Playing with thumb pick and finger picks advice?

[Radman46]

I give up trying to play with a pick and 2 fingers. Just when I get my nails shaped and sounding like I want I usually break one, usually at the worst possible time. I double on pedal steel so I am already used to using a thumb pick and 2 metal finger picks. How many of you out there play with this technique? Can you give me any advice on adapting it from pedal steel to tele? Let me know your pros and cons of using the thumb pick and 2 finger picks for guitar. Any pro players use this technique? Feel free to throw at me anything else you feel that might help me make the transition easier. Thanks in advance.

[Schnauzer]

Radman:

I'm guessing that if you play pedal you are playing country. From Don Rich on you will notice that standard players use a flat pick but use their ring and middle finger to get dbl stops or rolls. This applies to Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Steve Wariner, etc. Some like Albert Lee prefer just "meat" and use no flat pick. I am not on their level but played many many years in a four piece country band. I have always used dbl and triple note leads in an attempt to keep the music full. I was never able to get good balance using just my fingers so I use a plastic "Dobro" finger pick on my middle finger along with a flat pick. This setup gives good balance and you can up-pick single string with the finger giving a different attack and sound. This may or may not be for you and your style. A warning though. Now that I have played so long with this hardware I am just about a cripple without the finger pick. Good luck to you. Hope this helps.

Jim

[DMRoller]

For some reason, I thought that Steve Wariner used a thumb pick....

Dale

[transmaniacon]

Originally Posted by DMRoller

For some reason, I thought that Steve Wariner used a thumb pick....

Dale

he does on his instructional video........

steve

[Tremo]

If you want to check out someone who uses a thumb pick and finger picks, look at this guy www.rtblues.com .

[tomtheguitarguy]

Originally Posted by DMRoller

For some reason, I thought that Steve Wariner used a thumb pick....
Dale

He definitely uses a thumb pick. He says that he never "really was able to get the flat pick thing going". But, dang, he sure is good.

With great guys like Steve Wariner, Brent Mason, Tommy Emmanuel (thumb & flat pick), Chet Atkins & Jerry Reed (and others) playing with a thumb pick and other greats like Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, & Albert Lee (and others) using Flat Picks/Hybrid - it just goes to show you that there's "more than one way to skin a ___." and if you develop your style and work at it - you CAN sound good (talent allowing) and not worry so much about how this guy does this and that guy does that. I've seen/heard all these guys do each others licks (or similar) using their preferred method of picking.

tomtheguitarguy

fwiw, i'm a thumb picker myself, trying to incorporate more flat.

[Charlie Bernstein]

i play acoustic and electric. can't get a musical sound out of a pedal steel to save my sorry skin.

i used thumb pick and finger picks for years. i ran into all the same problems constantly: they're uncomfortable, they fall off, they get stuck on the strings, and they always sound kind of pointy.

i switched to a flat pick for a while, but found that it was limiting - rolls, parallel thirds and sixths, and double bends sound just plain wrong with flat plus fingers (at least when i do 'em). and like finger and thumb picks, they can go flying any time. and i always felt stupid looking for a pick on a dark stage.

and though a flat pick can be loud, it always has the same affect - they have the same pointiness finger picks have, no matter what you do. and except for tremolos, they're also slower than finger picking - for me, anyway.

so i finally switched to bare-back. it's easier, it feels good, and the range of expression and inflection is much wider - i can play notes pointy or round, depending on how i hit 'em.

i only use a pick anymore if i'm playing unamplified acoustic with loud players and can't hear myself.

i'm probably way off base, but i did read an interview with leo koetke. he said he threw away his finger picks years ago, for pretty much the same reasons. so if i'm full of it, at least i'm in good company!