Plastic Finger Picks

Larry Phleger · From: DuBois, PA

When I started playing steel over 40 years ago, I had trouble finding steel finger picks. I was able to get plastic finger picks from my local music store, so I used them. I was wondering if anyone still uses the plastic finger picks.

Bill McCloskey · Posted 14 May 2013 8:18 am

Bob Brozman always recommended plastic picks.

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

strange recommendation due to recent developments.

Bill McCloskey · Posted 14 May 2013 9:05 am

Just because he should burn in hell doesn't mean he didn't know something about plastic picks. Smile

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

I started out with plastic finger picks.
This was back when Hawaiian music was the rage and the plastic picks have a softer tone than metal.

Stephen Abruzzo · From: Philly, PA

I just couldn't the darn things pliable enough to fit my finger well enough. I could get metal/brass fingerpicks to fit enough, I just couldn't get any "feel" for playing using them.

"Bare back" fingers for me with a plastic thumbpick.

Sebastian Müller · From: Berlin / Germany

I use plastic finger picks on my tricone, warmer sound
and more volume.

Frank Welsh · From: Upstate New York, USA

For what it's worth, Santo Farina ("Sleepwalk") of "Santo & Johnny" said in an interview that he always used plastic finger picks.

I've tried them but couldn't get the same comfy fit I get with metal ones. Maybe I'll try again just for the heck of it.

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

Plastic finger picks are still widely available, so I guess some people still use them. I find them too thick for my fingers. I was never able to get comfortable with them.
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Orville Johnson · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

I believe Stacy Phillips still uses them for dobro. I used them for several years and liked them. I fit them by dipping them (very quickly!) in some boiling water and reshaping them to my finger. It worked well.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Many people may not realize that the metal finger picks come in defferent gauges. I used to use the heavy gauge (.025), but now I use a lighter more comfortable guage (I think .015 or .018). They are very comfortable.

I do not like the plastic picks at all--much too bulky for me.
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Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

I favor metal fingerpicks for electric, plastic fingerpicks for acoustic, and the same plastic thumb pick for both. Shape the plastic fingerpick to fit each individual finger by giving it a brief dip in boiling water (slotted spoon recommended) and quickly shaping it to fit, forming it to your fingertip. Be prepared to sacrifice a few picks before you get the hang of it.

Dennis Coelho · From: Wyoming, USA

I took a few months of Hawaiian lessons in '51-52 in Calif. and I think we used plastic.

But later in '62 when I took up finger style guitar and banjo it was all National metal picks. I found that older, small town music stores often had a supply ordered from before WW2, and when I'd drive across country I'd stop in such stores and look for the picks. By the time the Army sent me to Europe in '63, I had accumulated over two dozen, which I later shared with players I met "over there." I think still even have a few of those Nationals around somewhere. They were pretty soft and would bend just in your pocket. For many years I have used Dunlop .025 for all "finger" instruments.

Probably the only things I really learned from those few Hawaiian lessons were how to hold the bar, and how to wear and use the picks. Every so often I still someone coming for banjo lessons who is wearing the metal picks on the top of the fingers like a claw, and complaining how they don't work.

William Hoff · From: Missouri, USA

I've had real good luck using a plastic Alaska pick on my middle finger(for the wound strings) and a brass Alaska pick on my ring finger(for the plain strings).

Tony Lombardo · From: Alabama, USA

I use .018 metal Dunlop finger picks. After an hour of playing, I have to quit because of discomfort.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

If you can't shape .018 Dunlop picks to fit, it's not the pick's fault. Rolling Eyes

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Yeah, you really shouldn't even know they are there when they are fitted right.
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Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Mike,
And I agree with you, the lighter gauge picks are easier to fit. I also play with .015 and .018 Dunlop finger picks. The bands on the Dunlops are much more comfortable that the other brands.

Tony Lombardo · From: Alabama, USA

The discomfort I get is certainly not major. The skin just below the fingernail gets a little sore after a while. It's certainly not a deal breaker. I've been wearing those same picks for 5-string banjo for years.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Tony, maybe try taking a pair of needlenose pliers and changing the angle of that part so it better conforms to your fingers. I angle mine slightly so that the 2 pieces that come across the nail rise slightly.
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David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

There are two kinds of picks in the world: the ones with little bands, and ACRI picks.

You don't need to wet your fingers, piddle around shaping them over and over - they've got like 4X the band, and they just can't hurt. Your brain gives out before your fingers. Elderly and Janet Davis both carry them. You DO have to shorten and/or reshape the blades a bit, but every other pick is scrap metal after these. I can't believe it took me 8 years to find them... anybody wanna buy some NP2s, Dunlops, Kysers & Showcase 41's? Laughing

David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

I tried ACRI picks and found them awkward by comparison with Dunlops and Nationals. But I believe the important consideration is an almost infinite human variation in finger shape. "If the shoe fits, wear it."
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Dave Sky · From: Columbus, Ohio, USA

A trick that I learned on this forum was to install self stick pads that you put on eyeglasses nose pads. Put two of those on where the pick hits the top of the finger and no more pain!

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

anything less than an .025 thickness won't grip tight enough in the long run...for me.

Don Barnhardt · From: North Carolina, USA

Taking the time to fit a pick to your finger is the key. Fitting metal picks is easier by far. Plastic picks have to be warmed to make them soft and adjusted quickly before they cool. Boiling water works pretty well but hot sand works better. I don't like plastic picks for any steel but I do like a plastic pick on my index finger when I dead thumb my acoustic flat top.

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