Flying picks

[Susan Alcorn]

Perhaps I'm the only one who has this problem, but I have a feeling that there are others who have the same problem, perhaps all steel players - picks flying off your fingers onto some unknown destination. If you're in a public place, while you look for your flashlight, you tell everyone not to move (I was at a recording session a couple months ago when my middle finger pick flew off my hand, and I told everyone not to move. One of the musicians, though, maybe not hearing me, quickly walked over and asked if he could help, and he did - with the shoe on his foot). If you're at home, you crawl under furniture looking on a carpet or a wooden floor wondering where it might have ricocheted after leaving your finger. I've read that the oboe is the most stressful instrument there is (though maybe they've never heard of the sarangi), but at least parts of the oboe don't continually go flying around the room

Perhaps this is something, like lugging a heavy instrument around and having to play in bands where everyone is out of tune but us, and having to sit there while the rest of the band jumps around.

I'm hoping that Telonics or Goodrich or Brad Sarno will make a sonar device or maybe one with bluetooth (good for finding cell phones). Or maybe we steel players just need to eat more so that our fingers can fatten up a little bit.

There's gotta be a way.

Signed,
Pickless in Baltimore

ps. And um .. . pay no attention to the cat hair (we have Maine coons). And to the dust (dust happens). And the power strip.

[Dave Hopping]

Ron Landis' sterling silver fingerpicks are roughened on the inside and they don't fall off. And they play great. Pricey but IMO worth it!
Here's one of several discussions on the Landis picks(this one started by me).

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... ingerpicks


And here's the website.

https://www.landisstudios.net/finger-picks

[Norbert Dengler]

i was playing a show one time and laid my picks behind me on a stage riser, to switch to telecaster. A camera man filmed from behind and stepped on my picks right before the next song when i needed them...

[Raybob Bowman]

I've found that spit makes like a glue for picks. If picks feel not tight or right, I lick my 2 fingers then put picks on. Does seem to work.

[John Hyland]

Personally I can’t remember ever having a pick come off my fingers but a spare set is essential.

[Dave Magram]

Hi Susan,

I almost never had a problem with fingerpicks slipping off because when I get a new pair (every 10 years or so), I'd always spend about 30 minutes shaping the fingerpick-bands so they fit like little gloves.

Then a few years ago I was doing a lot of woodshedding one weekend for a CD and I got an inflamed fingernail groove; my finger swelled up and took several days to get back to normal.

I remembered that someone had posted on the SGF the idea to use eyeglass nose-pads.

Just purchase some self-adhesive eyeglass nose-pads from the drugstore (about $2 for 10 pads).
Use one pad per pick. Cut the pad in half and adhere one half to the inside of the pick just where the pick-band crosses over your right fingernail groove. Adhere the other half exactly where the pick-band crosses over your left fingernail groove.

Do the same with the other fingerpick.

Replace the pads every 6 months or as needed.
Not only will the eyeglass nose-pads keep your picks from falling off, they make the picks extremely comfortable to wear, and they help prevent inflammation around your fingernail groove.

- Dave

[Bobby D. Jones]

Susan you are not alone, We have all had some sort of pick problems along our journey.

The holes in the wrappers want to act like Hinges and make the pick shape like a pentagon or Hex.
My right hand has been abused a lot.


Middle finger end joint points toward index finger.



The 2 left picks were given to me, Bent in the pentagon shape. (Antique JF picks with Square/Diamonds holes bend real sharp) Those sharp bends will catch on each other as my finger pass each other, One of the picks will fly for the UNKNOWN.

The picks on right were bend and hammered smoothly, Around a round rod, To near perfect oval.
The thumb pick has a piece of stair safety strip inside on the flat. Lick fingers, Picks stay put.

I carry another set of formed picks in my seat, Along with a bag of junk picks, So if someone wants to play my guitar , They can go fish. I put my picks in my pocket.

[Richard Sinkler]

When my picks would go airborne, I knew exactly where they would land. Under the foot of a dancer .

[Brooks Montgomery]

New, from Dunlop

[John Larson]

New, from Dunlop

This will work perfect for my post-punk gothabilly band.

[Samuel Phillippe]

I have found bow string wax to work to keep them on.......

Sam

[Dennis Detweiler]

Yes, I just do a quick, end of two fingers and one thumb in the mouth (just one at a time), then slide the picks on. Fiddle bow rosen works too, but you don't want to get it on your strings or bar. I'm wondering if hair jell would work? Hair jell may be nothing more than spit in a tube?

[Donny Hinson]

I use Stevens picks, which are no longer made. But the John Pearse "Hi-Rider" picks are identical except for the alloy. In over 50 years of playing, I've never had a finger pick fly off, or gotten the band tangled in the strings. (They grip around the knuckle, not on the end of the finger.) Once you get used to them, you'll wonder how you ever played without them.

[Erv Niehaus]

You can't beat spit.
Erv

[Dale Rottacker]

Finger picks have been an ongoing sometimes good sometimes not issue keeping them on.

Licking my fingers is my "Go Too" as my mouth is always right there so it's handy.

Somethings I've tried are Fingernail Polish Remover in a foam application jar... Don't laugh, its pretty effective, as it removes the oils from your fingers so they stick better. Of course you've got to get use to the taste of polish remover when licking then when reapplying later.

Sticky Picks works well too, as does Bow Rosin.

Susan, I've tried fatting my fingers with a Higher Caloric Diet, but seem the fingers are the last thing to fatten up. So I spent a long time with the bands touching or overlapping a touch which I HATE... THEN, a couple years ago I noticed that Travis has a bit of one band cut shorter so you can squeeze them as tight as you want without the ends touching which also makes then stay on the fingers better.

My Ramblings for the day.

[Chuck Stowe]

Was playing a club wi th a 3 ft stage and my pick went flying forward. Luckily there was a fellow steel player in attendance. I flagged him down and he found it on the floor in front of the stage. Got lucky there.

[Steve Cattermole]

Liquid Rosin works great

[Erv Niehaus]

How about super glue.
Erv

[Danny Letz]

Gorilla Snot. No, really. I got mine from Musicians Friend.

[Jim Pitman]

Been there a few times including the inadvertent "step on". I think well formed picks per the the previous comment a member eluded to will reduce the occurrence.
Ha - the hair and the dust...that too.

[Susan Alcorn]

Tight-fitting picks are a big help; my fingers, as I imagine most fingers get fatter and skinnier with the weather, with what we've eaten, etc. However, most of the times my picks go flying is when I have them in my hand ready to put on. I have a feeling I'm not the only one. Perhaps a bane of the instrument we have chosen.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Susan, were you able to re-form the pick your bandmate stomped on or is it damaged beyond use?

[Susan Alcorn]

Jerry, I was able to get it to sort of fit (no tools - I was in rural Chile), but I was able to record an entire album with that pick, but I had to pay attention to that pick and that finger quite a bit during the long (album) session. When I got home, I took out another pick and started getting used to that. The squashed one, an old JF pick, is still good for emergencies.

[Henry Matthews]

Put fingernail polish inside picks, couple coats, let dry good and then lick your fingers before putting on picks. Unsanitary but works good, lol.

[Lee Baucum]

Here is a previous discussion, about keeping picks on your fingers.

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=375900

I still think using spit is pretty disgusting and a good way to get sick.

Yes, I know, Buddy Emmons did it...

Here is another previous discussion:

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=378920

~Lee