anyone just use a thumb pick with bare fingers?

[Daniel Stein]

dont like finger pickups as I cant feel the strings as well. Thumb im used to as I used em years before I started playing steel

Ive also noticed the sounds is almost the same for me when i use either one (callous's maybe?)

Pretty sure i spelled that wrong ha

[Tim Donaghy]

I'm new to the PSG and noticed that the more I wear fingerpicks, the less I notice them. Maybe just try a few different ways of wearing them on your finger and see what works for you.

I figure it's worth the hassle so that I don't have bad habits later. For example, when I was learning the banjo I didn't wear picks at first. When I finally started wearing picks, I almost had to re-learn all of my rolls since it was so different.

Spare yourself the trouble, just wear 'em.

[Sean Borton]

That's how I play (no finger picks)... then again, when I grab my tele I'm mostly bare fingers there as well. Yet, when I grab my banjo (5 string) or dobro I put the finger picks on. My take is this... there may be a standard way of doing things that works best for the majority, but that doesn't mean you can't do something different.

Keep in mind... Pedal Steel is an extra instrument for me, not my primary (which is guitar). I might approach it very differently if I spent a lot more time on it.

[Jack Stoner]

If you are just learning, best advice is "don't reinvent the wheel".

I played (or attempted to) lead in the 60's. I had a Chet Atkins PX6120 Gretsch and did a little "Chet" with a thumb pick. When I took up Pedal Steel I added the finger picks and never looked back. It may take a little to get used to them but it improves the sound over fingers. If I remember correctly Chet used finger nails not his bare finger to pick.

[Daniel Stein]

If you are just learning, best advice is "don't reinvent the wheel".

I played (or attempted to) lead in the 60's. I had a Chet Atkins PX6120 Gretsch and did a little "Chet" with a thumb pick. When I took up Pedal Steel I added the finger picks and never looked back. It may take a little to get used to them but it improves the sound over fingers. If I remember correctly Chet used finger nails not his bare finger to pick.

The prob is though i play keys as well in the same band ha ha. Its not really hard to take em off...ill try em

[Richard Sinkler]

I played keys too. For a lot of stuff, I could play with picks on. But it is quick and easy to remove the picks and put them back on.

[Kevin Fix]

A large National Thumb Pick and two JF (Newman) finger picks.

[Fred Treece]

For clean tone, wear picks. For overdrive/distortion, bare fingers.

[Mike Wheeler]

When I started learning to play pedal steel, around '73, I was accomplished at Chet style guitar playing. So, naturally, I thought this steel stuff would be a snap with my thumb pick and fingernails.

A week later, with my fingernails trashed, I realized I needed finger picks....learned my lesson.

If all you do is play for your own pleasure, or with a few friends once in a while, bare fingers will work just fine. But if you ever expect to play pedal steel as a pro, 3 or 4 nights a week, you'll learn that picks are an absolute necessity. I know I did.

[Daniel Stein]

For clean tone, wear picks. For overdrive/distortion, bare fingers.

I dont hear a huge difference between them...i still might try em though...still learning

[Fred Treece]

For clean tone, wear picks. For overdrive/distortion, bare fingers.

I dont hear a huge difference between them...i still might try em though...still learning

Same here. It’s not so much about the tone when in overdrive mode, though there is some difference in articulation. I just feel a lot more in control of unwanted string noise when fingertip blocking bare-fingered. For clean playing, I think picks give you a wider range of expressive possibility.

[John McClung]

My Southern California friend Darrell Owens plays that way, sounding especially good on his Zum Hybrid SD-10. Beautiful fingernails, great tone.

[Daniel Stein]

My Southern California friend Darrell Owens plays that way, sounding especially good on his Zum Hybrid SD-10. Beautiful fingernails, great tone.

Cool, i use the meat of my fingers...sounds good witg lap steel with overdrive

[Fred Treece]

I could never ever have fingernails like that! Some people are just blessed with A) really tough nails, or B) never having to work a construction job.

Like Daniel, I use the flesh of my fingertips, which are calloused almost as much as my fret hand fingers from 50 years of finger picking standard guitar.

[Daniel Stein]

I could never ever have fingernails like that! Some people are just blessed with A) really tough nails, or B) never having to work a construction job.

