Angled Fingerpicks

[Scott Vita]

I am trying to learn to play lap steel and one of the big challenges for me is using fingerpicks. In particular when positioning my right hand so it’s comfortable and I can mute strings I find myself scraping the strings on the side of the pick towards the nut. I see that ProPik offers an angled pick option and a Reso pick which seem to be angled in opposite directions. I am curious if these angled picks might help my technique and if so which angle I should choose.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[JB Bobbitt]

Yes, they are angled in opposite directions. The Reso picks are right for lap guitars.

I bought a set of Pro-Pic angled picks by mistake. I'm not a proficient player yet, but I cannot imagine how the angled picks would work on a lap guitar, or even an flat top. Return was easy and the Reso pics are clearly right for me.

[Lloyd Graves]

Probably a silly question, but have you tried changing the angle of the guitar on your lap? Someone posted an excerpt from an old lap steel instruction book (a while back) that showed the neck angling away from the player's body. That made playing so much easier for me - picking and barring. I had always assumed it should be perpendicular to my body.

[Larry Carlson]

I use a 20 degree thumbpick made by Zookies.
It helped remove all of that scraping sound on the string and they are comfortable.
They come in 10, 20 and 30 degree angles.

[Nathan Laudenbach]

Try bending the picks you already have. Took me quite a while to figure out how I needed to shape my fingerpicks before they felt right and hit the strings at the right angle.

[Jack Hanson]

I've been bending the blades on my .025 Dunlops since the late '70s. Works for me...

[Scott Vita]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I’ve ordered a pair of the ProPik Reso picks to experiment with.

[Lee Baucum]

I bought a couple of pairs of Reso fingerpicks many years ago, to use on pedal steel guitar.

The angle on the picks was absolutely perfect, right out of the package.

No pliers or bending required.

I am using some old National fingerpicks now.

Here is an old post of mine:

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=357636

~Lee

[Matthew Lyons]

Just picked up the 20 L Zookies...a little tight but the angled tip is quite nice for surgeon like precision. I recommend! Going to try the pro pick. So are we pro angled or not?

[Mark Eaton]

A key concept behind the ProPik Reso pick is more than what goes on with your fingerpicks - it positions your hand so that when you strike a string with your thumbpick it will hit the string more squarely rather than at a slight angle.

[Jim Fogarty]

Everyone's hand and position is different, so I actually find the ProPik angled (not Reso) picks work best for me.

I guess try them all. You never know.