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Topic: finger pick advice please |
Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 1 Oct 2016 10:26 am |
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been using the alaska piks and i like them a lot..but..they only work for me if my own nail has enough length to anchor them. lately my nails have been breaking and i need some other options.
i was working a Church gig and the piano player gave me a pack of dunlop metal fingerpicks that he got in a shipment of stuff and didnt need. i have never used metal picks before but i took them. on a lark i put one on my middle finger which had a badly broken nail and went to play a gig. i was able to get through the gig fine with some minor modifications to the way i played. i didnt care too much for the clickety sound, but playing mellow sounds with the tone control on the guitar turned down...it was just fine.
any good plastic finger picks out there that are any good. maybe they dont have the same noise on the attack.
anybody use the kelly freedom picks? they look interesting.
thanks for the advice. |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 1 Oct 2016 12:51 pm Plastic picks for me went out centuries ago
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I haven't used plastic finger picks since I stopped going to instructional classes..........
My old Nationals and/or Dunlops have served me well and experienced none of the 'clickity clacking sounds that some Forumites have complained about.
All the famous players i've known have used metal picks. |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Tony Lombardo
From:
Alabama, USA
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Posted 1 Oct 2016 9:33 pm
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| I use two .18 metal Dunlop finger picks and a plastic Dunlop thumb pick. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 2 Oct 2016 6:00 am
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I use the same combination as Tony.
I started out with plastic finger picks but switched to metal many years ago. |
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Roy Thomson
From:
Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada
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Posted 2 Oct 2016 6:40 am
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Hi Bill,
I have the Alaska picks. Bought them for Classical Guitar. Tried them on my steel and they just don't work for me. I have a pair of plastic picks with the wide tongue and they do not anchor well for me...keep slipping. So I stick with the National ones.
I also have a set of Ernie Ball metal picks that work very well with no noise whatsoever.
Good luck and I hope we hear you on the Forum again.
You're due! 
_________________
Custom Tabs Various Tunings
Courses Lap Steel, Pedal Steel |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 3 Oct 2016 6:14 am
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Hey Bill
Dunlop all the way. Brass has a more mellow tone.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Lefty
From:
Grayson, Ga.
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Posted 3 Oct 2016 6:58 am
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I normally use Nationals. The click goes away with practice. You may want to try the National brass picks. They are a good bit mellower. I use them on banjo sometimes to mellow out the sound.
Sorry, I just saw that Stefan addressed using those.
Lefty |
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Terry VunCannon
From:
Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 4 Oct 2016 3:02 am
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I use the Perfect Touch finger picks...the ones with the Rounded shape. I have no trouble with clicks.
The ones on the left are rounded, & the ones on the right are the flat... |
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Roger Palmer
From:
Rossendale, UK
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Posted 4 Oct 2016 4:03 am
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Ive been using these lately....they dont move at all
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Bob Russell
From:
Virginia, USA
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Posted 4 Oct 2016 4:44 am
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I've had the best luck so far with ACRI picks, sold by Elderly Music, JD Music and others. They don't move around and they have, at least to my ears, a tone that's not as harsh as other metal picks. I use the brass ones.
_________________
Lots of stringy things, many of them slidey. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 4 Oct 2016 7:28 am
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There's a BIG market in over priced "boutique" picks. 
Just give me my Dunlops.  |
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Stephen Abruzzo
From:
Philly, PA
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Posted 4 Oct 2016 9:52 am
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Some people really like the Dunlop and/or the Fred Kelly plastic fingerpicks....in fact they swear by them.
IIRC, Bonnie Raitt uses them as did Bob Brozman. |
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Nathan Laudenbach
From:
Montana
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Posted 4 Oct 2016 6:50 pm
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You owe it to yourself to try National fingerpicks, especially if you are going to try Dunlops. The finger wrap of Dunlop finger picks is concave and can hurt after a short while. Nationals are straight and by far the most comfortable I've tried.
Either way, I think it's much more important how you shape your finger picks than what brand finger picks you use. Make sure you push them up over your fingertips. |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 4 Oct 2016 7:20 pm Pro pik
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I am a Jeffran Alum and swear by their Picks , -- Now have gone to ProPik <Click<
Tried them on a whim , and love them , nearly no adjusting needed.
They are available through the Known Steel Guitar Stores.
