Playing with a thumb pick

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 7:03 pm

Given that I'm playing a lot more acoustic and a lot more finger style these days, I thought I'd give this a bash.

Got a thumb pick today and it's strange because previously I was able to play guitar and would even have said I was quite good. With a thumb pick on I can play nothing well.

Oh well, keep persevering I suppose.

Anyone else use one? Any tips? I find it's changing the angle I hold my picking hand at. It might be a bit too unnatural and cause problems later on.

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 7:34 pm

Bacchus wrote:Given that I'm playing a lot more acoustic and a lot more finger style these days, I thought I'd give this a bash.

Got a thumb pick today and it's strange because previously I was able to play guitar and would even have said I was quite good. With a thumb pick on I can play nothing well.

Oh well, keep persevering I suppose.

Anyone else use one? Any tips? I find it's changing the angle I hold my picking hand at. It might be a bit too unnatural and cause problems later on.

i've tried them also and i suck but it looks all leadbelly so i still use one now and then.. To really nail leadbelly you need a metal pick on one finger and a thumb pick.

SherwoodJim · Post by **SherwoodJim** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 5:47 pm

Are you using the long plastic ones? I struggle with those, so I tend to use the metal ones (dunlop, I think). They are shorter and easier to get to grips with.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 7:46 pm

I persevered, starting getting the hang of it, then pretty much gave up and convinced myself that I prefer the tone of my thumb anyway.

SherwoodJim · Post by **SherwoodJim** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:17 am

I used to play with a metal thumb pick a fair bit. You get some great scratchy sounds and I found it much easier to pick out bass notes quickly. I don't really like finger picks though, and the thumb pick on its own sounds too bright , making the treble notes seem muffled.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:57 pm

I liked the blue dunlop ones, but I was pretty useless at using them so gave up on the idea pretty quickly.

I found that working through right hand picking studies really helped speed up my progress though.

George · Post by **George** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 9:58 am

the striking surface always protrude far too much for me so it's jarringly different to regular thumbpicking. it's really not as dexterous or versatile, and you can't mute stuff

what i envisage is more like a solid metal ring with a slight nub on it, so you can do all the regular thumb stuff with none of the drag, but it will sound a bit snappier and glassy.

IN FACT, a left handed metal/plastic thumb pick flipped round so you're striking with the solid ring part, then you can cut off the protruding bit.

going to experiment with that this weekend.

George · Post by **George** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 8:31 pm

this is what i've come up with and its awesome. left handed pick over the knuckle. best of everything cos you can use the fleshy part of your thumb and the picking surface isn't too big on these metal ones

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 8:38 pm

That looks like it would do the job. Not so sure about it being above the knuckle like that, but something that sits like that but just below the knuckle would be ideal I think. I also found it weird having to completely reposition my thumb (before I gave up altogether).

That looks sort of like the thumb picking equivalent of the jet slide.

George · Post by **George** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 8:41 pm

just a jim dunlop metal thumb pick. i bought a few plastic ones as well but they're shite - too long

i had the same problem with the different posture you need with a normal thumb pick. the benefit of having it like it is in that picture is that you don't have to reposition your thumb to how you would without one

Playing with a thumb pick

Playing with a thumb pick

Re: Playing with a thumb pick