How Many Fingers/Picks

Jesse Harris · Post by **Jesse Harris** » 22 Apr 2003 10:22 am

I have a question. In some places I have heard someone refer to using the third finger while playing the steel guitar, now as far as I undertand, the thumb is not first finger the index finger is and that would make the third finger the ring finger. Does any one play with three finger picks and a thumb pick? I was wondering because I use my ring finger a lot when playing regular 6 string guitar for hybrid/chicken pickin and thought that I might be able to pull it off on the steel if it offered any advantages, now I can already hear people typing "ok give it a shot sucker" or "why not use four finger picks and a thumb?" So I guess my question is, Are there any players out there that use more than a thumb pick and 2 finger picks?[This message was edited by Jesse Harris on 22 April 2003 at 11:23 AM.]

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 22 Apr 2003 11:24 am

I'm a relative PSG newbie, but I noticed an immediate improvement in my playing when I started using three fingerpicks instead of two. A LOT of good players use three, and some of the ones who are used to using two wish they had started with three. I use my ring finger more easily than my index finger, something to do with hand geometry I guess.

Jesse Harris · Post by **Jesse Harris** » 22 Apr 2003 11:27 am

hmmm thats cool, I know what you mean about the geometry, I have very bulky hands and find that its a lot easier for me to crossover with my ring finger than my middle finger and it gives me a bigger range with my short fangers. But being a recovering banjo player it seems quite strange.I would love to get a take on this from some of the biggies or BIG Es that hang around this place[This message was edited by Jesse Harris on 22 April 2003 at 01:04 PM.]

Jim West · Post by **Jim West** » 22 Apr 2003 2:08 pm

I have heard that 'Reece Anderson uses four fingerpicks. I learned with two but have tried three and can't get it so I'm sticking with two.

Ron Randall · Post by **Ron Randall** » 22 Apr 2003 2:10 pm

Jesse

You will find this topic well covered from a few weeks/months ago. Quite a good discussion from some of the biggies, too. Do a search in the archives.

I use three finger picks and a thumb pick. Great for four note chord grips. But I am not a Biggie.

------------------
Stringmaster T8, Benoit 8, National Tricone

Jeff A. Smith · Post by **Jeff A. Smith** » 22 Apr 2003 7:30 pm

Reece uses four picks IF you count the thumbpick. Otherwise it's three. He mutes with his little finger curled under. That's another part of the question of how you end up picking, since the muting method goes hand-in-hand with the number of picks.

Joe Wright uses three fingerpicks and a thumbpick, and always uses "pickblocking" as his way of muting. He's got it down to a science, and has a very systematic way of teaching.

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 22 Apr 2003 7:43 pm

link to one of many prior discussions:
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/005332.html

Bob Watson · Post by **Bob Watson** » 22 Apr 2003 11:37 pm

I didn't use any finger picks for the first year ( just a thumb pick ) and then went to three finger picks for 15 or 16 years. I noticed that most players ( and a lot of my favorite players ) only used two and I decided to try it for awhile. I felt that my playing improved and I still only use two finger picks. It could be because I started to work on alternating my Thumb and second finger more when I went to using two finger pics, but I still feel more comfortable with two and I doubt if I will ever go back to three.

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 23 Apr 2003 7:35 am

Jim West-I was in Dallas in about 1968 , picking up my new MSA D12 and spent some time with Reece.

He saw how I liked chords and told me to hang that extra pick on my third finger and get used to it being there, you don't have to use it. For a Few days I couldn't get used to it being there.

But after a few days I started using it and adjusted my grips, like Reece does so well.

You can get the 4th note in a chord that way , also many good inversions and subsitute chords with less pedal work.
And is important, expecially in C6. It comes in handy on E9 too. The first 30 years I used 3 picks and the last 30 years, I used 4 picks , thanks to Reece. ( if anyone should be in the HOF, it's Reece Anderson)....al

Tony Orth · Post by **Tony Orth** » 23 Apr 2003 8:48 am

Just started using the third finger pick myself, recently. While I don't use it continually, it comes in handy for many things. For example, I use it a lot when I have my Rotosphere (leslie simulator) engaged. The four note chords are more keyboard like.

Tony[This message was edited by Tony Orth on 23 April 2003 at 09:49 AM.]

Dave Robbins · Post by **Dave Robbins** » 23 Apr 2003 10:54 am

Of course, if you're "Buddy Emmons" you apparently don't need anything more than a "thumb pick!" (Midnight Jamboree,4/12/03, w/Johnny Bush!)

