singemonkey wrote:
It's seldom you see people play with a thumbpick and fingerpicks. Fingerpicks are more commonly used by banjo players.
Or lap steel players. It's an unusual combination for a guitarist.
But Sandy Denny shows it can be done really nicely. I think Bob told me it was because she sang so damn loud she overwhelmed the guitar so she needed more volume.
Moi? Well she certainly had big pipes. As contemporary, friend and admirer Linda Thompson (the other great voice of English folk-rock) once observed "When Sandy sang you had to bolt down the furniture."
Sandy Denny was a special talent. What a fabulous singer.
I think most people use a thumbpick with superglued nails or fake nails or whatever.
There's no rule.
Richard Thompson doesn't use nails at all - just a thumb pick or flat pick and his fingertips. Martin Carthy uses a steel thumb pick and his nails. Bruce Cockburn puts super glue on his nails and, AFAIK, doesn't use a thumb pick (I don't know if he reinforces his thumb nail). Martin Simpson uses a thumb pick and synthetic veneers over his nails. Bruce Molsky uses finger picks and a thumb pick (but then he plays a lot of banjo and swapping all the time might be a hassle). They're all great sounding players
Banjo is a different beast. Martin Simpson eschews the thumb pick when he's playing banjo. I think Bruce Molsky does the same. 5 and 4 string banjos may be different beasts as regards right hand hardware.
Finger picks with guitars may have been more common 40 years ago when the technology of synthetic nails was not as advanced as it is now.
My thought was that using a thumb pick is a way to boost the volume and definition of the bass strings, might make it easier to achieve a balance. I'm moving that way myself, but it's because my right hand thumb nail isn't holding up. At first I had too much oomph on the bass strings but my balance is improving all the time.
