finger pics
Welcome to the forum and TARGET! Having fought with this subject for years I have some strong opinions on the subject of finger picks. I crushed some fingers in a farm tractor accident some years ago and I can't grow nails on a couple of fingers so natural nails are out for me.
Neil is one of the lucky ones who can use his natural nails for picks (see his post on maintaining your fingernails). Not everyone can do natural nails. They take work and care to maintain. They also sound better than any type of articial nail I've ever heard.
Many famous guitarists use metal or plastic finger picks. Also, acrylic nails put on by a nail salon are popular. But they can be expensive to maintain.
In my opinion, metal picks sound brighter, maybe crisper, but are more critical of correct hand position. The advantage to metal is the new ones, like Pro Piks (not certain of the spelling) can be bent to fit your fingers and adjusted to how tightly they fit.
Plastic picks sound more like a regular guitar pick (plectrum) and are more forgiving but aren't adjustable. You can heat them up and mold them a little.
So it totally boils down to personal choice. I personally like the sound of plastic picks but I like the way metal fits better. I think you just need to play around with different picks until you find the style you like. And if I could, I'd opt for natural nails, they're still the best!
And by the way, the thumb pick is almost always plastic regardless of the finger picks.
Happy playin'
Neil is one of the lucky ones who can use his natural nails for picks (see his post on maintaining your fingernails). Not everyone can do natural nails. They take work and care to maintain. They also sound better than any type of articial nail I've ever heard.
Many famous guitarists use metal or plastic finger picks. Also, acrylic nails put on by a nail salon are popular. But they can be expensive to maintain.
In my opinion, metal picks sound brighter, maybe crisper, but are more critical of correct hand position. The advantage to metal is the new ones, like Pro Piks (not certain of the spelling) can be bent to fit your fingers and adjusted to how tightly they fit.
Plastic picks sound more like a regular guitar pick (plectrum) and are more forgiving but aren't adjustable. You can heat them up and mold them a little.
So it totally boils down to personal choice. I personally like the sound of plastic picks but I like the way metal fits better. I think you just need to play around with different picks until you find the style you like. And if I could, I'd opt for natural nails, they're still the best!
And by the way, the thumb pick is almost always plastic regardless of the finger picks.
Happy playin'