Finger picks that banjo players use

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Finger picks that banjo players use

Postby rhirvine » Fri Aug 09, 2019 3:09 pm

I realized that all along banjo pickers that play claw style have a steel finger picks on their right index and middle fingers. They seem to be able to pick notes accurately. Not that I think I could ever learn to use finger picks at my age. Do any of you Chet or Merle finger style players also play banjo? If so are you able to use finger picks on guitars effectively. Now I know that tone is an important thing and finger picks would make for harsher tone but If I had known how much trouble I would have over the years with my fingernails I would have endeavored to use finger picks early on. Just asking.
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Re: Finger picks that banjo players use

Postby Tom Keller » Fri Aug 09, 2019 10:29 pm

There is no better example of acoustic guitar playing with finger picks than what Earl Scruggs did with Flatt and Scruggs. Here is an example of the sound he got with picks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BEd1UVqdoY
Last edited by Tom Keller on Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Finger picks that banjo players use

Postby Ray Bohlken » Sat Aug 10, 2019 8:50 am

Years ago, I tried to use fingerpicks...plastic ones. I never felt comfortable wearing them. It felt like they were choking my fingers. Consequently, I never used them long enough to get any kind of good tone. I think Pat Donohue uses those to good advantage when he plays. I never tried the metal picks at all. I also tried Alaska Picks when they came out and kept trying those for quite awhile, but didn't enjoy the experience and never got a good sound. I guess I like feeling my fingers hit the strings. I keep my nails short, too. About 15 years back, I stopped using a thumpick. I never got close to Chet's sound with that, although I sounded okay when I used one.
I continue playing bare fingered and thumbed in my slow rise to mediocrity. :)
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Re: Finger picks that banjo players use

Postby Doug Working » Sat Aug 10, 2019 6:12 pm

I have tried both the metal and the plastic fingerpicks through the decades. We were simply NOT a match made in heaven. Me and those confangled contraptions just never got along.
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Re: Finger picks that banjo players use

Postby Tom Keller » Sun Aug 11, 2019 1:56 pm

Most of the people I know who are successful with finger picks started out on an instrument like Bluegrass banjo or some type of steel guitar where its pretty much a necessity to wear finger picks. After awhile with picks you get to where it doesn't feel right without them.
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Re: Finger picks that banjo players use

Postby Doug Working » Sun Aug 11, 2019 5:54 pm

Lol, like the thumb-pick on my right thumb?
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Re: Finger picks that banjo players use

Postby rhirvine » Sun Aug 11, 2019 5:59 pm

Well. I sent away for the nail product that Doug Working recommended. I was about to try acrylics but Rande Dager has told me it's like having rocks at the end of your fingers so that would be my last resort. Time Will Tell.
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Re: Finger picks that banjo players use

Postby Doug Working » Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:42 am

I miss mine SORELY since I ran out. I’m desperate for another bottle and I have GOT to find a way to come up with some bucks before I go crazy. My nails are crying for it. They just drank it in and now they are in a desert of thirst.

I will say this: I would probably still have some if I were more sparing in my application, but I went crazy with it when I first got it, because my nails were so bad and I was desperate. I applied several times a day, but they only recommend once or twice. I applied and just let it sit on my nails for several minutes to get the full effect. (It doesn’t dry, harden or evaporate) You let it absorb into the nail, then you take your thumb and kind of rub it in.

Didn’t take long before my nails started to heal up. Not long at all.

Now I’m back to square one.

Brother can you spare a dime?
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Re: Finger picks that banjo players use

Postby DagerRande » Mon Aug 12, 2019 10:46 am

Rich, years ago I used fingerpicks because I wanted the sound to be "even" for all of my fingers, considering that my nails varied in length. I used them for several years but never felt like I was in control. I realized that I have to feel the string with my fingertip before the string is picked, regardless of whether it's picked with my nail or a fingerpick. I went to acrylics for 18 years and have since gone back to using only my nails, which are maintained with the "M Nail" hardener that we've talked about. Now my challenge is to make sure to maintain as close to equal length as possible. I will probably never change to anything else. I'd rather focus on my music instead of having to worry about things like this!
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Re: Finger picks that banjo players u

Postby Doug Working » Mon Aug 12, 2019 8:12 pm

You are spot on. All good classical guitar teachers will instruct that the best tone is a combination of nail and flesh, ALL NAIL = too harsh a tone. All flesh and no nail, = too soft. The best, most beautiful tone is a good balance of both fingertip and nails.
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