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Topic: 4/5 finger picks instead of 2/3? |
Ryan Lunenfeld
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 23 Aug 2020 11:11 am |
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A recently started lap steel player and loving it. I want to make sure I use the right techniques so down the road I don't have to go back and relearn another technique.
I've been sticking with playing with fingerpicks, index ,pointer and thumb for the most part. But I realize I have a lot easier of a time if I use a thumb pick, and all 4 of my fingers. I come from playing keyboards, and have been typing for quite a while so have good strength in my hands/dexterity.
I'm curious to hear your opinions on this! I don't know entirely what I am doing, so would love some proper input! |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 23 Aug 2020 2:41 pm
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There is no rule that says you can't wear a pick on any finger you choose!
I use a thumb pick and three finger picks because it suits what I do. I don't play piano, but I do play clarinet and trumpet so I have a strong third finger.
Do what you like 
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 23 Aug 2020 3:13 pm
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| I play with a thumb pick and 3 finger picks. The tuning i used requires it. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 23 Aug 2020 5:41 pm
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I don't know if my input is "proper". But I use a thumb pick and 3 finger picks (index, middle, ring). I started with just two finger picks, and I definitely prefer 3 for wider chord voicings, arpeggios, and so on, for slide guitar and steel, both pedal and nonpedal.
Some fingerstyle guitar players use all 5 right-hand fingers. But I think piano and even standard guitar are quite different from steel guitar. With steel, if notes are not blocked (muted), melodic passage notes tend to run into each other. So I think it would be pretty tough to block properly with a fingerpick on the pinky. In fact, I think that the pick on the ring finger makes it a bit harder to do some types of blocking. But lots of players have found reasonable workarounds for that.
All that said, there are some steel players - especially in the nonpedal realm - who don't use finger picks at all. Not my thing, and it's pretty unusual for pedal steel players to go down that road. But it can be done, even though I personally think it's important to be able to play with finger picks even if they're not used all the time. For me, it's tonal brilliance. But some people seem to have steel for fingernails and cement for calluses - but not me. |
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Chase Brady
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 24 Aug 2020 5:45 am
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| Those of you using thumbpick and three fingerpicks -- How do you deal with the "pickclick" interference between the picks? I use a thumbpick and three bare fingernails for most things, but for the dobro I feel picks are necessary. Thumb and two feels natural, but I never have been able to use thumb and three. The picks get in one another's way. |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 24 Aug 2020 6:45 am
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| I play both ways, with picks and without (but always with a thumb and 3 fingers). No picks is fine for some things, slower tunes that require a more mellow sound. But if you need speed, and volume, and snap, you are going to need picks. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 24 Aug 2020 10:59 am
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| Quote: |
| Those of you using thumbpick and three fingerpicks -- How do you deal with the "pickclick" interference between the picks? |
I dunno, I never noticed an issue with picks clicking each other. When moving from 2 to 3 strings, I never really noticed anything but 1) the need to adjust my blocking, and 2) that I had an extra finger to use.
What convinced me to make the move - I was sitting around playing steel at Bobbe Seymour's store with 2 fingerpicks after I had been playing guitar with a flat pick and 2 finger picks (middle/ring) - Bobbe just looked over and said, "Dave, why aren't you using a pick on your ring finger for steel? You use it for guitar." I said, "I didn't know anybody did that.", at which point he showed me some advantages to using more fingers. That's all it took.
When I started doing the flatpick/finger hybrid guitar thing with finger picks a very long time ago, it was really annoying at first - the ring finger pick especially takes some time to get used to. But I just left the finger picks on all the time - I mean 24x7 except when I went to bed or was doing something that absolutely required my bare fingers - and forced myself to get used to them. After a few months, they became second nature. |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 24 Aug 2020 11:16 am
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| I have never noticed any sound from the picks clicking together. A bigger problem is reducing metal pick on metal string noise. |
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Chase Brady
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 25 Aug 2020 5:27 pm
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| It's not the sound I find annoying, it's the feel of the picks making contact with one another. Apparently, I just need to train myself to keep them farther apart. |
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David DeLoach
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 26 Aug 2020 3:31 am
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In music the end justifies the means, so do whatever you need to do to create the sounds you are hearing inside your head!
Be a voice, not an echo.
_________________
https://www.MasterGuitarists.com/ |
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Gene Tani
From:
Pac NW
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Posted 29 Aug 2020 1:14 pm
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I also learned to play piano and woodwinds first (and percussion) so not using all fingers is an odd concept to me.
How many picks/fingers to use is just one of many decisions you'll have to make, so learn to use 3 fingerpicks and you can also bevel underside of nails on ring and pinky like classical guitarists do and use those but it'll sound funny.
I think i've read some pedal steelers use 2 fingerpicks on e9 neck and 3 on c6. Joe Wright, Gary Morse use 3 fingerpicks, there's others I can't remember
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=778455
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=1419473
_________________
- keyless Sonny Jenkins laps stay in tune forever!; Carter PSG
- The secret sauce: polyester sweatpants to buff your picks, cheapo Presonus channel strip for preamp/EQ/compress/limiter, Diet Mountain Dew
Last edited by Gene Tani on 29 Aug 2020 7:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 29 Aug 2020 1:26 pm
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The extra pick is certainly more useful on the C6
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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