ACOUSTIC POLL: pick, fingers, nails, fingerpicks.

bertie · July 2022

Mellish said:

@bertie ; - can't you? Try Icon Music. I think I got a green one from there for a mate a couple of years ago.

His name's Tom, give him a bell. He's got a website

mate, life's too short..........................................

Mellish · July 2022

@bertie ; - I suppose.

I have yellow, orange, green and white. But if you asked me the difference between the green and white, I'd struggle to tell you because it's very minor. They both feel as rigid, whereas yellow is the most flexible and orange sits between yellow and white

Soupman · July 2022

I thought the speedpicks only came in orange! You live and learn. One advantage of the orange is that you can spot it more easily if you drop it on the pub carpet....

Mellish · July 2022

@Soupman ; - besides the colours I've mentioned there's at least one more: pale blue.

At Fred Kelly Picks. com you can get a pack of 24 (assorted colours, gauges etc). But be carefull when ordering as they do them for right or left hand. No joke, it's a fact and it does make a difference fit-wise

bertie · July 2022

ok well they've just arrived - first impression, they're very tight, possibly too tight - Im going to try a quick dip in v.hot water to see if I can loosen them a tad

I dont have very big thumbs, but like to wear them up close to the joint

Mellish · July 2022

@bertie ; - sounds like you ordered the wrong size.

Where are you based? If you PM your details I'll pop yellow, orange, green and white in the post. They're all medium

bertie · July 2022

@Mellish ;;

thanks for the offer - they sent "regular" which I guess is medium.................. I'll see how I get on with these, and might order "large" ones (that's the only two sizes I can see at Eagle Music)

Mellish · July 2022

bertie said:

@Mellish ;

thanks for the offer - they sent "regular" which I guess is medium..................

Possibly mate. I'd be pretending if I said I knew

bertie · July 2022

nah - too tight, they dig in at the base of my thumbnail - very uncomfortable, so Ive ordered a set of large.

Gone for the "graded" but TBH I think yellow is the one for me

Gandalph · July 2022

Just ordered a set of the Alaska pik's, the plastic ones.

I could never get the right angle using the metal ones to avoid that horrible scraping sound on the wound g string. I'll see what these are like.
may well be my last attempt with finger picks - fingers crossed!

Mellish · July 2022

@bertie ; - if you get the size right mate, you'll love 'em.

Pity there isn't a local shop that stocks them so you can try for size

bertie · July 2022

Gandalph said:

Just ordered a set of the Alaska pik's, the plastic ones.

all plastic or the metal "frame" plastic blade ?

Ive got some somewhere, the metal just didnt feel "comfy" for me

Gandalph · July 2022

bertie said:

Gandalph said:

Just ordered a set of the Alaska pik's, the plastic ones.

all plastic or the metal "frame" plastic blade ?

Ive got some somewhere, the metal just didnt feel "comfy" for me

All plastic, no metal involved. Tried the Dunlop and pro-pick metal one's and couldn't make them work.

bertie · July 2022

Gandalph said:

All plastic, no metal involved. Tried the Dunlop and pro-pick metal one's and couldn't make them work.

no I couldnt get on with the "all metal" ones -- far too "clouty" for me/my playing - thats why I tried the metal/plastic hybrids........ but still felt uncomfortable. Lets see what these larger Freds are like when they get here

WRT fingerpicks, tried the Alaska picks years ago - and again, just too uncomfortable, you still need an amount of protruding nail to get the "grip" for the "blade" and that amount I can pretty much play with anyway
(dont ask what the #5 is - its a stock image)

Gandalph · July 2022

@bertie, yes they're the ones I ordered, arrived today but my nails are currently too short so they won't latch on. I'll let them grow a bit but as you say with the amount of nail showing in the picture I'd probably be able to play with just nails anyway

Warblington · July 2022

https://imgur.com/CVxPEsV
David Russell use a piece of ping pong ball on his 'a' finger. Not sure how it would work on a steel strung guitar but i guess anything's possible.

CavemanGrogg · August 2022

Due to the courses syllabus I'm doing, LRCM and ABRSM classical guitar, I've been making serious concious efforts to not use a pick, and only my finger nails and pads, even when I pick up an electric. My actual preference is hybrid picking, to be more accurate what I call ''lazy sloppy hybrid picking'' basicilly using whatever happens to be the most convient for the needed note, be that a pick, finger nail, pads, side of my thumb, fretting hand, or not picking but muting a string then hammering on the note and unmuting the string at the same time, or muting the sting hammering on a not then sliding up to the note I want and unmuting that string once i reach the note I'm aiming for - these sound a lot harder to do than they really are, a very minamilist approach to picking.

Tannin · August 2022

Interesting responses Fretboarders!

From my back-of-an-envelope figures, fingerpicking is very popular here. Per this thread, 86% of acoustic Fretboarders (30) play with fingers regularly, either as a primary or secondary technique. 60% (21) mostly play with their fingers. 40% (14) use a pick regularly as either a primary or secondary technique), and 14% (5) mostly use a pick.

Now I'm only guessing this bit, but I'd lay odds that if you ran the same poll over on AGF (an American forum) you'd get a clear majority of pick users. Dare I attribute part of this difference (if indeed it is a difference) to the influence of Celtic music? And/or funny tunings? And/or the typical national instruments - a big shouty dreadnought (a D-18, say) on the one hand vs small Irish-style concert guitars (such as a Lowden)?

