Finger picks or no finger picks?

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Yes and no. I think it's a good idea to gain experience using picks because for some music they enable you to play in ways that you can't—or at least I can't—play without them. However, these days I like to play without picks when the music allows. The only thing is my natural nails tend to get worn and I am not about to go through a whole nail care ritual. I would say it's a 50/50 split for these days. When I was working regularly, I always wore picks.

Some people have trouble with picks, but if you experiment with different gauges, you're likely to find something more comfortable. I think I started with 0.025 National NP2 but eventually settled on a lighter gauge, like .015 or .018.
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Lloyd Graves · From: New York, USA

Ray Alden, a fantastic clawhammer banjoist, went to a Korean nail salon and got "Silk Wraps." (It might be that there was only a Korean salon where he lived, I'm not sure.) He said they were superior to acrylic because , rather than cooing, they wrote down like real nails. He only had the three middle fingers of his right hand done.

They sounded great, but it also looked like he had a nail fungus.

As a player of both clawhammer banjo and steel, I don't use my nails when "picking" the steel. I wouldn't want to risk them breaking.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Gary Spaeth · From: Wisconsin, USA

here's a video with buddy emmons playing without finger picks. discussed at the 55 minute mark.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K064QL5YOGk

Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

Gary Spaeth · From: Wisconsin, USA

he's using picks here, much, much later. maybe 10 years ago.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZgcSjzcEz8

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

It’s something the fingertips have to get used to, and then the toughness or callous has to be maintained.

Buddy’s comment (thanks for the videos, Gary Spaeth) that he didn’t even notice that he was playing without picks while experimenting with midi gear for 3 weeks is a testament to that. So is what he said about consciously going bare-fingered - because it fricking hurts at first. That explains why, in the second video, he went back to picks when he wasn’t playing as much anymore.

Otherwise, I think it’s safe to say he was doing pretty well without them. Of course, the guy probably could have made great music using a shoe horn for a pick.

Allen Kaatz · From: Washington, USA

I have the same issue learning to play the Dobro - fingerpicks feel totally unnatural. I play acoustic guitar and am accustomed to using the flesh of my fingers when fingerpicking, but on the other hand some great fingerstyle guitarists use picks.

I will second the recommendation for brass fingerpicks, they have a slightly mellower tone. I like this type of "split wrap" as they are easier to fit on my skinny fingers: https://www.elderly.com/products/propik-brass-fast-pick-angled-fingerpick-split-wrap-1?variant=27928722079808#more-details

Chris Templeton · From: The Green Mountain State

Buddy played with no finger picks for a while, and of course I had to try it. After developing some callouses on the fingers, I really liked the tonal variations of flesh to callous. The downside was the loss of attack that fingerpicks give.
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Jeff Highland · From: New South Wales, Australia

Costs me $10 Aud ($7 us) every 6 weeks for 2 Acrylic nails, Great to play with and stops some nasty splits my natural nails have developed with age.
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Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

We're now at 75% for finger picks, 24% for fingers only. (Not sure why it's not 25%). I'm actually surprised there are this many others who use just fingers.

David Renson · From: Louisiana, USA

You can expand your chops playing leads if you don't use picks by muting with your fingers. Practice 2 notes back and forth hitting the first note with your thumb and as you hit the second note with 1st (or any) finger your thumb comes down to mute the first note. Then you can slide the second note to where you want. Or visa versa. Even better is a quick 3 note combo. My top 4 strings from the top are a high major 3rd,a high 1, a 6, and a 5. I can hit the 5 (thumb), then the 1 (1st finger), and as I hit the top string major 3rd my thumb mutes the other 2 strings freeing up the major 3rd to slide anywhere it wants, usually a half step up to the 4 or step and a half to the 5. Without picks it does help to have wide string spacing like my Eharp and you'll want to keep your finger nails clipped as far as you can to prevent catching the string above your intended note.
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I virtually always use both thumb and 3 finger picks for pedal steel. I always use a thumb pick, and generally use finger picks for lap/console steel. But sometimes I shed the finger picks, mostly blues, rock, etc. I always use a thumb pick and generally no finger picks for slide guitar, but sometimes add finger picks if I want a brighter sound. I generally play standard guitar with a tiny 358 flat pick and middle/ring fingers - sometimes with picks, sometimes not.

