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How do you do it...?


daveinspain

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Can someone explain how to hold a pick in your hand while finger picking to switch back and forth from using the pick and finger picking... Joe Bonamassa is a master at it. He switches back and forth at a seamless blink of an eye.

 

We are playing Babe I'm Gonna Leave You by Zeppelin (Pink's version) and I need to use a pick in the choruses to get the power but the song is mainly fingerpicking. Pinks guitarist uses a pick for the arpeggiated part too but it took me quite a while to get the fingerpicking down and I don't want to relearn it using a pick. I like the finger plucking sound better in this particular song any way...

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I slip the pick between the big knuckles of my index and middle fingers. A simple thumb swipe and it's back in playing position. This is just what works for me.

 

There are many ways to "palm" a pick. In the Setzer vid posted you'll see he hooks it with his index finger. A lot of people will hold it against their palm with the ring and/or little fingers. I would give them all a try and see what works and feels natural to you.

 

Of course, there's always the mouth storage system, and the sticky tape on the mic stand method.

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If I have a lot of finger picking to do I just don't use a pick at all. The parts typically picked I either use my thumb knuckle for bashing it out or hold my index and thumb as though I were holding a pick, and use the end of my index as the pick.

 

rct

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If I have a lot of finger picking to do I just don't use a pick at all. The parts typically picked I either use my thumb knuckle for bashing it out or hold my index and thumb as though I were holding a pick, and use the end of my index as the pick.

 

rct

 

 

Yeah, like that too. You use the index finger nail as a pick. With a little practice, you can get good pinch harmonics that way too.

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I palm it in with my ring finger. Makes for a seamless back and forth.

 

This pink girl, she covered a Zep song?

 

I use my ring finger plucking the strings… I have been doing what rct says strumming as if I were holding a pick… I'll work on the knuckle hold while I'm growing my fingernails…

 

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Guest Farnsbarns

If I have a lot of finger picking to do I just don't use a pick at all. The parts typically picked I either use my thumb knuckle for bashing it out or hold my index and thumb as though I were holding a pick, and use the end of my index as the pick.

 

rct

 

I've played like that for ever whether I'm going to finger pick or not. I'm really trying to get used to a pick again.

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If I have a lot of finger picking to do I just don't use a pick at all. The parts typically picked I either use my thumb knuckle for bashing it out or hold my index and thumb as though I were holding a pick, and use the end of my index as the pick.

 

rct

That's what I've found to work best but also use my thumbnail on upstrokes. Two nails last longer than one if you use 'em that way a lot.

 

Plus you can get some cool effects or oddball syncopation. Takes practice and a bit more effort than a pick, though.

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That's what I've found to work best but also use my thumbnail on upstrokes. Two nails last longer than one if you use 'em that way a lot.

 

Plus you can get some cool effects or oddball syncopation. Takes practice and a bit more effort than a pick, though.

 

Yes. The thumbnail on the up can give a really nice recordable shimmer if using an acoustic that doesn't have the dreaded cigarette packa batteries in it and requires a mic. Index nail can too, but takes some gettin the hang of.

 

rct

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