Like Daniel, I use the flesh of my fingertips, which are calloused almost as much as my fret hand fingers from 50 years of finger picking standard guitar.

Exactly...but for me 9 years of playin 6 string and bass among others

[Darrell Owens]

Thanks, John. I am a fingerstyle guitar player, so it just comes natural for me.

[Mark McCornack]

I actualy went through this struggle twice in my life. Back in the 60’s, I was playing banjo bare fingered. I then started playing in a Bluegrass band in the early 70’s that was giging pretty regularly and found that

1) I couldn’t get the volume and tone needed playing with a full band and
2) Fingernails can break. Often at inopportune times.
So I learned to play with picks.

I then started doing some giging on pedal steel starting in the late 70’s and was playing bare fingered for that. Played that way for decades (still using picks on the banjo). Volume wasn’t an issue since I could compensate with the amplifier. The best part about playing bare fingered on steel was blocking with the fleshy fingertips seemed WAY BETTER for me than picks.. I hated to give that up, however, I finaly went to picks for the steel too for these reasons.

1) Fingernails STILL break, and the older you get, the weaker they seem to become and thus more prone to breakage. Again, often at the most inopportune times.
2) Better consistancy and better tone with picks (I think).

My blocking got much better over time with picks as well. My advice, bottom line is bite the bullet and learn to play with picks. You will get used to them.
Mark

[Darrell Owens]

Without going into a lot of detail, the not so well kept secret is Acrylic nails.

[Darrell Owens]

A sample track with no picks,

https://soundcloud.com/drguitar/shenondoah

[Michael Brebes]

Here is an option for those that like the feel of the string on the finger, but still give a little bite without having to grow longer nails:
https://www.elderly.com/accessories/pic ... e-wrap.htm

With years of playing classical guitar, these are the only picks I can stand on my fingers.

[Larry Baker]

I think that Bobbe Seymour played steel with just a flat pick.

[Daniel Stein]

I think that Bobbe Seymour played steel with just a flat pick.

Really? But did he use fingers on middle and ring? Kinda like junior brown

[Fred Treece]

The oft-cited Bobbe Seymour reference is kind of a misunderstanding, IMHO. The fact that he COULD play bare fingered, or with a flatpick, as could probably most any great player, doesn’t make it their default approach. Buddy Emmons could have made music on his steel with a baseball bat in his left hand and a rake in his right.

[Pookie Anselmi]

if anyone would like to try those propiks, I have a set I'll give to whoever wants them.

[Dave Mudgett]

Recent thread on this - https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=326147

I think that Bobbe Seymour played steel with just a flat pick.

I would hang out with Bobbe at his store most anytime I was in town over a lot of years, even before I started playing pedal steel. And I don't doubt he could play with a flatpick, but I never saw that. Since most of my guitar playing is with flat pick and two fingers (with or without picks), I do it sometimes myself, but in most situations it makes a poor substitute for thumb pick and 2-3 finger picks, at least for me. Junior Brown definitely does this, and does it great. So there are certainly many ways to skin a cat. But the exception does not disprove the rule - almost all pedal steel players use a thumb pick and finger picks.

Here's a thread where Doug Beaumier talks about and links to a video of him playing The Lonely Bull on a lap steel with just a flat pick.

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=290000

So yes, even just a flat pick sometimes makes sense. But Doug is not your "regular" player - he one of the best we have around today, with decades of experience. And I think you'll find that he mostly plays with thumb pick and finger picks. Certainly most of his video examples show him playing that way.

Bobbe is frequently held up as an exemplar of a major player who played with no picks at all, or thumb pick and fingers. And he did that sometimes. But I saw him play with picks plenty, and there are videos up showing him doing just that. I also cannot imagine Bobbe ever telling someone not to learn to play with thumb and finger picks.

On acrylic nails - I've always viewed them essentially as a type of finger picks. A different tonality than metal finger picks, for sure, but it's not really the same thing as playing bare-fingered.

Do what you want, but I think you're short-changing yourself if you don't buckle down and learn to use the thumb pick and 2 or 3 fingerpicks. If you practice both picks and no-picks, you can always take them off if you want a different sound.