Thumbpick

Ray

ANyone use this? Which one and do you prep it at all? Thanks

Bob-Dubery

Ray wrote: ANyone use this? Which one and do you prep it at all? Thanks

I find the choice isn't good here. Most stores stock the heavy Ernie Balls. Music Connection have a slightly lighter thumb pick, but it has an odd shape and I suspect that it's really a zither pick. But it works. You can tell them by their sky blue colour.

I don't prep them. I know people who do but I don't. Maybe I'm being naff about it - or plain doff. I'd want to cut them all back by the same amount, and I can't figure out how to do that. I found too that the shape of the tip made a difference to feel and tone and I couldn't see how to reliably replicate that.

When I play with a thumb pick I use the sky blue thingies from MC and don't do anything to them. I figure that making the adjustment will give better consistency than having half-a-dozen of them all filed down differently.

I have a Fred Kelly "bumble bee" thumb pick that Squonk gave me.

It's adjustable, but I find that to be a double-edged sword because sometimes it rotates whilst you're playing and so you need to grip it like a regular pick and then what's the point? I find it's more useful as a flat pick that you can't drop. Maybe a good idea badly executed. Even in the good old US of A people are saying that the Fred Kellies are overpriced. I don't think there's a distributor here, but you can order them from the Fred Kelly web site.

guitarboy2828

I use thumb picks a lot. However, only for fingerstyle stuff, never for strumming. So I use the Dunlops. I'd love to experiment with others, but as Bob said, being in good ol' SA, not a lot of choice..

I don't prep em. I tried doing that once, tried filing it, trimming it, all that, but didn't work out. I think I have gotten used to the size of the untrimmed one.

Demigod

LOL i thought you meant the classical thumb pick. (The one where you use the nail)

Ray

Thanks Bob and Paul. Pretty much my experience as well. Hoping therewas something better going.

singemonkey

I gave them up in favour of hybrid picking, but will get back to using them when I finally take up banjo again.

Aside: Ray, cos that bluegrass band here is only every 2 weeks and I had exams and stuff, I only got to see them again last Sunday. I asked the guy Nieland what might be a good banjo for under R5K. He was very vague. Said he tried a brand in Bothners that might have been a Washburn and that it seemed ok. Wasn't a big help really.

I always found Ernie Ball picks just fine. Thumbpicks are very quick to learn to use - maybe an hour and you're used to them. Strumming with them though. That I don't understand. Roy Orbison would strum and pick, but I don't know how. I find them very awkward for strumming and single note playing - which is why I've gone for hybrid picking. That means I just use the pick and the fingers for every guitar style and I don't have to worry about having any other equipment except a flat-pick.

domhatch

my thumbpick is my thumb nail. (damn thing breaks more often than not though.) i have a dunlop thumbpick but just can not get used to using it, and can't get the volume balance between the thumbpick and the rest of my fingers right. thought of filing it down, as the main problem i have is it being too deep and catching on the return stroke. i guess it's just practise, practise, practise. but who's got time for that stuff, huh?

Ray

singemonkey wrote: Aside: Ray, cos that bluegrass band here is only every 2 weeks and I had exams and stuff, I only got to see them again last Sunday. I asked the guy Nieland what might be a good banjo for under R5K. He was very vague. Said he tried a brand in Bothners that might have been a Washburn and that it seemed ok. Wasn't a big help really.

Ya thanks. I was reading a review of two Tanglewood banjos in the UK Acoustic mag. they reckon they're not so great but for the money OK. I'm actually OK with that so now I'll scout around to see who does Tanglewood and see if they get the banjos in. But I'm also thinking along the lines of a 6 string banjo you know tuned like a guitar. I see they are pretty available over yonder but I dont want to get something shipped from there if not necessary.

Ray

domhatch wrote: ... and can't get the volume balance between the thumbpick and the rest of my fingers right. thought of filing it down, as the main problem i have is it being too deep and catching on the return stroke. i guess it's just practise, practise, practise. but who's got time for that stuff, huh?

Exactly but I have that problem with all my fingers. I guess way back when they workshopped the design of the hand they didnt stop for a minute to think that the okes would need to play guitar and other things. And my thinking is that the fingers could maybe be a bit different.

Anyway, I was having a go with the thumbnail but it was really uncomfertable having it longer. But ya when I give it a tonk the bass notes are very prominent. But I'll work that out.

Bob-Dubery

I think the balance will adjust with a bit of practice - or you might find you like it better. I'm so good at breaking nails that I'm trying to play with just flesh at the moment. It sounded pretty weak at first but then started to improve - I had to hit the strings a bit harder.

Hybrid would have the same problem - or so you'd expect - but listen to the guys who are good at it and they have the balance problem pretty much sorted out. Admittedly they have a wider selection of flat picks than if they were using thumb picks - wider choice of materials, shapes and gauges.

Richard Thompson has a good balance across the strings and he doesn't play with nails at all. Flat pick and finger tips. Except for a couple of numbers where he goes for the thumb pick and finger tips.

domhatch

a good reference for both thumb pick and fingerpicking is tommy emmanuel. he seems to be equally 'adept' (if that's a word one can use to describe someone like him), or at home, with both methods. so yeah, i'm gonna be practicing for a good while to get that thumb pick working proper-like.

singemonkey

When I was watching James Burton vids a couple of days ago, I was noticing that he used fingerpicks with his hybrid picking (would work the same for a thumb-pick). I think that there are a number of considerations that also speak to the viability of using the thumb-nail.

One is whether you're damping the bass strings. If you are, playing with your thumbnail becomes a lot tricker, in my experience. Now your thumb (and the nail) are parallel to the strings while you're damping with the heel of your palm. This is not a problem with hybrid picking or a thumb-pick - cos obviously the pick is perpendicular to the strings.

The other thing is that, if you're damping, the bass strings are going to be softer than the the treble strings unless you put in a lot of effort with your thumb. So, once dampened, the thumb-pick or flat-pick, actually evens out the volume between the E, A, and D vs. the G, B, and E.

Then, if you're wearing finger-picks, you may have the opposite problem. Suddenly your treble strings are too loud again if you're damping. But if you're not damping - and using the thumb-pick/flat-pick - you should have pretty even volume.

And another factor might be the string gauge. Even dampening the bass strings, on say, .13s, you may just not have the krag to get enough volume from the treble strings to match the picked bass. Then bring back the finger picks.

After that long and confusing path, I'll just say that, playing light-gauge electric strings (.10s or .11s) with the flat pick and palm damping the bass strings, I find I can get enough treble volume generally not to need finger-picks.

domhatch

and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why they invented heavy metal rhythm guitarists.
8)

Bob-Dubery

You need SOMETHING on the bass strings. All the fingerpickers I've seen (well... all the good ones) have grown a nail, or have a falsie, or hybrid pick or use a thumb pick. Volume aside it gives you more attack, better definition on the bass strings.

I've been playing with nothing but the flesh on my fingertips, but I'm going to switch to a thumb pick. I got the volume right but the attack is lacking.

BluJu

I tried it out for a bit. Should find my thumb pick.
I liked the dunlop one.
I know Keira uses one quite a bit.

guitarboy2828

domhatch wrote: a good reference for both thumb pick and fingerpicking is tommy emmanuel. he seems to be equally 'adept' (if that's a word one can use to describe someone like him), or at home, with both methods. so yeah, i'm gonna be practicing for a good while to get that thumb pick working proper-like.

Tommy Emmanuel is a terrible reference, he could play with half an arm and still be brilliant! ?