Be all that as it may, my rough count winds up with:

14% - 5 fingers (nails & flesh)

14% - 5 fingers (flesh)

14% - 4 fingers (nails)

11% - 4 pick

9% - 3 mix: all sorts

9% - 3 mix: pick - fingers (flesh)

9% - 3 fingers (thumbpick and nails)

6% - 2 mix: pick - fingers (nails)

1 pick (hybrid picking)

1 mix: pick - fingers (nails & flesh)

1 fingers (fingerpicks)

1 fingers (unspececified)

1 fingers (thumbpick and flesh)

1 fingers (unspecified, with thumbpick)

CavemanGrogg · August 2022

Tannin said:

Interesting responses Fretboarders!

From my back-of-an-envelope figures, fingerpicking is very popular here. Per this thread, 86% of acoustic Fretboarders (30) play with fingers regularly, either as a primary or secondary technique. 60% (21) mostly play with their fingers. 40% (14) use a pick regularly as either a primary or secondary technique), and 14% (5) mostly use a pick.

Now I'm only guessing this bit, but I'd lay odds that if you ran the same poll over on AGF (an American forum) you'd get a clear majority of pick users. Dare I attribute part of this difference (if indeed it is a difference) to the influence of Celtic music? And/or funny tunings? And/or the typical national instruments - a big shouty dreadnought (a D-18, say) on the one hand vs small Irish-style concert guitars (such as a Lowden)?

Be all that as it may, my rough count winds up with:

14% - 5 fingers (nails & flesh)
14% - 5 fingers (flesh)
14% - 4 fingers (nails)
11% - 4 pick
9% - 3 mix: all sorts
9% - 3 mix: pick - fingers (flesh)
9% - 3 fingers (thumbpick and nails)
6% - 2 mix: pick - fingers (nails)
1 pick (hybrid picking)
1 mix: pick - fingers (nails & flesh)
1 fingers (fingerpicks)
1 fingers (unspececified)
1 fingers (thumbpick and flesh)
1 fingers (unspecified, with thumbpick)

Out of curiosity, what catergory did you put me in? If it wasn't for the music courses and me hoping to go to music college, I'd use a pick, my finger nails, pads of my fingers, the side of my thumb even when I'm holding a pick, my fretting hand - as in use either the pads or nails on fingers I'm not fretting with.

Tannin · August 2022

Good question. I can't see a "barking mad" category there, so I probably counted you as "mix: all sorts".

lincolnblue · August 2022

I play a mix of fingerstyle and strumming. When I am at home and pick the guitar up I think I naturally gravitate to fingerstyle.
I've never been able to get on with thumb picks (not tried for a long time, admittedly). I don't have the long nails of some finger pickers so it's more fleshy when I pick.

For strumming I use a Dunlop .60mm - the orange ones. I have become more comfortable with strumming with my fingers - using the back of my fingers so the nails strum the strings.

I've drawn a lot of inspiration over the years from singer/songwriter Martyn Joseph - if you don't know of him, well worth looking up - particularly his live stuff on youtube

Mellish · August 2022

@lincolnblue ; - would that be a Tortex pick?

I use the red one. I'm not a fan of heavy picks and the point 50mm gives me a little flexibility

bertie · August 2022

@Mellish ;;
well the large Fred's have arrived, still had to put them in boiling water to "open em up a bit"

They're quite a bit stiffer than my fav EB tort, which although thicker is more flexible fit on my thumb and a lot more comfy to wear - doesnt press on the pulse so hard

I shall try a bit more today - see which one of the three gauges I prefer

Mellish · August 2022

@bertie ; - if you're looking for tip flexibility mate, yellow is the one.

I prefer white or green, which I think is the stiffer of the two.

But how do you find they differ from your usual thumbpick? The Speedpicks have less material, so do you find they help you pick faster? That's what they did for me

bertie · August 2022

Mellish said:

@bertie ; - if you're looking for tip flexibility mate, yellow is the one.

I prefer white or green, which I think is the stiffer of the two.

But how do you find they differ from your usual thumbpick? The Speedpicks have less material, so do you find they help you pick faster? That's what they did for me

Im not looking for tip flexibility, more thumb comfort. the EB seems to me more flexible over the thumb, it doesnt press so hard on the fleshy part - but as its much thicker the blade is obviously much stiffer than even the white.

Speed isnt really an issue with the EB, I mean how fast can your thumb go anyway

Mellish · August 2022

@bertie ; - For me "normal" thumbpicks are cumbersome. I'm hitting strings I don't want to. The FKS gets me away from that.

By "fast" I guess I had my banjo in mind and then, pretty darn fast thumb, actually

lincolnblue · August 2022

Mellish said:

@lincolnblue ; - would that be a Tortex pick?

I use the red one. I'm not a fan of heavy picks and the point 50mm gives me a little flexibility

Yes, that's the one. I don't like heavy picks with acoustic either.

bertie · August 2022

@Mellish ; - Im ok with not hitting other strings, I hold my thumb flat and parallel to the strings when I use a thumb pick, more of a 45 deg when using thumbnail (much like a classical)

bluecat · August 2022

I tend to use nails and a little flesh for my picking style,thanks to Bertie for the advice on getting my nails back to condition. I don't like the sound of a pick on any guitar,be it acoustic or electric

bertie · August 2022

well couldnt get on with those speed picks, just too uncomfortable - so 3 mediums and 3 large, free to the first bidder

might try one of those JD "zookies" with the angled blade

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ACOUSTIC POLL: pick, fingers, nails, fingerpicks.

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