Pick Vs Fingers

[MusicGuy]

What do you say?

What's easier to play with? What makes the best sound?

[john]

It kinda depends on the music I am playing. I play using my fingers or a number of different picks:

lead / electric guitar using a small smooth beach stone as a pick

White Sharkfin pick on acoustic, for relatively detailed picked pieces

Red Sharkfin pick on acoustic, for softer strummed pieces

Sometimes I even use a pick AND a finger ot two lol

[MusicGuy]

lol

how do you play both in the same time?!

[TapperMike]

It's called hybrid.

[MusicGuy]

cool =]

[Rudi]

I use both.

Though not at the same time.

I fingerpick acoustics (classical nylon strung Camps & steel strung Fylde). I never use picks on these. I used to use a thumbpick, but now just keep one handy in case I break my thumbnail.

I mostly use a triangular pick on my electrics (A Jackson Soloist & a Jackson Elite). The pick must match the gauge & tension of the strings. So I use a heavy gauge pick for EB Regular Slinky (Soloist) & a medium pick for EB Super Slinky (Elite).

I do fingerpick the electrics for certain songs. 'Brown Eyed Girl' and 'Neighbourhood' for example. You must have a clean sound for this. If you use fingerstyle with lots of gain, it just sounds like a lot of mushy noise.

Fingerpicking is harder to start with. But can be learned faster than you might imagine. Learn one pick and practice it for a couple of weeks. To start with you have to concentrate hard on each finger. In six weeks you hardly have to think about it at all. Pretty soon you can alter the pick at will for different shapes and timings (another couple of months). After 3 years of consolidation you can fly.......!

Plectrums. A single pick is easy to start with, but when you get ambitious, you still need to put in lots of practice. Alternating updown strokes for every separate note (no hammer-ons or pull offs) is essentially a jazz technique. Its possible to play scales at max speed (at fast as your fastest up-down motion) after a lot of practice. This took me much longer than fingerpicking.

You can play a lot harder with a plectrum (unless you have claws like a parrot).

If you want to know how electric lead playing sounds using your fingers, listen to Mark Knoffler (This is not 'fingerstyle' though).

[Realwarrior]

Both..on my acoustics .But I only use a pick on the Strat

[TapperMike]

There is are several "cup" methods as well. Some people drop the pick into the cup of their fingers so they can give the thumb an fingers a workout as using the thumb produces a warmer "fatter" tone then the pick. Others knuckle the pick like Brian Selzer

He explains it a little over a minute into the lesson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBuMsHB9FRc

[pwrlftr15]

on a steel string acoustic I either use a soft pick or fingers. On nylon string acoustic I use ONLY fingers. On electric I always play with a pick.

[shield]

I mostly play electric so I use a pick…but I really enjoy the soft sound of a nice classical guitar played with the fingers….

[TapperMike]

There is no rule that states you must play with a pick if you are playing electric. Although my teacher often got after me for exactly that.... using my fingers on an electric solid body for hard rock.

[glissongs]

Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac) played all those memorable electric licks using fingers, not picks.

[Jim622]

Try to learn all three. Pick, Fingers, and Hybrid. Theres also the thumb pick, which I just haven't found

one I'm comfortable with yet. What you use depends on the song, and how you want to put it across.

Jim

[TapperMike]

I could never get a consistent up/down with a thumb pick. I even tried those ones with the standard triange on the end.

I kind of want another ztar with keytriggers as opposed to "strings" I've got two ztars the one in my avatar is the "baby z" which uses triggers. You can't use any pick whatsoever on them but I've developed some variations on standard flat/finger picking and some things that are neither but still do amazing stuff.

[Rudi]

I could never get a consistent up/down with a thumb pick. I even tried those ones with the standard triange on the end.

Ive never known anyone use an up stroke with a thumb pick.

[makingasong]

Definitely pick, fingerplaying players look ridiculous.

Paul Raz

[JohnMurati]

I play an acoustic & found that when picking with my fingers I have more control but the sound is clearer when using a pick. Personally I play fingerpicking songs using the fingers obviously & most solos with the pick.

[Retrosaurus Rex]

Definitely pick, fingerplaying players look ridiculous.

Paul Raz

Is your website filled with gems like that?

[LayneGreene]

Is your website filled with gems like that?

Decided to go check for you, and yes, yes it is.

[Rudi]

Definitely pick, fingerplaying players look ridiculous.

Paul Raz

 

They do?

 

Ok.

 

I place performance 1st, so that doesnt matter.

 

The last time I posed was as a kid with a pretend guitar.

 

 

It was a handcarved walking stick.

 

I might need it again one day if the knees dont settle down.