Do you use a 4th pick on your ring finger?

Pete Nicholls · From: Macon, Georgia, USA

Joe Wright advocates use of a 4th pick, and he certainly knows how to use them!! Do you use a 4th pick, if so, how is your experience with it? .. if not, why not?
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Rick Myrland · From: New Orleans

I've slipped one on for the C6th neck to get a fatter chord, but I can't say I'm very proficient nor can I pick individual strings well with the fourth pick.
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Niels Andrews · From: Salinas, California, USA

Reece Anderson uses four picks, that was reason enough for me.
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b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Yes. I use it mostly for 4-note chords.
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Richard Damron · From: Gallatin, Tennessee, USA (deceased)

Yup.

Also use plastic picks. Don't laugh. See Dan Jones on Jim Cohen's site before you do.

Richard

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Yes. I was sitting around Bobbe Seymour's shop one day and we were talking about picks and he asked me why I wasn't using my ring finger when I already played guitar with a flatpick and middle/ring fingers or fingerpicks. He was right - I just put the pick on and I found it workable pretty quickly. Especially nice for wide chords and extended arpeggios using, for example, forward or backward rolls.

It did take me a bit to adjust for palm-blocking. But I extend my pinky naturally anyway, so decoupling ring from pinky motion didn't turn out to be a problem. I suppose that if one curled and tucked ring and pinky together, it might be harder to deal with.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

I tried it, at Reece's suggestion. I found it awkward and clumsy, and it threw the my hand out of balance. I went back to just 3 picks.
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Rick Schmidt · From: Prescott AZ, USA

On six string finger style guitar I always used my ring finger, so it was natural to put a pick on there for steel. I like four note chords for many styles of music, but you don't always have play four notes at a time. In my case, I think that starting out this way made pick blocking more intuitive for me.

Jim Robbins · From: Ontario, Canada

Yes for the same reasons as Rick Schmidt. I don't practice rolls using my ring finger but I do practice four note voicings on C6. It is also handy for hitting the first string in fast licks using e.g. strings 6,5,4 and 1 on E9 rather than stretching out your middle finger.

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

I went to a seminar Reece gave in the the '70s, and asked him why he used four picks. He kind of disdainfully asked me, "How many fingers do you have?" and while it made me wonder why he didn't then use one on his pinky as well (!), his lush and masterful playing spoke volumes. I worked at it like a dog for a few months, but it just wasn't for me. I do use the pick and fingers thing on guitar, though.
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Dave Hopping · From: Aurora, Colorado

I've always been more chordally oriented than shredder-fast,so a lot of things opened up when I started using 4 picks.

Bill Cunningham · From: Atlanta, Ga. USA

I tried Reese's suggestion of "just put it on and don't worry about using it until you get used to it being there" (or something along those lines). It took forever but I have been using 4 for about 10 years now, have become used to it and feel naked if I don't have a pick on my ring finger.

I don't find the third finger very useful for E9 playing but use it a fair amount on the hobby neck. Four tone chords just don't sound the same when strumming two strings with the thumb. However, sometimes strumming two with the thumb is the sound I am looking for and sometimes I prefer to use the four picks. Also you can get some fuller sounds with grips 2,4,5,7 instead of 2,4,7; 3,5,6,8 as opposed to 3,5,8 on the back neck (C6). It's one more nail size in the apron.....

I believe Paul Franklin said here once that if he were starting over he would use 4. Buddy has said here on the forum that when he wants 4 notes he just uses the nail of the ring finger.

YMMV...............
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Ben Feher · From: Austin TX

I've been working on adding in the 4th pick on dobro for a little while for a few reasons, many of which have been covered already -- though one unique reason is to have extra cut and volume on low cords acoustically in jams and such, by playing 2 note chords in both octaves. Not really applicable to pedal steel.

However, I found that my ring finger is not used to the sensation of having a pick on it, and therefore I pay too much attention to it and use it excessively and inappropriately. I think the best way would be start "training" that finger to get used to the sensation of having a pick on it. When I first started using finger picks, it was suggested that I wear picks as often as possible even when not playing the instrument to get my fingers used to the sensation as well as to start feeling like they were the tips of my fingers. Typing with fingerpicks on is quite a skill I may add...