Check their Artists List , it includes Jerry Douglas and Dewitt Scott "Scotty"
Hope this adds to the Discussion.
_________________
GeorgeBoards S8 Non Pedal Steel Guitar Instruments
Maker of One of a Kind Works of Art that play music too.
Instructional DVDs
YouTube Channel
Last edited by George Piburn on 4 Oct 2016 7:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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G Strout
From:
Carabelle, Florida
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Posted 4 Oct 2016 7:24 pm
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Bill,
I have to go with Terry on this one. I have had finger pick issues for a long,long time. I have been using the butterfly picks for the past few years.
http://www.butterflyfingerpicks.com/
Switched over to the perfect touch picks a few months back..... http://www.perfecttouchpicks.com/
I love them!!! Especially for straight up picking. I still use the Butterfly picks for the more mellow stuff....
Gary |
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Bob Russell
From:
Virginia, USA
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Posted 4 Oct 2016 7:41 pm
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| G Strout wrote: |
Bill,
I have to go with Terry on this one. I have had finger pick issues for a long,long time. I have been using the butterfly picks for the past few years.
http://www.butterflyfingerpicks.com/
Switched over to the perfect touch picks a few months back..... http://www.perfecttouchpicks.com/
I love them!!! Especially for straight up picking. I still use the Butterfly picks for the more mellow stuff....
Gary |
I liked the Butterfly picks as well, but found I had to use bands of surgical tape to keep them from slipping. Good sound and feel.
_________________
Lots of stringy things, many of them slidey. |
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Terry VunCannon
From:
Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 5 Oct 2016 3:25 am
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| The way the Perfect Touch flex, there is no need to use tape or bend them so tight that they hurt. They hug your fingers & flex with movement...stay on & don't hurt. |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 5 Oct 2016 7:01 am
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I agree with ACRIs for full-on metal fingerpick tone - but thanks to Ye Olde Nette, I just found something I'm dying to try - maybe 2-nite?
Home-made Portugese guitar picks, dig:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hbujx2fR4Q&index=12&list=PLXNWhrSnVuhHDIEDoV2u7xXTCcMtHVOOi
There's a Part two, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMCW1DUJvhs
You cut out plastic of your choice (yellow pill bottle, other picks, packaging clear poly...), curve it, cut a hole a la ProPik Finger Tone metal picke. Some people DO wear these the other way round. Apparently the consensus is then Transpore medical tape to hold them on, but then this second guy hooks them up with Velcro! So beside Part Two above:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kovqSnUH3us&list=RDkovqSnUH3us#t=2
He uses Velcro. This one is ALL in Portugese, but you can get the drift. I actually got a translator working, but it's deeply bizarre - power swimsuits? An unbroken tool in Macao... just watch. Basically, making your own Alaska picks.
Edit: There's also somebody selling rubber finger cots, like you use for turning pages, with a slot in them and a piece of curved pick plastic through the slot. Wonders never cease. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 5 Oct 2016 7:44 am
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| This is getting nuttier all the time. |
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Dana Duplan
From:
Ramona, CA
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Danny Kane
From:
Louisiana, USA
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Posted 16 Oct 2016 7:03 pm
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Nationals work great for me with no extra noise. Maybe you should work with the metal a little longer and refine your right hand technique. Now that you are aware of the noise you can rid yourself of any bad habits that may be making your 'click'.
Plastic just ain't the same.
I can't imagine using that on anything other than my thumb (john pearse)
Patience brother. Your suffering pays dividends. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 17 Oct 2016 7:30 am
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| I think plastic picks were common when THE music was Hawaiian. Plastic picks and a plastic bar for mellow. |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 17 Oct 2016 9:23 am
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Plastic fingerpicks allow one the ability to increase attack, dig in, and play hard and loud -- hard enough to send metal fingerpicks flying in all directions. Great for maximum volume from acoustic instruments, resonators especially, and both bottleneck and lap playing. Mostly a moot point on electric instruments, where metal fingerpicks rule.
The trick with plastic fingerpicks is the fit, which is more difficult to achieve than with metal fingerpicks. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 17 Oct 2016 9:39 am
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Jack,
I think it's easier to play the instruments you mentioned with plastic picks because of the wider string spacing.
It's hard to get between the strings with plastic picks on guitars with narrower string spacing. |
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