Ken Rogers on February 19, 2010 at 8:26pm

I use a flatpick, thumb and fingerpicks, the nail, the meat... whatever the song requires. Different songs demand different means of attack, so to speak. I don't necessarily claim proficiency with all of it, but I use it all.

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Permalink Reply by Martin on January 10, 2011 at 3:11pm

I'm the same I sometimes use pick, fingers, nail and skin sometimes together in the one song.

I'm a master at none but I can't  not use these effects.

Lastly didn't Django use a pick not sure about that but was there anyone faster at solos on  acoustic?

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Permalink Reply by Charles Long on February 22, 2010 at 5:06pm

I use a pick most of the time. I don't finger pick very well. When I need to be quiet I strum with my thumb.

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