I'm not much of a strummer....but....

[onewilyfool]

I rarely play with a pick, but have a bunch of them from guitar shows, Just Strings, etc. etc. So, Once in a while I will go through the picks and decide which one sounds best with which guitar, then put a little baggie of the best sounding picks in the case storage for future use...if any.....But I've noticed this....not only does each guitar have it's own preference for pick material, BUT each guitar has a "sweet spot" of where it likes to be strummed. Some guitars, near the fret board, some right over the sound hole, some behind the sound hole. This may be no revelation to you pickers and grinners, but to a non-strummer it was in interesting discovery. OR...am I nuts???

 

Let me add this: How many of you finger pick with nails, and how many with the flesh of the finger pads???

[MissouriPicker]

I think you're right. I know that on my ukes, the sweet spot seems to be up on the fretboard a bit. Guitars vary, I guess. My Hummingbird seems best right over the sound hole, but for my ears the J45 sounds coolest when I play a little bit lower than that.....Interesting point about picks too. The same pick on my Hummingbird gives me a different tone on the J150. While the Hummingbird has a warm and solid sound with the pick, on the J150 I get more of a crisp sound so I use a heavier pick. Thumbpick material and weight also makes a big difference to my ears. The heavier the pick, the more solid the sound. I'm primarily a fingerpicker and I like the mellow, warm tones I get from that, but there can be no denying the sound that playing with a pick gives you.

[j45nick]

 

Let me add this: How many of you finger pick with nails, and how many with the flesh of the finger pads???

 

 

I fingerpick with the flesh of the pads on my fingers, and a combination of flesh and edge of nail with the thumb.

 

BUT....

 

More often than not, I have gone back to using a plastic thumb pick and metal fingerpicks, like in the old days. You want projection and note separation, that's the way to go.

 

(And you're right about the flatpicks: different picks and different styles for each guitar.)

[jedzep]

You're right, OWF, but that doesn't mean you aren't nuts. My son-in-law is very resistent to developing flatpicking skills and I try to tell him how he's missing great fun. Get with it man and broaden your horizons! After all, I'm putting in time to learn fingerpicking with dubious results.

[telemaster03]

Fleshy fingers here. I used to be a thumb pick guy, but I've started to prefer the sound of bare fingers across the board.

 

With a flat pick I've noticed that I move around a bit. Sometimes closer to the bridge for a sharper tone, sometimes near the neck for a rounder tone. Most times when I'm not thinking about it the pick is about 3/4" into the right side of the sound hole.

[struma6]

I use a Dunlop Gator .96 pick on all of 'em. I play close to the bridge , middle of the soundhole, close to the fretboard...all over. Depends on the timbre I'm looking for.

 

I finger-pick with the flesh of the finger but use a thumb pick most of the time when doing finger style.

 

I like the Dunlop Gators because they produce very little "click", to my ears.

 

For my squareneck dobro I use a Blue Chip "JDr" and will stick with it, wonderful pick.

[JuanCarlosVejar]

I almost never used picks because I started out on a classical guitar and just adapted the tecnique to steel string playing ... I think Krieger from the doors also started out on a classical .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JC

[EuroAussie]

 

 

Let me add this: How many of you finger pick with nails, and how many with the flesh of the finger pads???

 

I use both. Flesh but also the nail when I want a bit more sparkle and bite to crate dynamics.

[Murph]

You're right, OWF, but that doesn't mean you aren't nuts.

 

Correct.

 

He IS nuts....

[JockStrat]

Think it's fair to say... 'we are all Nuts'

[CindyC]

Thats a very good observation, I wasn't sure if it was just because I'm still pretty new to guitar or not. I am mainly a strummer, I used to play every guitar with the same pick, dunlop maxgrip 60, but the last several months went on a pick walkabout of sorts. I came out discovering I like larger triangle picks for better grip, which makes me not have to think about the pick at all while I play. Also I prefer a heavier thickness than before so now using anything from 1mm to 2mm. And yes each guitar likes a different thickness of pick to make it sound it's best. I usually strum over the sound hole but am trying to find other spots that sound good as well. I am currently attempting to learn finger style and hate long fingernails so I'm using the flesh of my fingers to play. I can see how it would sound better with a thumb pick, maybe I'll try one.

[DanvillRob]

When I fingerpick it's with the fleshy part of my fingers and thumb....but I'd never be mistaken for a fingerpicker....

 

I'm VERY heavy with a pick.

 

I've done definite fingerpicking songs...but to my ear, I sound better when I use a pick on them.

 

or said another way, they sound worse when I fingerpick.

[zombywoof]

Although I have tried, I have never really gotten the hang of playing with a pick. I still would like to get comfortable with a thumbpick though and sure would like to learn how to hybrid pick. But I still have a pretty good collection of picks I have picked up over the past 50+ years - mostly adorned with the name of various guitar stores and makes of guitar or given to me by some artist at a show.

