Fingerpickers -- a question regarding the thumb

[kebob]

I've been fingerpicking a lot more the last couple years. I don't use a thumb pick and I've developed a callous where the thumb strikes the string.

 

However, if I go at it hot & heavy for a few couple days, I get tenderness on the calloused area of the thumb -- to the point where it's painful to play. My question: will this tenderness eventually diminish and go away with more playing or should I be looking to transition to a thumb pick?

 

I've tried a thumb pick, but I can't stand it -- I have much better feel/control when I can feel my fingers/thumb directly on the strings.

[Modac]

My question: will this tenderness eventually diminish and go away with more playing or should I be looking to transition to a thumb pick?

 

Yes, the pain will subsist, and no, you don't have to use a thumbpick if you don;t want to. Play until you get a blood blister beneath the callus....then it will really get rock hard. It hurts but it's worth it. When your thumb looks deformed, you are in the right place.

 

Sometimes it will be tender when you begin playing, but if you tough it out for a few minutes, the pain usually goes away.

[Rambler]

No pain, no gain. Right? Keep in mind, tho, you dont have to absolutely SNAP the low strings to get it going. But if you insist on going for power, then, well, pick or thumb, choose your poison. Or, flatpick and finegrs?--unorthodox, but...

[drathbun]

I use my thumbnail.

[TommyK]

It's something you get used to. I started out finger pickin' then went to a flat pick. I thought I'd never get the hang of a flat pick, but it eventually came.

 

If you go to a thumb pick, go with the plastic one. Regard it as raw material. Use of a combination of a toe nail clipper, diamond file, fine sand paper and your pant leg, you can shape it to whatever length you need, then polish to a luster.

 

Probably best to get a few until you get the shaping figured out.

[onewilyfool]

Yah....if I go to a Jam.....My thumb would be sore for days......so when I do that I usually bring a thumb pick.....If I'm picking on the sofa for an hour, the callous usually holds up.....Recently I let my thumb nail grow long, and use that, but still a little of the flesh gets string rash......

[kebob]

Thanks for the input. Sounds like I'm not the only one that occasionally suffers from a tender thumb.

 

A followup question about the use of thumb picks: Do you trim them down to just a nub or do you leave quite a bit of overhang on the pick? If I used a thumb pick, I could see me filing it down to a nub so it's as close to using my actual thumb as I can get without actually hitting flesh on string.

[Hoss]

If you committed to using a thumbpick-- and I mean realllly committed - you'd be comfortable with it in a month.

 

I started out as a 'finger' player, but went to a thumbpick to help get a cleaner bass. Now it's as natural as my bare thumb (which I can still use). I also told myself I could never use a flatpick, but finally decided to just do it. A year later, and flatpicking is a lot of fun!

[TommyK]

Thanks for the input. Sounds like I'm not the only one that occasionally suffers from a tender thumb.

 

A followup question about the use of thumb picks: Do you trim them down to just a nub or do you leave quite a bit of overhang on the pick? If I used a thumb pick' date=' I could see me filing it down to a nub so it's as close to using my actual thumb as I can get without actually hitting flesh on string.

 

[/quote']

 

I cut away quite a bit of the Dunlop paddle like thumb pick. It is a bit more than a nub, but there's a lot of plastic left on the bench when I'm done.

 

Thumb picks come in sizes S, M, L, XL. Choose a pick size that almost feels like it is strangling your thumb. Not enough to turn it purple but enough to get good thumb to pick engagement so it doesn't spin. Now strike a pose with your pickin' hand. Then without lookin' or thinkin' about it much bring the pick to the low E string. Now, without moving the pick, take a gander at how much pick is below the string. Trim off 3/4 of this excess length as a starting point. Do the rough trimming with a toe nail clipper... sounds funny, but it works great. Then trim it into a more or less point. Now pick for a while. It'll sound a bit weird as the rough tip rakes over the E string, but we are not looking for tone yet. If it has too much engagement, shorten it either with the clippers or file, .... it's a feel sort of thing, I can't describe it, but if you've been finger pickin' a long time, like you have, you will know what I mean. When you get the length almost where you want it, chamfer the edges of the business end without shortening it, then, with the fine sand paper, ease the chamfered edge so it is kind of rounded like a flat pick. Now burnish the edge with your pants leg. Bluejean material is best. If the edge grabs any of the threads and pulls it out or feels anything but smooth rubbing across you pant leg, then go back to the sand paper and knock down the burrs. Go back to burnishing on the pant leg. When the business edge is rounded over some and glistens like a shiny new Fender pick, you're done.

