strumming with a thumbpick

[Dave Stagner]

I was just watching a video of Josh Graves playing dobro, and I noticed he often does a sort of “alternate picking” with his thumb while comping, basically strumming like a guitar player with a flatpick would. I’m trying to figure out how the heck he does that without losing his pick! If I try to “upstroke” with a thumb pick, it winds up straight on the floor.

Do other people do that sort of alternate-picking strum with a thumb pick while comping (on dobro or anything else), or is it just how great Josh Graves is?

[Dave Mudgett]

With the right pick, I can do this as long as I don't have a fingerpick on my index finger. I grab the back of the thumb pick with my index finger (as I would with a flat pick), and if the pick isn't too stubby and long, it works fine as a plectrum.

My normal steel guitar pick is a Fred Kelly Regular in white Delrin, and that works fine - perfect for steel, and reasonably good as a flat pick. But there are specific picks made for this. The best (IMO) is the Fred Kelly Bumblebee, which has the a real flat pick blade attached (and slightly movable) to the section that attaches to the thumb. It is a good compromise if I really want to be able to both fingerpick and alternate pick as I would with a flat pick - they have blades in small teardrop and jazz pick shapes, which are the size/shape I use exclusively when flatpicking.

T'his pretty muchy breaks down for me if I have a pick on my index finger. The Fred Kelly Regular is very tight on my thumb, so even with the fingerpick on index, I can alternate pick with the thumb somewhat. But nowhere near what I can do when I can tightly grab the pick with my index finger. I suppose if I practiced long enough, I might be able to figure out how to grab the thumb pick better with the index fingerpick on, but I haven't really been motivated so far.

[Mike Neer]

I really like the Black Mountain thumb picks, which have a spring mechanism attaching the actual plectrum side to the rounded side, I don’t necessarily use them for strumming but they could easily be used that way as long as you secure it with your index finger on the upstrokes.

[Dave Stagner]

Some of it may well be my choice of Golden Gate thumbpicks, but I like the fit and the sound. They are big and stiff, though. On regular guitar, I'm mostly a flatpicker and have a highly developed technique. I also use small picks (Jazz III), held pretty loosely, so the "flex" comes from the pick able to move between my fingers. This mentality might be holding me back when trying to replicate it on dobro! I'd really love to do the kinds of percussive, muted strumming I do while comping on guitar in a bluegrass setting.

[Steve Cunningham]

A lot of Sacred Steel players strum with their thumbpicks, they call it “framming”. Very effective, tons of energy.

[Cappone dAngelo]

I really like the Black Mountain thumb picks, which have a spring mechanism attaching the actual plectrum side to the rounded side, I don’t necessarily use them for strumming but they could easily be used that way as long as you secure it with your index finger on the upstrokes.

Yep - the Black Mountain is the first thumb pick I’ve used that works equally well as a thumb pick and as a regular pick (when also held with index finger, as you note).

[Bill Leff]

I need to try these again. I got them when they first came out. I need to go a thumb size smaller (they always turned on my thumb) and I felt like the flatpick part was too soft and not made of a good material (in other words if it had been a flatpick I would have never used it).