 

 

I am more of a string pincher than a strummer. When I do strum it is usually with the back of my nails in a downward sweep. But even when just playing with my fingers I tend to alter particularly what part of my thumb I use to strike a string as well as move my right hand around to take advantage of the difference in the way my attack sounds when hitting strings at different places between the bridge and fingerboard. Same thing when strumming. I will move my right hand from the bridge to up on the fingerboard depending on what I am looking to pull out of the guitar. It is kind of the equivalent to adjusting knobs on an electric guitar.

[kidblast]

I generally pick over the sound hole regardless, unless I need a bit more of a bright timbre, then I'll head back towards the bridge

 

 

pick verses fingers, I think what ever is required for the song you'd be doing.

 

Some songs need to be finger picked (ex: Dust In The Wind).

 

Others, you gotta flat pick (ex: From The Begging)

 

then there's soloing, pick 80% of the time.

 

I've been finger pluckin on an a 'coustic many years now, (30+?) over time you can develop a pretty solid strong technique, and timing, eventually it will be second nature. But - you also need to be able to flat pick well too.

 

so I've always work on both, give em equal time as required, finger pick when it's right, slap away with flat pick when THAT'S correct.

 

Keep the bag of tools full kids, never know when that plumbers wrench will be required... or a saws-all...

[mountainpicker]

When I took up the guitar ten years ago a guy I know who plays fingerstyle, and who I play a lot of guitar with, advised me NOT to try fingerstyle as I was "too old to get it down quickly enough", so I flatpick. I tinker with fingerstyle and mostly when I bottleneck, but I'm a flatpicker. And I have a collection of flatpicks that would choke a horse. I've tried them all and the standout from the past is a 5mm Wegen that is fun to play by kinda using it to hammer on the strings. It produces a very different type of sound reminiscent of a hammered dulcimer only guitar-like too. It's also the pick of choice for gypsy jazz rhythm guitar. But when I got my hands on a Blue Chip TAD 40 about three years ago my pick quest came to an end. This pick pretty much does it all for me. Varying the angle of attack changes tone, damping with my pick hand while getting more percussive gets another tone, straight up bluegrass style flatpicking (what little I do) is fast and clean. I love my Blue Chip pick. About the only thing I don't like about it is that if you loan it to someone you have to keep your attention on them or they'll pocket the thing because they will like it too and they probably don't know how much one costs...or maybe they do!

As for the "sweet spot": I think all guitars have one but good guitars sound good all over the place and it just becomes a matter of what tone you want out of the instrument for a given song. Wish I could play fingerstyle though. Maybe next incarnation.

[kidblast]

"Wish I could play fingerstyle though."

 

I do agree it takes time, patience and focus to master, but too old? I dunno man, how old is too old?

 

unless your 85,.. hogwash...

[j45nick]

I do agree it takes time, patience and focus to master, but too old? I dunno man, how old is too old?

 

unless your 85,.. hogwash...

 

 

I may not be 85, but I sure hope I'm still playing (and learning) at 85. Les Paul did a pretty good job up until 94, and Pete Seeger is still going strong at 93.

 

You think Dylan is going to stop at 85? Keef?

 

You CAN teach old dogs new tricks (besides "sit", "stay" and "lie down".)

 

Pay no attention to the "kid".........

 

I went back to try to "re-master" fingerpicking after laying off it for about 35 years. I find it easier to learn now than I did at 20. Maybe I just have more patience for practice, and maybe I finally found good lessons to go with the new-found patience.

 

No, I'm not up to recording anything yet, but at least my wife doesn't run out of the room with her hands over her ears. I even catch her tapping her foot from time to time.

[DanvillRob]

 

No, I'm not up to recording anything yet, but at least my wife doesn't run out of the room with her hands over her ears. I even catch her tapping her foot from time to time.

 

HEY! I catch my wife tapping her foot from time to time too...unfortunately, it's usually up against my butt!

[j45nick]

HEY! I catch my wife tapping her foot from time to time too...unfortunately, it's usually up against my butt!

 

Get along, little dog(g )ies!

[DanvillRob]

Get along, little dog(g )ies!

 

Nick, if I had one of them, she wouldn't be kickin' me!

[BluesKing777]

Pick - Free Bareback Player for many years here!

 

 

 

One of the fabulous blues pickers I love is Robert Wilkins. While he is a fingerpicker, a lot of his songs has his brush technique with his thumb down on most of the strings and his finger flicking (hooking) up! It gives a lot of his tunes their shuffle 'limp'.

 

 

I worked on that brush for quite a bit and later on I found my 'Thumb Brush' was very useful to throw in when doing vocals - sometimes fingerpicking is too much in the backing while singing.

 

 

Then I started trying the thumb brush on tunes from the radio - anything really. Now we have Chordie.com to supply a lot of tunes to practice.(but they are not always that accurate.....)

 

 

Here is a video of me playing 'thumb' on my new National - my version of Neil Young's "Ohio". I may have faltered a bit when I saw the recording 'red light' come on, but the video shows the general idea. (Once you mix up the thumbing with some fingerpicking, you can cover a real lot of musical bases, so it is worth putting a bit of time into! It looks a bit easier than it is, I suppose it takes a while)

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9_eHW0BunM

 

 

 

BluesKing777.