For a guy who, for a long time, was a strict flat picking guitar player, I find it totally refreshing to be able to apply different approaches to different situations. I wish someone had told me 50+ years ago, fairly forcefully, that I should learn a multitude of picking approaches and explained what are now, to me, the obvious benefits.

Steven Pearce · From: Port Orchard Washington, USA

Just a thumb pick for 40 years,BUT, during Covid I decided I’m gonna learn finger picks. It worked, I’ll never go back so
YES for finger picks.
Steve
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Daniel Flanigan · From: Oregon, USA

As for Buddy's preference regarding picks vs fingers, here's a post from Mr. Emmons on this forum from March of 2000.

"I would love to drop the fingerpicks altogether because I have played as long as six months without them and really liked it. I played on some Step One recordings, played a few concerts, and even the convention in St. Louis one year without finger picks. The only thing that got me back into picks was when I tore a nail before going on stage one night and had to put a pick on my finger to protect it. There's something about the feel of the guitar that's not there when you have a piece of metal between the fingers and the strings."
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Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

Daniel Flanigan · From: Oregon, USA

Michael Simpkins · From: Oregon, USA

I'm with David on this one. Playing with fingers really expands your options for blocking. I've had problems with palm blocking and having my bare fingers, one on each of the highest three strings and thumb on the fourth, makes scales and single string melodies easier for me. I guess I always found picks to be really cumbersome,and it's nice to just pick up the steel without having to locate them only to realize you don't know you put them

I'll amend this by saying that I think it's easier to get away with bare fingers in Hawaiian music as it's a softer sound. I can't imagine getting s country or swing sound without them 🤷

Matt Berg · From: Pennsylvania, USA

Moving over to dobro sometimes rather than just lap steel I'm trying finger picks again, so this thread is timely for me. Wondering, if picks, what kind? I just went back to an old set of Nationals over the split Pro-piks I'd been using for comfort, and I will try some Dunlops and Pearses.

I read somewhere about banjo picks being straight and angled tips being better for steel guitar. But very few picks are sold as angled, and I've experimented bending the tips (I guess I will buy a tube of light gauge Dunlops to check this out further) but can't get good results.

I wish the Zookie angled thumbpicks came in a larger size, their large doesn't work for me. Blue Hercos are nice but they spin around the thumb. So I mostly use large Golden Gates or the green Fred Kellys.

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

I have eventually weaned myself off of picks for my electric guitars, in most instances. Sometimes I will use fingerpicks on my Weissenborn, but not always. When I do use them, I use a generic Dunlop plastic thumbpick and the metal Dunlop .025s that I once used on my lap and pedal steels.

When playing my Dobro or my Style 1 tricone, I always use plastic fingerpicks (as personally advised by the late Bob Brozman). I use the larger Dunlops. There is a learning curve to shaping plastic fingerpicks to one's satisfaction. Be prepared to go through a pile of 'em before shaping a pair to suit.

For thumbpicks, I buy a bag of Dunlops, try all of 'em, discard the ones that don't feel right, and keep the rest. Usually end up tossing about half of 'em. Seems like no two of them feel the same, even though they all look virtually identical.

Michael Simpkins · From: Oregon, USA

I've had the same issue with thumb picks, each pack almost seems like a grab bag. I usually get mine from the music shop where they have bins you can pick from individually. I usually use just a thumb pick for acoustic blues, sometimes a finger pick

Tom Keller · From: Greeneville, TN, USA

Finger Picks!

Gary Spaeth · From: Wisconsin, USA

without picks i get a good Wes Montgomery octave sound. i pick the octave notes with my thumb and second finger and stick my first finger between the two strings above the lower octave note to mute them, then strum those three strings while picking the upper octave at the same time. you could do this with picks i suppose if you put some kind of soft muting material around the picks upper ring.

Orville Johnson · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

I go both ways. When playing dobro I generally use fingerpicks to get volume and a certain type of tone. Sometimes when I'm recording if I want a softer tone and the sound I can get when blocking with my finger pads, I'll go bare fingers. But I only go naked on dobro when the volume is not an issue, because it's pretty much impossible to get beyond a certain level that way.

On lap steel, my first choice is bare fingers. I love the way it feels to play that way and volume is no problem when you have a knob for it. I revert to picks if I need to play fast single note passages, like in a trainbeat country song, because I can play more accurately with picks in that situation.

So I do both and it's dictated by the music and the sound I want for the particular piece. That's how I try to approach everything that deals with technique and gear...what does the music need from me to sound right.

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