Bad Habits? How do you Pick?

Dave Zielinski · From: Pennsylvania, USA

I play a Dual 8 fender with trapezoidal pickups. These PUs make a handy rest for your right hand. So I've sunk into the habit of leaving it there and pick somewhat close to the pickup. I dig the tone. So i guess it isn't "bad" per say. Watching some JM and old "soundies" I watched several players pick up the neck. J. Murphey is one of them.

I also play the tone knob doo-wah alot and the "armrest" makes it very comfortable to reach.

Im curious as to what similar things anyone out there notices about their own picking style.

Papa Joe Pollick · From: Swanton, Ohio

Dave, I taped a piece of felt on my String Master D8 pup covers..Figure it will make a difference if I should ever lose my mind and sell it.PJ

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

I personally feel you should NEVER rest your right hand on a pickup cover or anything similar. If you have a hand rest on your guitar, remove it. The tone you will get by picking further down the strings will be more pleasant, but mostly, when you rest your right hand on a pickup cover or hand rest, your ability to right-hand block is not there. It's taken me many years to properly accomplish right-hand blocking. I have yet to really master it due largely to the old fashioned thinking of resting your hand on the cover, also the bad habit of constantly lifting the bar instead of right-hand blocking which many of us old tymers were weened on according to the published steel guitar methods of that era. JMHO.

Jeff Au Hoy · From: Honolulu, Hawai'i

You can't tell someone they'll get more pleasant tone by picking a certain way... that's entirely subjective and dependent on the style of music. I find that the best tone comes from picking midway between the bar and the bridge. This means constant repositioning. Of course, my tone preference is that old Hawaiian clarinet-ey stuff.

If you like the sound you get from the way you pick, then why change? I believe whatever works, works. There's no proper way to play the steel guitar.

[This message was edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 10 January 2006 at 02:08 PM.]

Richard Sevigny · From: Salmon Arm, BC, Canada

I'm with Jeff. It depends on the sound you want. Closer to the pickup the sound is more "trebly" while I find the "halfway point" has more bell-like or glassy overtones (also a convenient position for findin those harmonics, too!)

Mike D · From: Phx, Az

I use my pinkies most of the time, my fingers donb't fit in my nostrils very well....

(beat Howard to it!

)

On a serious note I pick all over the place depending on the tone I want.

------------------
Half-assed bottleneck and lap slide player. Full-assed Builder of resonator instruments.

Jesse Pearson · From: San Diego , CA

I stopped using picks even though I know they make your steel and harmonics sound better. I'm a guitar player first and I like the Jr Brown switching back and forth real fast between instruments. I do knuckel harmonics for single string notes, but palm harmonics aren't as easy at all without the thumb pick. I do like the closer connection between fingers and strings I get for muting however.

Dave Zielinski · From: Pennsylvania, USA

Just a curiosity...

But anyway, I dig the tone I get, and have a hard time playing it any other way. I'm a self learner- no lessons of any kind, I don't have any videos or anything, just a pile of old records and cds from my brother! Good or bad, I don't know. I try to be observant of anyone I see playing steel. I should mention too, that I'm a standard guitar player too, and an addict of the merle travis style- thumb and index finger. I pretty much glue my right hand to my bridge on my telecaster too, and use a thumbpick and single index pick on both steel and tele.

Those D8s make it awfully easy to rest your hand there!

have fun!

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