I bought a thumb pick the other day...
... and felt like I was trying to play left handed. The addition of that small piece of plastic to my thumb resulted in a complete change in my right hand finger coordination. Very wierd, but not unexpected I guess. No doubt it's a matter of putting in the time to learn the appropriate adjustments, not unlike anything else when trying to learn an instrument.
Glad you point that out. I also tried recently with a thumbpick, with the similar results as you where it is very confusing on the hand position. Thre must be some basic stuf that coud be teach about this. Wondering if Neil could speak about this in the next TG Live.
Marc
Marc
I've been working on using the thumb pick too, and when I put it on at first not only does my co-ordination disappear, but I feel like I've lost the connection with the guitar. How anyone can use thumb and finger-picks is beyond me. Must be like playing in fresh air.....And they can be a bit uncomfortable (or maybe that's just me and my little girly hands!)
I'm sure that - as with everything else guitar related - it will get easier with time, but with everything else that needs time I'm not sure that I've got the time!
r
I'm sure that - as with everything else guitar related - it will get easier with time, but with everything else that needs time I'm not sure that I've got the time!
r
Thumb picks take a bit of getting use to. Some of them require some modification in order for it to feel right. I have seen some articles on the web that detail on how to do this. When I by T picks I look for one that is real short, that seems to work for me. You will get use to it and once you do there will be no going back.
Kevin
Kevin
Then why does your avatar have an earring? LOLreiver wrote:
that's fighting talk where I'm from........
Sorry, no offense. It always amazes me when I see men go and get an earring. Do any of you know the origin of earrings? It was the preferred method for marking your slaves. You would mount your symbol in his or her ear to mark ownership. Whenb I see a man with an earring the first thing that comes to mind is 'slave'. Hopefully I'm not offending anyone with a bit of truth here. :laugh:
I would really love to learn to use a thumb pick effectively. Tommy Emmanuel uses one and we can see how well it works for him. To my thinking its the best of all worlds. You can strum with it and still fingerpick without having to let it go or even do Neils disappearing pick trick.
My guitar repair guy is a friend of Tommy Emmanuel's and works (or has when he is in Sydney) on his guitars too (not that that has anything to do with what I'm about to say by there you have it). :silly: Apparently, Tommy advises everyone to get a thumb pick and to play with it for at least 2 weeks (straight?) before deciding whether to incorporate it into your playing style (and then probably playing with it a bit longer).
I purchased a couple and cut them down so that they are fairly short; one I overshot with and is fairly useless, the other is OK but I too find it feels tooooo strange and hurts my brain to use it. Instead, I've grown my thumb nail out a bit, while it doesn't produce anywhere near the same volume, it is a little louder and more consistent with the sound that my fingernails make than just using the fleshy side of the thumb.
I notice that Neil doesn't use one (the vast majority of the time). From memory he might have said something about thumb picks on one of the TG Live sessions. But, I'd be interested to hear more from him on this subject (e.g. thumb pick vs thumb nail vs side of thumb (no nail) - pros and cons).
Re: earrings - there is something positive about reclaiming things that have had a negative meaning/ connotation and turning it around to remove that meaning. Earrings are now about self expression. I sometimes wear an earring and it means something to me. So I say 'works for you'.
BTW - Good thread subject.
I purchased a couple and cut them down so that they are fairly short; one I overshot with and is fairly useless, the other is OK but I too find it feels tooooo strange and hurts my brain to use it. Instead, I've grown my thumb nail out a bit, while it doesn't produce anywhere near the same volume, it is a little louder and more consistent with the sound that my fingernails make than just using the fleshy side of the thumb.
I notice that Neil doesn't use one (the vast majority of the time). From memory he might have said something about thumb picks on one of the TG Live sessions. But, I'd be interested to hear more from him on this subject (e.g. thumb pick vs thumb nail vs side of thumb (no nail) - pros and cons).
Re: earrings - there is something positive about reclaiming things that have had a negative meaning/ connotation and turning it around to remove that meaning. Earrings are now about self expression. I sometimes wear an earring and it means something to me. So I say 'works for you'.
BTW - Good thread subject.