The Steel Guitar Forum

G'day Everyone!

In my learning (in my rough and ready way), I've noticed that I'm carving a brilliant little divot in the left hand side of my thumbpick.. Am I attacking the string wrongly or is this another personal thing???
(I'm an Australian. we play football and everything else without helmets...what can I say?)

Striking guitar strings with a plastic pick repeatedly wears them out. Some players will wear out a pick in one evening.

I think it's normal - in the northern hemisphere they appear on the right side of the pick.

in the northern hemisphere they appear on the right side of the pick

Cracked me up!!!!!

Good on ya!

Try a ProPik™ thumb pick. Love them and played them for 10 years. Made in California USA. Played everyday they last me about a year.

I use Dunlop Zookies with a 20 degree bend in the blade strikes the string square.

I used to go through thumbpicks SO quickly ( I play acoustic & constant alternating bass just eats picks )
I'd tried lots of brands, tried angled-blades etc & ended up with the dunlops & resigned myself to constantly replacing them when they wore out.
I'd got a couple of propiks & the thumb-band is superior to any other pick ( it actually tightens under pressure! ) But I was reluctant cos of the price... the "blade" wears out just as quick as any other pick.

Anyway, a while back ( after I found out about them on this very forum ) I bought a couple of Red Bear Thumbpicks...
Same band as the Propik, but the blade material is almost unbelievable...
The marketing for these goes on about the superior tone, but for me the lack of wear after months of hard playing makes these a no-brainer.
Yes they are very pricey but I worked out how much I would spend on regular picks... unless I lose one I'm "quids in", as we say over here.

Thanks for all the advice. As I suspected, it's a personal thing. I'll be looking up ProPik and the others as soon as I have the time. Thanks again!

I've been using the blue Herco thumbpicks for over 25 years and have had not problems with them at all......JH in Va.