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Should I learn to use a pick?


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Greetings,

 

right now I only play on a nylon string guitar, mostly bossa nova and bolero comping and some easy classical pieces. I mess around with blue scales too. Probably someday I'll try to play electric guitar, but I guess you can even play that with "classical style: fingerings, right? My favorite electric players are Carlos Santana, George Benson, and Joe Pass. I guess they all used picks.... One of my favorite "rock/pop" guitar solo is from Dire Straights "Sultan of Swing" . I've heard that he didn't use a pick on that solo..... Can anyone confirm? So, would I miss out on much without learning to use a pick?

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I use a pick but I also fingerpick. I would miss either of them if I didn't use them both.

 

There is no right or wrong and there are many great players who use either or both. There are also many who play with a thumbpick and metal finger-tip picks and more than a few who "tap" the fretboard.

 

And once in a while, an outlier who makes their own rules:

 

:laugh:

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Greetings,

 

right now I only play on a nylon string guitar, mostly bossa nova and bolero comping and some easy classical pieces. I mess around with blue scales too. Probably someday I'll try to play electric guitar, but I guess you can even play that with "classical style: fingerings, right? My favorite electric players are Carlos Santana, George Benson, and Joe Pass. I guess they all used picks.... One of my favorite "rock/pop" guitar solo is from Dire Straights "Sultan of Swing" . I've heard that he didn't use a pick on that solo..... Can anyone confirm? So, would I miss out on much without learning to use a pick?

 

Picking takes a lot of practice just by itself. It has it's advantages but it is OK to use your fingers as well. In fact if your fingers are well enough practiced there is very little you can do with a pick than you can't do with just your fingers if they are practiced up enough. I do most of my stuff with a pick, but I do some chord work with my fingers as well.

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Montunoman, I have seen Mark Knopfler on video playing Sultans of Swing, and he does not use a pick. Check him out on YouTube. I think you should try using a pick and keep using your fingers as well. It's always fun to experiment and find new sounds. I play with a pick and fingers at the same time. It's called hybrid picking. Similar to using a thumb pick. But, you hold a regular pick between your thumb and forefinger and use the other 3 to make 4 note jazz chords, double stops, fake finger picking, arpeggios, etc. You always have the speed of the pick and the it's sound available to you. You can also hide the pick and just use the fingers and go back to the pick at will. Brian Setzer would be a good one to check out on YouTube as well for his picking method(s). :cool:
Take care, Larryz
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Montunoman, I have seen Mark Knopfler on video playing Sultans of Swing, and he does not use a pick. Check him out on YouTube. I think you should try using a pick and keep using your fingers as well. It's always fun to experiment and find new sounds. I play with a pick and fingers at the same time. It's called hybrid picking. Similar to using a thumb pick. But, you hold a regular pick between your thumb and forefinger and use the other 3 to make 4 note jazz chords, double stops, fake finger picking, arpeggios, etc. You always have the speed of the pick and the it's sound available to you. You can also hide the pick and just use the fingers and go back to the pick at will. Brian Setzer would be a good one to check out on YouTube as well for his picking method(s). :cool:

 

And... Albert Lee. He picks the way Larryz describes and is another phenominal guitarist. I saw him live and still can't wrap my head around that idea. My little finger would have a serious learning curve!!!!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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A pick will give you a very different sound, and feel, especially on a Nylon-string Guitar. Great for Bossa Nova. Also, different thicknesses, and materials, will sound different. A thin pick has a lot of give, and won't transfer the energy from your hand as efficiently as a harder pick, for one example. I prefer a heavier pick for that reason, but YEMV. One good thing, picks are cheap enough that you can afford a handful of different types and thicknesses to experiment with.

 

Something to consider before trying to use Classical fingerpicking technique on a solid-body, or even semi-hollow Electric, the neck is narrower and the fretboard is slightly curved, as opposed to the wider, flat fretboard on a Nylon-string Guitar. A wide neck radius might feel more natural to you.

 

I use a variety of approaches, fingerpicking, flat picking, using my thumb, and tapping, and when I'm working on a new piece of Music, I may experiment with all of those techniques, to see which I like best, but for speed and attack, I use a pick.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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Thumb picks. FTW. ð

 

For the guitar I gravitate toward Fred Kelly Slick Picks.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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Montunoman, I have seen Mark Knopfler on video playing Sultans of Swing, and he does not use a pick. Check him out on YouTube. I think you should try using a pick and keep using your fingers as well. It's always fun to experiment and find new sounds. I play with a pick and fingers at the same time. It's called hybrid picking. Similar to using a thumb pick. But, you hold a regular pick between your thumb and forefinger and use the other 3 to make 4 note jazz chords, double stops, fake finger picking, arpeggios, etc. You always have the speed of the pick and the it's sound available to you. You can also hide the pick and just use the fingers and go back to the pick at will. Brian Setzer would be a good one to check out on YouTube as well for his picking method(s). :cool:

 

And... Albert Lee. He picks the way Larryz describes and is another phenominal guitarist. I saw him live and still can't wrap my head around that idea. My little finger would have a serious learning curve!!!!

 

There are a lot of great country pickers that use the Hybrid style picking. Check out YouTube vids of Brad Paisley live for example. You give up the index finger so you sometimes use the pinky (I use it sparingly and mostly just use the middle and ring fingers with the pick). Most real finger style pickers use the pinky as an anchor point and use the thumb, index, bird and ring fingers. I found it interesting that Merle Travis (of Travis Picking Style) only used his thumb pick and index finger. It's all just a matter of what the guitar picker is comfortable with and the picking style that they want to use...pick or no pick LOL! :cool:

Take care, Larryz
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I hybrid picked with a flat pick for years and years. But I"m getting to where I don"t have any real use for flatpicks anymore. I haven"t liked strumming with a flat pick for a longtime. There isn"t a strumming pattern done with a pick I can"t do better using Rasgueado. Rasgueado Let"s you do way more intricate strumming patterns. If you are new I would avoid getting chained to a flat pick and learn the thumbs pick. You can grasp the thumbpick with your index finger and use it as a flat pick if you need to shred some lead lines.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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What I mean by rasgueado .... some random vids. I use it in the generic sense. It doesn"t have to be Andalusian rhythms. You can do simpler up down rhythms also.

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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