Dave

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 23 Apr 2003 1:24 pm

I use sometimes 2 sometimes, 3 depends on the piece. I also sometimes use none and try to get all 5 digits running ala Dr. Hugh Jeffreys. Also it comes from being a bass player and finger style guitarist too. I sometimes play bass chords or arpegios with thumb and 3 fingers
I am trying for large chord blocks, and I finger mute better without them, but it's considered a no no in these parts... I do like the pick tone.
I am doing all possible techniques I guess. Nothing is written in stone.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 23 April 2003 at 02:27 PM.]

Graham Griffith · Post by **Graham Griffith** » 23 Apr 2003 3:51 pm

I started using 3 finger picks seriously after a visit to Australia last year by Joe Wright. I thoroughly recommend his approach, It has taken me a year, but now I'm starting to put the pick blocking (and 3 finger picks)to good use. His pick blocking video will give you some wonderful clues.

What has made the use of three finger & a thumb pick really relevant and useful for me is the fact that I also play Eharp which has very wide grips and the instrument really came alive when I did that. No matter what you play, it's an advantage.

Graham

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 23 Apr 2003 6:10 pm

Eddie Alkire intended the Eharp to be played with three finger picks...[This message was edited by Dave Van Allen on 23 April 2003 at 07:12 PM.]

Bobbe Seymour · Post by **Bobbe Seymour** » 23 Apr 2003 6:57 pm

Finger picks are dangerous! I quit using them several years ago. What if your on TV and you have to pick your nose right quick? Rub your eye? Go to the rest room! Dangerous!
What if you forget to take them off and your eating a doughnut, yes! Broken tooth, and no telling what else! Yup. Dangerous items. Chet didn't use um', Randy Beavers, nope, Steve Hinson? Nope,(not often),Buddy Emmons? Picks just slow him down.
Careful, you'll poke you eye out! (how many times did you Mom tell you about that?)

Mr.Leavem Hoff,

President: Steel guitar safety foundation/ organization, Madison TN. [This message was edited by BobbeSeymour on 23 April 2003 at 07:59 PM.]

Mike Marchelya · Post by **Mike Marchelya** » 23 Apr 2003 7:25 pm

Thumb and three fingers, thumbpick only, a "Pro-Pick" or something like that. I tried fingerpicks for a couple of days and never picked 'em up again. The fingertips are so sensitive and offer so much tactile feedback and dynamic range that it seemed like a bad tade-off to give all that up for some uncomfortable pieces of metal. And since there's no shortage of "twang" in a steel, more metal-on-metal just seemed like overkill. Well, you asked!

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 23 Apr 2003 8:21 pm

I started playing steel after years of playing piano and fingerstyle chord melody jazz and classical on six string guitar. It just seemed natural to explore my interest in chords by using the option to play more than 3 notes at any given time. A thumbpick and 3 fingers all the way for me! Don't get me wrong,I know that Buddy, Paul et all do just FINE with 1+2...but isnt there some strange connection to banjo playing by just using 2 finger picks?

Also in some situations playing without picks can be a freeing experience...especially in jazz and alot of studio work. But metal picks undeniably have a certain sound that really do cut through on the bandstand.

Jesse Harris · Post by **Jesse Harris** » 24 Apr 2003 3:52 pm

has anyone ever launched a fingerpick across the dance floor to have it smooshed like a pancake.
You know when your making a quick move toward your body and the back of the pick snags and then like a bow and arrow launches across the room.

thats a lot of fun.[This message was edited by Jesse Harris on 24 April 2003 at 04:53 PM.]

Dave Robbins · Post by **Dave Robbins** » 24 Apr 2003 10:29 pm

Jesse,
never "launched" one, but I did drop one of my favorite chromed finger picks on the stage of a well known local Nashville nightclub that fell through a "crack" in the floor!

God only knows where it went after that. The picks were a matched set too!

Sure messed up my night after that.

Dave

Matt Dawson · Post by **Matt Dawson** » 24 Apr 2003 11:47 pm

I use a thumbpick and 4 fingerpicks for another reason. I am also lead singer: while singing I only play chords (keyboard parts really) and I can do root+ 4 voiced chords like that. Work great on songs like Van Morrison's Moondance, or Little Feat's Dixie Chicken or Allman Bros Whipping Post (all of which feature in the set).
Matt

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 25 Apr 2003 5:01 am

The folks in Texas and Tennessee might cringe, but "Whipping Post" was the first song I figured out on pedal steel - it really lays out well on the C6th neck. "Every Breathe You Take" only needs one pedal.