[Modac]

Thumb picks hurt my thumb a lot more than my callus ever did.

[KL]

If your thumb gets really painful it is best to give it a rest for a day or two. Use a flatpick for a while. I have found in the past that if I have a marked callous on my thumb then you can hear it when recording in the studio. In fact one day when we were recording this finger picking part the sound engineer said . . . have you got a callous on your thumb? He could hear it!

[kebob]

I cut away quite a bit of the Dunlop paddle like thumb pick. It is a bit more than a nub' date=' but there's a lot of plastic left on the bench when I'm done.

 

Thumb picks come in sizes S, M, L, XL. Choose a pick size that almost feels like it is strangling your thumb. Not enough to turn it purple but enough to get good thumb to pick engagement so it doesn't spin. Now strike a pose with your pickin' hand. Then without lookin' or thinkin' about it much bring the pick to the low E string. Now, without moving the pick, take a gander at how much pick is below the string. Trim off 3/4 of this excess length as a starting point. Do the rough trimming with a toe nail clipper... sounds funny, but it works great. Then trim it into a more or less point. Now pick for a while. It'll sound a bit weird as the rough tip rakes over the E string, but we are not looking for tone yet. If it has too much engagement, shorten it either with the clippers or file, .... it's a feel sort of thing, I can't describe it, but if you've been finger pickin' a long time, like you have, you will know what I mean. When you get the length [b']almost[/b] where you want it, chamfer the edges of the business end without shortening it, then, with the fine sand paper, ease the chamfered edge so it is kind of rounded like a flat pick. Now burnish the edge with your pants leg. Bluejean material is best. If the edge grabs any of the threads and pulls it out or feels anything but smooth rubbing across you pant leg, then go back to the sand paper and knock down the burrs. Go back to burnishing on the pant leg. When the business edge is rounded over some and glistens like a shiny new Fender pick, you're done.

 

Thanks for the instruction TK -- I'll pick up a wad of thumb picks tomorrow at my guitar shop. I think I'll take another run at transitioning to a thumb pick -- if nothing else, so I can somewhat comfortable playing both ways.

[kebob]

Thumb picks hurt my thumb a lot more than my callus ever did.

 

I know what you mean -- I've never been able to wear a thumb pick comfortably for any length of time. But perhaps I haven't shopped around enough to find the right one.

[kebob]

If your thumb gets really painful it is best to give it a rest for a day or two. Use a flatpick for a while. I have found in the past that if I have a marked callous on my thumb then you can hear it when recording in the studio. In fact one day when we were recording this finger picking part the sound engineer said . . . have you got a callous on your thumb? He could hear it!

 

That's exactly what I've done -- taken a couple days off. Feels better now :) but then I haven't been playin' either :( I've got a callous as well, but it still gets awful tender if I play heavy on it. Wish the thing would toughen up more like my fretting fingers have.

[Modac]

It will...you just have to keep playing through the pain when you can.

[Guth]

I think it is important to try out as many different thumbpicks as possible. Just like flatpicks, they come in different shapes, sizes and thicknesses. However, in the case of thumbpicks, I think that you notice the differences even more so than with flatpicks. I've settled on the "Slick Pick" (I believe these are produced by Fred Kelly??) as they are not too lengthy and fit the shape of my thumb very nicely.

 

Best of luck to you!

Guth