Anyhow, if you want to start using the extra pick, I recommend just putting it on and ignoring it and keep playing 3 finger style. Once you feel like you don't notice it at all, it doesn't get in the way and it doesn't feel any different from your old 3 finger style you can start working on used to it creatively. But I find when I put it on and pay too much attention to it, my 3 finger picking suffers and I get frustrated. YMMV

(LOL, Bill and I were making basically the same point at the same time, right down to the YMMV)

Niels Andrews · From: Salinas, California, USA

With 4 notes you have so many more options, unless you are just playing the intro/ fill position. Since I am not a pro and play for my own enjoyment, I Iike to play full chords for 7ths and 9ths. Much fuller chords to me.
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CrowBear Schmitt · From: Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France

i have'nt really established a pick on my ring finger
i do use that finger for 4 notes grips tho'

Bob Sykes · From: North Carolina

I've been wearing the extra pick for about 6 months now. Gradually finding more uses for it. Had to adjust blocking to accommodate. Wish I had started out using it.
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Peter Freiberger · From: California, USA

Hearing Rick Schmidt and Doug Livingston (there are others like Maurice Anderson, etc. whom I have not seen as up close and personal), play jazz and classical material makes a strong case for using four picks and a 12 string guitar.

Douglas Schuch · From: Valencia, Philippines

I am a novice player, but decided when I started learning C6 (via my U-12) that I wanted the bigger chords. Many years ago, when I was a fairly proficient finger-picker on 6-string, I used the ring finger. I thought it would be easy to get it "fired up" again, but I still struggle with it picking single-note runs. In particular, I find it difficult to get my middle finger back onto a string to pick-block while simultaneously picking with the ring finger. I also find it much more difficult to palm-block when using a 4-string grip, but it is slowly getting better.

I am surprised at how many people say they use their ring-finger. I'd thought I was a bit of an oddball for doing so. I assume those who only use 3 are not chiming in. Clearly, if you read the replies, its use is much more common on c6 than on e9.

Doug
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Gary Walker · From: Morro Bay, CA

Being a Chet-type guitar picker, the extra pick came as second nature. I remember Tom Morrel was once announced as using a pick even on his pinkie.

Glenn Uhler · From: Trenton, New Jersey, USA

Started with 4 picks on the Alkire system in 1960 and have used 4 ever since. I think there are a lot more people using (or trying to use 4) than we think.
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Christopher Woitach · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

When I decided to use picks at all (really didn't want to!), I went for four picks. I tried five picks, but I really needed the pinky for blocking.

If you want to play big spread grips, a la Reece Anderson, where there are four notes with no adjacent strings, you have to either use four picks or use the nail on your ring finger.

I also think that, with training, the ring finger can be very useful for picking melodies while the other three comp on lower strings. I'm sure there's a good way to do this with three fingers, but I like the different timbre the ring finger produces.

There sure are a lot of ways to play steel - Im sure someone out there uses only two picks, and someone out there uses five.
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Ken Metcalf · From: San Antonio Texas USA

Yes 4 picks
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Don Mogle · From: Round Rock, TX, USA

Yes...I use one on my ring finger. I also use one on my small finger too! Picks on all 5 fingers!

Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

Always used one when finger-picking the 6-string and never thought not to use it when I began playing PSG. To my mind this is essential for full utilization of strings 1+2 on the E9 tuning and for all those luscious 4-note grips on C6, still I hear a lot of good stuff coming from folks who only use two fingers and a thumb, it's just not how I learned.

Lincoln Goertzen · From: Taylor, British Columbia, Canada

Nope! I don't use picks on my index or middle finger either! Just a thumbpick, and all four fingernails. I know, it's really weird. But I love the 5 note chords I can get on C6th, and I don't have to move my hand around so much on E9th. I don't really use 5-note E9th chords, more just 2, 3, and the occasional 4.

I don't even remember why I quit using them. I have several sets that fit really well, so that wouldn't be it. I use three picks for dobro and [b@njo], so it's not unfamiliar.

I may have ditched my picks during a time when I was switching a lot between PSG and electric lead guitar. Fingerstyle is my 6-string background, and using the ring finger was normal to me. I tried a pick on it and couldn't block strings the way I wanted. Eventually I started using my pinky finger, too, on both 6-string and pedal steel.

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