Just bought some thumb and finger picks. Now what do I do with them?

[Honga Man]

I dropped by my favorite guitar store today at lunch. It's mostly an acoustic guitar shop and I bought some picks while I was there, on a whim.

Normally I use Fender medium 358's - I think. They're the little "Danny Gatton" picks and I use them for both Telecaster and acoustic guitar, and I fingerpick fairly well on acoustic steel string (at an amateur level, and certainly not classical guitar).

I do some home recording with bass and Telecaster and I'm always looking for new crazy stuff to do on Tele - fake steel bends, behind-the-nut bends, all the usual stunts that sound so bad when a hack like me plays them. Will these new picks be of any help?

I bought four thumbpicks and three of them are here on my desk in front of me. The other is hopefully dropped in my car and not in the parking lot.

One's a Zookies Z-10 with a shaped and bent pick, one's a straight National L. These are very similar and I think I have a couple of these already but never liked them - too big, too stiff, and in the wrong place compared to a flat pick. They also are a bit small for my thumb. Can they be reshaped after boiling? I think I read that a long time ago. The third thumpick is a Fred Kelly "speed pick". It has just a thin, small pick that's about 1/8" wide sticking out.

I also bought three fingerpicks - all Dunlop .015 in brass. They had steel too but I thought about Tele saddles and bought the brass, figuring they'd be more mellow. I assume I'll only use two of these as I don't use my ring finger or pinky often when fingerpicking.

Your suggestions about how to use these, recommended listening, and any licks and tricks for fingerpicks are much appreciated.

[brokenjoe]

Now all you need is the banjo!

I actually do play banjo, and I've tried metal finger picks on my tele. Curiosity got the better of me.

Didn't work out too well for my style, I'm afraid.

There are some guys who used/use finger picks though. Freddie King comes to mind, as does Hound Dog Taylor. Both of those guys used just one pick on their index finger though. Freddie used a thumbpick, and the Dog just used the 'meat' on the side of his thumb.

Earl Scruggs (who is a GREAT guitar picker, by the way) uses the same thing on guitar that he uses on banjo: thumbpick and two picks on the first and second fingers. He does a lot of 'Piedmont' style picking and some 'Travis' picking on his Martin D-28.

It's been my experience that heavier finger picks give you a mellower sound. For banjo picking I use Dunlop .025s on both fingers. I prefer the nickle ones. They seem to sound better to my ears as opposed to brass -although I could just be imagining things.

To shape your thumbpicks, soak 'em in REAL hot water -but not boiling- for a couple of minutes, put 'em on your thumb, and let 'em cool off a bit before using. They should then be 'fitted' to your thumb.

Here's Earl doing some picking on a guitar:

[jefrs]

I bought some finger picks on a whim once. Do what I do, stick them in the desk drawer and leave them there.

If you boil your metal thumbpicks for a couple of minutes and then put them on, it will re-shape your thumb :) You either love them or hate them. I finger pick or flat pick. I recently got a banjo-uke but I finger pick it instead of strumming. It has made me want to get a proper banjo but I'm confused by the different varieties, I've never got on with open tunings or anything too dissimilar to a guitar.

[B Valley]

I've used thumbpick and fingerpicks for banjo but not for guitar. I've tried a thumbpick for guitar, but it just didn't feel right. I play either with a flatpick and two fingers or thumb and three fingers.
That's what's great about playing guitar, there's always something new to get charged up about.

[Astro1176]

Originally Posted by jefrs

I bought some finger picks on a whim once. Do what I do, stick them in the desk drawer and leave them there.

Mine stay in my desk-tidy. I might take them out to try the boiling water trick, before putting them away again.

[Honga Man]

Do what I do, stick them in the desk drawer and leave them there.

After a weekend of messing with these things, I think that's what I'll do.

Too strange. I'm sure I could get used to them but if I'm going to put that much time into learning something new on guitar, it will be songs or theory or just some silly licks and tricks. Fingerpicks seem cool but don't work for me. Among other problems, I keep snagging them on strings instead of plucking the strings with them.

I never realized that when I fingerpick, I use both sides of my fingertips, meaning I hit the strings going "down" and then sometimes going "up" too. That's kind of neat and maybe something I can expand on.

[B Valley]

This is a fellow TDPRI member and a very good guy. Watch this video, you'll enjoy it:

[jefrs]

Well, I got the b/uke sussed - it's a little guitar with re-entrant tuning, and as for my unusual style, by the power of the mighty internet I discovered the amazing John King (RIP) .
And I got a cheapo banjo (which I had to dismantle and re-build). I didn't realize there are so many different ways to play them.
Now my thumbnail is grown asymmetrical as a pick, I find thumbpicks go too far up my thumb (watch John King) to be much use and if, as I do too, you strike the strings with the fingers on both up and down strokes, then those metal claw things get caught in the strings.

[BoogerRooger]

I love the sound of rockabilly guitar but I didn't want to give up my flatpick so I started learning 'hybrid picking'.

My nails had dissappeared after a day and I could get no control or volume with bare skin so I got some plastic fingerpicks. It took a couple of days to get used to the feel of them and a bit longer to learn some patterns and licks but now I feel a bit lost without them.

I like Jim Weiders DVDs - Rockabilly Guitar and Country Blues Electric Guitar for learning some cool licks.

[Mic Stand]

Travis Picking 101:

http://www.intimateaudio.com/psycho_licks.lick30.html