The Steel Guitar Forum

I'll chime in as one of the few that don't wear a thumb pick or any finger picks.

I think it all depends on what your goals are as a pedal steel player. My primary goal was never to play the traditional repertoire or try to sound like well known players so it works for me and I'm very happy with the sound I get without them (especially downtuned to Ext D9). I also don't play live, but just record in my studio so I don't have to worry about cutting through on a loud stage. That said, if my goal was to play like one of the big dogs, especially in a live setting, I don't see how I could make that happen without learning to use finger picks.

Ya, every once in a while I'll break out my tab for Dire Wolf or Pride of Cucamonga and stumble through them, but that's really just for fun and not what I normally play or the reason I took up pedal steel

Not that it matters, I play guitar ( Telecasters) with NO picks and have for over 40 years. My tones and style comes from NO picks.

BUT- I play Steel with picks. I prefer the tone and attack with picks , for the Steel.

Start there- do you prefer , as Bob correctly says way above, a softer tone and attack without picks or a more deliberate brighter tone using picks ? We should NEVER assume that Steel players cannot execute without picks.

Its not an argument, its a choice.

My comment will probably not be relevant to some players on here. But, I started on banjo a few years prior to taking up the steel. It’s a must for banjo when you take into consideration the music that a certain sound calls for. I think playing without picks on the steel, is fine at times depending on the type of music that playing without picks, could be better suited for. But, consider that most of us was drawn to the sound of steel guitar, where the highest majority, was played with picks. This may have been mentioned, but Dunlop makes picks of different thicknesses. I think I started out with the lightest pick they make, which is pretty close to feeling like your not even wearing picks. Wear them how they feel the most comfortable. Some guys are able to get away with wearing them to where your finger is barely resting in the pick. Paul Franklin crams almost his whole finger in the pick. I’m about in between, but the lighter pick will definitely help you attack the string easier, as opposed to a much heavier stiffer pick. I would definitely try to get used to them, because I feel the advantages outweigh not using them. I know everyone’s situation is different, and having the sound of not using them, is fine in some cases, but not all the time, plus, there are a good deal of steel players, that play banjo, or you might want to play dobro, and it’s harder to play those instruments, without picks. It takes patience, you can get used to them, and depending on what your goals are musically, the farther you want to go with it, the more essential it’s going to be. JMHO

You can play any way you want,it's your guitar and your sound but I would advise using picks, it's a more crisp sound, which I like. Picks take some getting use to, I don't think anybody puts them on the first time and says" these feel great". No, they hurt,you hit all the wrong strings,they're annoying but,after you pick strings 8,7,6 about 5,000 times they start feelin good.I must say that I've heard guys play without picks and sound good. Do whatever floats your boat.

After having added a 3rd finger pick, I decided a year ago to play with 3 fingers but no picks except on the thumb.
As it took me 3 months to become proficient integrating the ring finger pick, I gave myself 3 months to do it all without picks.

I don't usually give up... but just a week short of my 3 months, I put my metal picks back on.
Yes, I felt more free... I had less trouble to change picking grip shapes and yes, I crew some hard skin at the inner tip of my fingers. But I seemed to hit a ceiling as to speed and when I compared my "tone" to what it was before, it just doesn't cut thru, and that became evident playing against rhythm tracks.

Now, that all came after a video of a Christmas "bash" organized by Scotty shows BE surprising the crowd with the fact pointed out that he was playing the set without finger picks (but WITH a thumb pick). He acknowledges on the video that he's always been bothered by picks and had been playing without them for 3 months. That was, I believe around 1980. While BE sounded on the video as you'd expect BE to sound, he too seems to have changed his mind.
In a recent video on Pauf Franklin's current online course, PF seems to suggest "if they bother you, you don't "have" to use them".

I believe the main issue with finger picks, besides that they are "prosthetics" even players who play hours each day, only wear for a minor part of the day and only to play steel or guitars (or hiding in a closet, a banjo), is that most picks are designed for banjo players. A banjo player doesn't typically curl his fingers in as much as most steel guitar players do. The hand position is typically very different. We tend to have the "arms" of the picks picking the next upper string and curling the fingers under also augments the pressure pushing the picks off, thus we even see professional players always pushing their picks back in, even while playing.

I think that steel guitar picks ought to have the thumb-sided "arm" longer and the pinky-sided "arm" shorter. The blade ought to be longer so the arms are further up away from the next upper string to near eradicate the tendency to grab that next upper string. The arms ought to be shaped so we could bend them in such a way that the upper end is tighter and the lower end almost a bit loose, so they push themselves up instead of down.

I used to make my own picks with asymmetric "arms" and I liked them.
Nowadays, I just want to have the time to PLAY.

... J-D.

Dave Mudgett wrote:I'm not exactly sure why, but this subject comes up very often.

It’s probably because we keep responding. And, it’s easier for the OP than doing a search.

It’s kinda funny. A lot of the same things get said every time, usually more than once in the same thread. But interspersed with that are some comments from players who have a new rationale or insight and want to express their opinion a slightly different way than they had before. Same with tuning. Interesting that these two very common topics are now running concurrently again.

I've noticed that lap steel players are more likely to play without picks than pedal steel players.

I don't use finger picks and it has never stopped me from getting work on the pedal steel. However, I wish I would have started out with picks in order to properly learn certain techniques. That being said, I feel like I can still play a majority of what I hear on records and I have developed some cool tricks over time using a combination of my fingertips and nails. Like anything, there are pros and cons. Playing without picks can limit you for sure but it can also give you an advantage in other areas depending on how you look at it. If I were to do it all over again, I would probably force myself to learn with picks though...

b0b wrote:I've noticed that lap steel players are more likely to play without picks than pedal steel players.

I suspect that some of the reasons for that may include that well built non-pedal steels have superior dynamics than most PSG's (because of the bridge) and also the fact that most non-pedal steel players today don't shape their sound after mostly only one hero.
Finally, many non-pedal steel players are guitar players who might play "finger-style"... without finger picks and don't see the need for them when migrating over to steel.
I must say that besides BE showing up on that video playing without picks, having played steel-string acoustic guitar Bossa-Nova "finger-style" in the past years, gave me the kick to seriously try playing without finger picks on the PSG.

... J-D.

I prefer picks, but German steeler Frank Baum does pretty well without picks on this Framus pedal steel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUXV0fQ9Hy8

Dave Zirbel wrote:I prefer picks, but German steeler Frank Baum does pretty well without picks on this Framus pedal steel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUXV0fQ9Hy8

And that was dog of a stick shift Ford-Truck to play PSG... Framus... Made In Germany!

One of the advantages I found without FINGER picks was, that it balances the EQ between the lower strings (plucked by the thumb pick) and the upper strings plucked with the fingers. Fingernails won't last long on them hard strung steel strings, so you grow calluses on the inner finger tips... but still, it's mellower than the thumb pick. So, re-EQ to whole thing brighter so the finger-picket strings sound decent and -lookie- now the bottom string sound quite lively.
You hear THAT on the above video.

... J-D.