McGuinn's Metal Fingerpicks

[Folkie]

JimK,

In several threads here you've said you use metal fingerpicks when you play your 360/12. At the moment I'm not as concerned with gauges as I am with how you fit the picks over the tips of your middle and ring fingers. I know many banjo players bend the tips of the metal over their fingertips. Is this the standard operation procedure for electric 12-string players? From what I can make of the closeups of Roger's picking hand in his DVD "The 12-String Guitar of Roger McGuinn," it looks like the picks on his middle and ring fingers are not bent over his fingertips. But I'll have to take another look at the DVD to know for sure. I'm currently using the only picks I could find that would fit my middle and ring fingers (a Dunlop .0225 on my middle and a Dunlop .015 on the ring). As I've said in the past, I'm getting a lot of extraneous noise from the metal picks. Would they be less noisy if I bent the tips of them?

Robert

[8mileshigher]

Robert, theres also the nylon/celluloid finger picks to consider. Not as tinny and biting of a sound as the metal ones but give you a similar finger-picking effect.

And, they are probably not as scratching on your Ric's finish and pickguards, as their metal counterparts.

[Folkie]

Thanks, Rich! I didn't know they even made nylon/celluloid finger picks. And I had some concerns about scratching up my guitars (even though that's what pickguards are for!). I assume they come in various gauges, perhaps something equivalent to my Dunlops?

Robert

[8mileshigher]

Yes, that picture was from the Music 1-2-3 website.... you can check several on-line sites to find which companies make different style/thickness finger picks.

P.S. the Pickups are working/sounding real good !!

[Folkie]

Thanks again, Rich! Glad you're enjoying the pickups!

Robert

[jimk]

Looks like you guys have solved this one amongst yourselves. Truth be told, I never even considered using anything but metal finger picks. I started using finger picks back in the '70s, really. (My piano instructor was complaining about the clicking of my fingernails against the keys as I played. So I cut my fingernails, and began using finger picks. Problem solved.) And I think that's all there was. Anyhow, they were cheap, and that was more important.

Just for the record, I do bend them to get a more precise fit for each of my fingers. And that may mean bending the tips back ever so slightly over my finger tips.

I still can't quite figure out where the extraneous noise could be coming from that you find objectionable; unless you're hearing that ever so slight little "ping" as you touch a string with the pick. But that pretty much disappears as you play through the note.

JimK

[kiramdear]

I prefer the non-metal fingerpicks for comfort and tone. Namely, the Alaska picks are my favorite. But if you're set on using what RM uses, try to master the metal ones.

[jimk]

Maybe these will shed some light on the subject. At least they will document my approach to hybrid picking. Something that I haven't mentioned is that I slide the picks pretty far back on my fingers.
JimK

[Folkie]

JimK,

Thanks for the photos. I found them very helpful.

Robert

[Folkie]

Kira,

Thanks for the suggestion about Alaska fingerpicks. Where is the best place to order them? How will I know what sizes are appropriate for my fingers? Should I go with the same gauges as the metal picks I've been using? Can Alaska picks be bent to fit?

Robert

[kiramdear]

I found them here for you online, but I have bought mine from local music stores. This may give you some sizing info:

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/ ... gwodp1utIA

Google will help you find more info, too, I'm sure. Good luck! I find them very comfortable, and they can be trimmed to fit nicely.

[kvalois]

Hi, everyone:

For what it's worth--probably quite a bit-- Roger McGuinn once told me that he likes to wear the metal picks far back so that the tip resembles a fingernail. And, he said that he does bend them at the end a little.

Karl

[Folkie]

Thanks, Karl, that's just what I wanted to know!

Robert

[bvstudios]

So is anyone but me having a devil of a time with Roger's picking style??? I flat-picked my various accoustic 12strings for nearly 40 years, but with my new 370/12 I thought I would at least attempt to learn the style with the flatpick and the two metal fingerpicks... (pictures helped. Thanks to jimk) But after many hours of trying, it isn't coming together for me... Oddly, a thumbpick makes a whole lot of difference, and I am progressing that way, but the idea of constraining the index finger seems completely foreign to my brain and it's driving me nuts.

Am I the only one?

[teb]

No, I try it every once in a while and find it rather awkward and frustrating. My solution has always been to become a very fast flat-picker instead. However, if you watch somebody who is good at the combo flat and finger style, it looks perfectly natural as they do it. Like certain other bits of learning to play guitar, I think that with enough practice, it may eventually just click into place some day and be OK, like learning chord changes back when you started playing. Remind me to keep practicing, because it certainly hasn't clicked into place yet........