anybody play electric guitar w/o a pick?

[birv2]

I'm looking into switching it up. I've used several types and weights of picks and am now considering doing the "hubert thing".

Anybody tried this? Any advice? I'm a little concerned with losing speed (what little I have!). Or do you gain or keep speed by using thumb and other fingers?

Bob

[Robert]

I do use my fingers quite often. I just alter my style a bit and play slower. The tone becomes so dynamic when you use your fingers instead of a pick.

[Spudman]

I do this from time to time but mostly around the house. It does change how you approach a few things but that's OK because then you become more self stylized.

I suggest the next time you play with others just don't use a pic and see what happens.

[Jampy]

I tend to play 90% finger style, I am self taught so it is a bit sloppy at times, but I enjoy the flexibility it provides me in my limited playing range.

It is fun to mix it up a bit, so give it a shot.

Growing your thumb nail long (to the tip of your thumb) will actually start to sound like a pick.

Looks sexy to :rotflmao:

[Blaze]

I use thumb & fingers quite often too, you can make much more variations on your guit . like country stuff, blues , name it ..

It makes your sound quite different by a different attack ..It s also find for the jazz comping stuff ,i love it ..You can also find a way to hold your pick in beetwen fingers while youre plain in that style , then if you need speed , you grab the pick ..

Look at mr. Clutch_ master playin mostly with his fingers ..

s cuse my bad english , im Frogie from Quebec..

1yGB6d_3n58

Blazes:dude:

[R_of_G]

I do use my fingers quite often. I just alter my style a bit and play slower. The tone becomes so dynamic when you use your fingers instead of a pick.

i find the same thing happens when i play without a pick [which is about 25% of the time].

[ZMAN]

One of the things that happens fortunately when you age is that your hair and nails grow at a rapid rate. My nails are as hard as any Fender Medium. I use them all the time and I find that there is much more speed by using 5 fingers compared to one pick. A prime example is Derek Trucks. Man that guy can play and it is all fingers. I really think you can be way more expressive with the fingers, and finger nails, than any pick.

[monkfish1979]

It's something I see as a different technique entirely, and like anything else in music, it's totally discretionary. There are some awesome rhythmic techniques that I find translate really well onto electric guitar, Rasgueado being one of my faves (can really spice up some of your RG lines). Slap guitar is also pretty cool - I think Raul Midon uses it quite alot. Jeff Beck's hybrid picking is also immense, even if he does look like Zelda from the Terrahawks....

Nails are also totally optional - I tend to cut mine off entirely if I'm playing loads of fingerstyle on a steel strung guitar, as the treble strings have a nasty habit of cutting a really annoying groove into them and that just p***es me off.

Experiment with it and you'll find out what works best with the way you play. :)

[hubberjub]

I play with a pick between my thumb and index and use the rest of my fingers for picking simultaneously. I'm not a very fast picker so this technique helps me fake speed and still get the pick attack that isn't possible (to me) with nails.

[Blaze]

My woman made me tried a product she uses to get her nails grow fast & hard and it works really good..

It s call :
(Vaseline) ''healthy hand & nail conditioning''

Gee ! my nails are hard just like titanium..
Makes your nails grow pretty fast too, as long as you spread some evereday..

You can find it at your drugstore..

For those interested .

Cheers:beer:

Blazes

[Childbride]

yeah, for at least one of my lesson songs, i have to. and i like to play that way acoustically, when i don't have flat-picking to do.

i have always had long nails. when i decided to play guitar, i cut half off. i still have them on my right hand.

for long strong nails, get dairy and take vitamins. trust me.

they come in handy. ;)

[ZMAN]

Does it come in Pink with little sparkles?

[birv2]

Thanks for all the replies, and especially for that Jeff Beck clip, Blazes. Man, what a musician.

And speaking of playing without a pick, how about this guy?

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DHRY6JnkIm4&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DHRY6JnkIm4&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[Kazz]

Derek Trucks is amazing...

[marnold]

This guy has done just fine without a pick:
iuGYvECw_Gk

I was listening to some of his stuff more closely recently. I never really realized what a banjo-like quality his playing has to it. Part of it is from his picking technique, another part is from the hollow bridge-middle quack tone.

Since my hand injury, I can really only play with my thumb and pinky on my right hand. I can do some interesting hybrid double-stops but no real fingerstyle.

[birv2]

And there's Mark Knopfler with one of the great guitar solos of all time, with no pick:

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/z2nQZPC2uTs&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/z2nQZPC2uTs&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[birv2]

And another one! Albert King and Gary Moore. Albert plays a few notes with those fingers, as opposed to Moore and his gazillion notes a second. Albert wins.

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qplN4pm1MSE&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qplN4pm1MSE&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[Katastrophe]

Here's one, where he "palms" the pick and plays with the fingers. Listen to how those notes pop. I really dig this tune by Joe Bonamassa.
xgwDEkCsCi8

I like playing bluesy stuff without a pick. I have no technique at all, but it's fun.

[Spudman]

Here's one, where he "palms" the pick and plays with the fingers. Listen to how those notes pop. I really dig this tune by Joe Bonamassa.

That smokes!

[tot_Ou_tard]

I play with a pick between my thumb and index and use the rest of my fingers for picking simultaneously. I'm not a very fast picker so this technique helps me fake speed and still get the pick attack that isn't possible (to me) with nails.
Is this what is called hybrid picking Jub? Do you use the middle, ring, & pinky just as you would use the index, middle, & ring when fingerpicking with the thumb?


My woman made me tried a product she uses to get her nails grow fast & hard and it works really good..

It s call :
(Vaseline) ''healthy hand & nail conditioning''

Gee ! my nails are hard just like titanium..
Makes your nails grow pretty fast too, as long as you spread some evereday..


Blazes
I use Hard As Hoof cream. Or at least I did before I slammed the front door on the ring finger on my right hand & broke the finger. It put a damper on my fingerpicking. The Hard As Hoof might have helped as I didn't loose the nail, but the damaged part hasn't grown off yet.

I think Knopfler should change that line to

"...a new guitar is all he can afford"

Those old guitars come with a guy with a baseball bat to make sure that you make your payments.

[bleakerthanyou]

This thread is quite old, but I thought I might chime in. I haven't used a pick in about two years. I started getting really into guys like Andy McKee and Antoine Dufour, and since my band had broken up and I was playing a lot of fingerstyle, I bit the bullet and went down the street and had the vietnamese lady put acrylics on my right hand fingers. I went in there 3 times and watched this lady do the nails, and by then I was brave enough to do it myself with some stuff from walgreens. I've been doing it ever since and I could never go back. I use my index nail as a pick when i want to play pick-style stuff. I highly recommend it

[Tig]

I rarely use a pick anymore. A pick still has it's uses, but my wacky finger style technique is much more expressive.
My nails have always been strong and thick, but the fingertips (skin) get more use than the nails depending on the music.

[poodlesrule]

my wacky finger style technique is much more expressive.

Same here (at my modest level).
More flow, more swing, whimsy, and above all, more fun...!

EDIT: I also let my thumb nail grow a bit, which has been OK so far, with yard work and such.

[MAXIFUNK]

Starting out as a bass players I play with my fingers all the time. sometimes its easier for me to learn a song, riff, scale, etc etc playing with my fingers 1st.
Tons of great players us no picks.