# I hate picks



## lava (Oct 27, 2010)

I use a pick whenever I play my guitar, but I can't help but think that it is a middleman preventing me from a more intimate and direct connection to the instrument. Do any of you play without a pick? And by that I don't mean fingerstyle, I mean playing stuff like you'd play with a pick, only without a pick. Like, with your finger or fingernail. Can this even be done? I have tried it on occasion, but it seems to be quite limited compared to what I can do with a pick, but perhaps with practice I could narrow or eliminate that gap. Besides the more direct instrument connection, it means you don't have to have a pick with you whenever you encounter an instrument and you don't have to worry about dropping anything when you're playing.

I play my bass exclusively this way (using my fingernail as a pick), and it's great. But the large strings and spacing make it doable on a bass in a way that's not really practical on a guitar. 

So do any of you play this way?


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## Daggorath (Oct 27, 2010)

I play alot or leads without a pick because you can really get a more agressive twang to notes, and the dynamic control is infinitely better. See Jeff Beck for details.


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## Despised_0515 (Oct 27, 2010)

Every demo you hear played by Andy on Pro Guitar Shop's Youtube channel is without a pick. I freakin' love how he can nail just about any tone doing so.


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## lava (Oct 27, 2010)

Despised_0515 said:


> Every demo you hear played by Andy on Pro Guitar Shop's Youtube channel is without a pick. I freakin' love how he can nail just about any tone doing so.




Wow, that's impressive. Dang, I have a long road ahead of me!


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## GJaunz (Oct 31, 2010)

It all depends on what you want your solos to sound like and how fast you like to play, but for me, I found that the best approach is to really work on developing strong hybrid picking technique. This way I can employ either the pick or finger picking, depending on the tone I'm going for and what allows for better economy of motion. The pick is a great tool, without which some styles of playing would be impossible (eg. I don't think anyone could pull off a cover of one of Petrucci's faster solos without a pick), so I wouldn't come down on yourself just for using one. As for a more intimate connection with the strings, the type of pick you use can greatly affect that. With a nice stiff pick, you can feel the pick contacting the strings and sliding off of them quite well. I really like the Jazz III XL (the black ones). Here's a link to a hybrid picking lesson I did a while ago:


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## SirMyghin (Oct 31, 2010)

I play with and without a pick, and hybrid styles. I have better control with a pick though in terms of dynamics (I use sharp pointed agate picks) so prefer hybrid styles. These also give me the freedom of economy, paired with the change to blitz it out at the same time.


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## Auyard (Oct 31, 2010)

I do but only as a last resort thing like if I drop my pick. I just mount my thumb on my finger like there is a pick there. It also helps that my fingernail on my pointer finger grows weird now. I think it's a result from picking really hard. It's not as good as a pick when I do it but it's hard to tell the difference.


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## DatM (Oct 31, 2010)

I was once really impressed by a guy using a thumbpick. It's somewhere on youtube, but I can't find it right now...

Anyway, it seemed like a nice compromise, and he could do some really fast lines by alternating between the pick and one of his other fingers. It made my "things I need to try out one of these days" list.


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## SirMyghin (Oct 31, 2010)

DatM said:


> I was once really impressed by a guy using a thumbpick. It's somewhere on youtube, but I can't find it right now...
> 
> Anyway, it seemed like a nice compromise, and he could do some really fast lines by alternating between the pick and one of his other fingers. It made my "things I need to try out one of these days" list.



As far as thumb picks go, not a fan of how they sit on the finger (I have attempted banjo before, neck is too tiny/strings to close for this bassist.) There are a few models I have seen of flat pick/thumb pick hybrids, kind of a flat pick on a thumb ring. They let you go in between pretty well I wager. Albeit the difference in where the plectrum sits might be an issue.


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