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Joined:
October 2006
Posts: 15
Location: New Jersey | Hi,
I was recently inspired by the Pete Huttlinger Superstion clip and ordered his book.
So I've been trying to use a thumb pick. At first it felt really awkward but it's starting to feel a bit better.
Sometimes it seems to cut off circulation though. I guess I'm wearing it too far back. It just feels a little big to me. Too long. I use dunlop jazz 3 picks for regular flat picking so maybe that is part of it.
Would appreciate any tips from veteran thumb pick users here.
Thanks in advance,
Steve |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | I use the Propik with Delrin tip exclusively. The metal band is easily adjustable and the delrin tip produces great tone....
Propik at Elderly they come in small, medium and large... |
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Joined:
March 2006
Posts: 482
Location: enid, ok | Thumb pick users? Evidently not. |
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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | I use light-gauge Fred Kelly speed picks http://www.fredkellyspicks.com/speed_pick.html
although I don't use them the way a conventional thumbpicker would. I use them for strumming and throwing in an occasional bass note or run. They have a thin tab instead of the thick, clunky blade most thumbpicks have, which makes it easy to play faster strums.
I started using them because, frankly, I had trouble holding on to a regular pick. They were always twisting in my grip.
I've also sacrificed a couple of them by cutting off the tab and attaching either a 38mm or 46mm Jim Dunlop nylon pick to the sawed-off thumbpick using velcro strips. This makes for superfast, light-sounding rhythm strums, and the Dunlops are virtually unbreakable. I use these on my Pacemaker 12-string for songs like Eagles tunes and Gordon Lightfoot songs, where I'm not too concerned about bass notes and just want to flail away without sounding like I'm dragging a stick across a picket fence. :D |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I've tried to use thumb-picks, but the ones the I've got are to stiff. Maybe I need to shop around.
But I do okay with my bare finger...  |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 2791
Location: Atlanta, GA. | With enough play you'll develop callouses on your thumb and fingertips to the point where you don't need picks or fingernails. Remember how tender your fretting fingertips used to be?
Not to mention how appreciative wives/girlfriends will be!!! |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 1380
Location: Central Oregon | I use Dunlops mostly. I found I have better control (& accidentally tap the top of my Elites much less) if I sand off an eighth inch or so. I buy them a little small & fit them to my thumb by dipping them in a shot glass full of almost boiling water from the microwave. They will hold any shape you make them when they're hot. They're very stiff but I've found that with practice that is becoming less of a problem all the time. There is a lot of music out there that can be played *much* more easily with a thumb pick & two or three fingers. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | I still have some National thumb picks from early 80's...Nils is right, hot water (or hot Brandy) will allow it to expand. I like to heat it with it on a tapered rod rather than my finger (for obvious reasons). Course, after sizing the pick, shame to waste the Brandy.
Used to play my 1158 Custom Legend 12-str (acoustic) with the thumb pick and three finger picks. Clear and loud.
Alas, several of the National finger picks have broken...so far, impossible to find. Tried to adapt the curved Dunlop picks but not the same. Tried Alaska picks but not for me. Best I can do is to try to straighten the tip of the Dunlop. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | On the serious side, I bought a coupla large Dunlop thumb-picks thinking that I could just use them on my thumb like a regular pick. Then use my fingers freely when I wanted to, without dropping the pick.
But like I said, they were too stiff for strumming. Or maybe my technique sux?
Maybe that heating them up to alter the shape will also soften them? [yes, no, maybe] |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 1380
Location: Central Oregon | "But like I said, they were too stiff for strumming. Or maybe my technique sux?
Maybe that heating them up to alter the shape will also soften them? [yes, no, maybe]"
I agree, too stiff for anything beyond basic strumming. I switch to a flat pick for that. They don't get any softer after heating either, once they cool they're just as stiff as ever. For what I use it for stiff is perfect.
Oh yeah, if you sand them shorter you have to use really fine paper to finish or they sound scratchy. |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 4413
| The entire French nation are born with thumbpicks already attached. Their first two words are always "mommy, Dadi".
Only one man has ever escaped this terrible fate and his name is Tom.... |
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Joined:
March 2006
Posts: 269
Location: Nîmes, south of France | I feel comfortable with medium National thumbpicks. |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | I use Dunlops and round off the point so it's really pretty close to what my thumb is like. No finger picks and about half the time I skip the thumb pick too. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 1380
Location: Central Oregon | I used to pick with my thumb a little but since I finally got used to my thumb picks if I try to use me nekked thumb I find myself waving my thumb back & forth a quarter inch above the strings. Kinda quiet that way. No need for a callous though. |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 212
Location: France | Thanks Schroeder.
Yes I'm trying very hard not to use a thumbpick but it's not easy, people are starring at me, I receive anonymous mails everyday threatening that I should use a thumbpick if I don't want to get into "any trouble"...
I might need to move to UK for the safety of my family...
:D
Tom |
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Any Thumb pick users here?
