Pick? Fingers?

[Anthony Gring]

Playing electric guitar only do you use:

Pick only
Pick and fingers ( hybrid picking)
fingers only
Sometimes pick, sometimes fingers

Got to wondering after watching the Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scott vid seeing what he does with fingers only ( or so it seemed, I didn't see a pick )

 

[funkmaster]

for me, it's either fingers or thumb-pick. It's just how I learned, I also believe that using a traditional pick is limiting for the way I play.

 

[Texican]

Either hybrid or just finger-picking.

 

[shane8]

i would use a pick 95% of the time

 

[johnjd52]

I used to just use a pick on electric but to me a combination of pick and fingers is more versatile and expressive.

 

[bigdaddy]

Yes.

 

[Kappy]

Hybrid quite a bit, pick-only the rest of the time.

 

[robelinda2]

I hybrid pick 100% of the time, its just what I like the sound of and I sound like me. Got into it about 12 years ago when learning a bunch of Albert Lee stuff, then Brett Garsed and Tommy Emmanuel.

 

[Marble]

when I play slide, its all fingers. I go through fingers vs pick usage phases for regular playing though. Right now I find using a pick gives me much more articulate rhythms and and I can play a few things faster. With fingers, its a much more rounded tone, but a better feel for most leads, and I can generally do longer faster runs. Some stuff just calls for a pick though. When I use a pick I like to hybrid pick. I could never get used to a thumb pick, as convienent as they appear to be.

 

[Simon Gee]

I hadn't used a pick in years, till I was asked to join a western swing trio, a la Hot club of cow town. Had to get used to a pick, and a whole new way of playing for that. I do like playing with fingers more, and am pretty amazed by the the fast lead lines some ppl can do just with fingers

 

[arthur rotfeld]

Pick most of the time
Just fingers other times
sometimes pick and fingers
sometimes a thumb pick

My style involves frequent movement of the pick from playing position to wedged between my fingers. In certain tunes/settings, I might go back and forth dozens of times. Pick only/Fingers only/Pick/Fingers, etc.....

 

[GAT]

Hybrid 95% of the time.

 

[musicofanatic5]

Been finger oriented for years lately, but many years of straight pick preceding that. When using straight pick, cannot keep fingers from entering the fray.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Playing electric guitar only do you use:

Pick only
Pick and fingers ( hybrid picking)
fingers only
Sometimes pick, sometimes fingers

Got to wondering after watching the Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scott vid seeing what he does with fingers only ( or so it seemed, I didn't see a pick )

all the above, but lately its been fingers only.

 

[Shredtrash]

Hybrid picking.

 

[SmilingDave]

I started out using a pick only, but over the last 10 years or so I've been incorporating a lot more hybrid picking into my playing. I tend to use my fingers a lot for diads, arpeggios, and when I go to descending from ascending in my riffs.

 

[Full Monty]

For all sorts of reasons (a few of them medical) I hybrid pick most of the time. I've tried just using fingers but I can't get the power behind my rhythm playing and thumb picks just feel really awkward.

 

[bluesjunior]

When I started I came across an article on Clawhammer and started off playing in that style. Later I tried a plastic thumb and metal fingerpick ala Freddie King and liked that but went back to fingers only as I prefer the sound and find that I can play with more nuance with fingers only. I found that it was easier to get that damped power chord sound with a pick and also easier to learn to play fast with a pick but once I had memorized the fast picking I could then do it with my fingers, I just found it somehow easier to learn it with a pick. Nowadays I just prefer the sound of my fingers. I can use the skin of my thumb or if I want to emphasise a bass note the edge of my thumbnail, same with rhythmic strumming I use my thumb for that soft jazzy 9th chord stuff or my forefinger and thumb together ala clawhammer for pattern picking arpeggios etc or if I want to really go percussive I use the backs of my nails in an almost drumming/slapping manner on down strokes while picking out the melody line/keynotes on upstrokes.

 

[dunara]

I use my fingers at home and sometimes in the studio. However live, I find I can't get the attack and presence I want from using my fingers - It's a pick all the time, with a few wee hybrid touches.

 

[Phoebe]

Hybrid or fingers w/thumb pick.