Who right hand fingerpicks... with your 12 string ?

[Folkie]

I do as well, but leave those crazy banjo picks for Roger McGuinn.

+ 1 !

The main problem I have with Roger's technique is the use of metal fingerpicks on the middle and ring fingers. Even though his DVD provides closeups of his picking hand, the camera is facing Roger, as you might expect, so there's no way to see at what angle he attacks the strings. I've generally found the metal picks awkward and clunky, and trying to use them to play a Rickenbacker 12-string has been an uphill battle. No wonder it took McGuinn 8 hours of practice a day to master them! The only guitar on which the metal fingerpicks work for me at all in on my Alvarez acoustic 12-string, and even then, I can only play simple patterns. So I'm working on using my nails and fingers to approximate McGuinn's technique rather than attempt to replicate it.

[Chrome Aardvark]

Karen Dalton, part of the New York coffee house scene of the early 60's, used to fingerpick an old Gibson acoustic 12-string. Like McGuinn she was also a banjo player. Here's a clip with some closeups of her picking, her voice is a bit Billy Holidayish and might not be everyone's cup of tea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-BIKjypNsE