Thumbpick is like trying to run wearing swim fins, at first anyway. Just trying to catch up to Brent Mason but it's not likely to happen. Thanks for the tips!
playing for decades....can finger pick well...can use a flat pick ok...but couldn't master both...hyrid....until I saw an 11 year old prodigy yesterday using a thumb pick. I grabbed mine and was shocked at how much better/accurate I can hit the bass notes....and use my remaining fingers to pick away....and strum when I have too. At 62, I think I just broke another plateau! So excited to notice how much better I play. Need to practice strumming though...the pick is so stiff...
I used D'Addario 9.5's for many years, but for this particular video I had this tele strung up with some black string, thinking they would show up better on the camera. I forget the brand, but I only bought a couple sets of them, and I never even used the second set because I didn't like the feel or tone. I now use 10's all the time because I like the fatter tone they produce. I buy them online in bulk, 48 sets at a time, and I'm quite sure they are the "Martin" (Darco maybe...?) cheap line of strings. They wear out faster than the higher priced strings, but I really like the tone, and I can buy 3 sets of these for the price of the DaDDarrio's, so I'm happy with them. Thanks - PS - The Martin "Darco" acoustic strings sound awful and dead to my ears. I didn't care for those at all!
I played 3 years with a flat pick and recently changed to a thumb pick it only took me 3 days to get good with it and play all the songs just as good as I could with a flat pick and I like the thumb pick a lot more
Good video-you may want to add a caption at the beginning of it letting lefties know that left handed thumbpicks are available(from Jim Dunlop-and maybe some others). Those picks are similar to the "hooked" Herco, but have the point of attack pointed outwards toward the tip of your thumb. If a left hander tries to use a right handed thumbpick, it points back to the base of your thumb-making it next to impossible to use. I "modded" righties with fingernail clippers for years 'til I found the Dunlops.
I never been comfortable with a pick, and have focused on fingerpicking. Recently, I've started to work with a thumb pick, and wasn't sure what the learning curve would be. I appreciate that you said that it took you several months to feel secure with a thumb pick--gives me hope! Also, I never though of using a thumb pick like a flat pick; it feels really natural to me, so much so that I might have to go back to learning to flat pick!
Must have been like me, did you first learn to play classical? Because I played that for a couple of years before I decided to play music I actually liked and I just couldn't use a flat pick because I would never grip it right. But if you use a thumb pick and you grip it like a flat pick then you're forced to hold it properly so I prefer them. Also it's easier to hit those bass notes with a thumb pick but with things like this its all down to personal preference.
Hi Ken, I am a member of the CGC Wood Shed. I was just wondering what bridge pickup your using in this particular Tele? It sounds really good. Thank You.
Hi Toby! Thanks for being a member, and I hope your enjoying all the lessons and learning a lot from them. I'm sorry, but I really can't recall what pups were in that guitar. If I had to guess I'd say it might have been the SD 5/2...?
@@CountryGuitarChops Thanks Ken. No problem. lol. It sure sounds good. I'm not real happy with the fender bridge pup in my MIM Player Plus Nashville. Currently in the market for a change. Looking at the SD Vintage Broadcasters you have reviewed. Thank You!
Hi Richard. I was just discussing this with one of my customers the other day. It's too difficult (for me anyway) to strum with a thumb pick, so I use the tips of my fingers to strum with. I'll use the pick to emphasis a particular note if the rhythm pattern calls for it, but that's about it.
Slick pick thumbpicks are the best. The prong doesn't stick out as much so you get closer to the strings and have much more control. I cut them down even more with scissors. Works great.
it depends on the thumb pick you use, but generally I do not trim the picks I use down. I use the "slick pick" by Fred Kelly, and the length is fine. I use the orange colored ones, and they are a tad tight around the thumb at first, but they loosen up after you play them a while.
can u demonstrate how to use the pinch harmonics on thumb picks?. because after watching your videos i found using thumb picks like you are doing have really open up new ideas. Thank you.
I haven't perfected pinch harmonics using the thumb pick, but the way I do it by gripping it like a flat pick using my index finger. Another way I do is by placing my index finger behind the thumb pick and slightly pick and upstroke with the finger as the thumb does the down stroke. But my index finger nail is a bit too long (and has the fake nail gel too) so it tends to get in the way when I do the pinch harmonics. Hope this helps... good luck!
I'm mostly flatpick/hybrid but can get around pretty well with thumbpick. For me thumbpick advantage is it opens the hand, and gives me the index finger as extra picking finger. And it's a good one add...given choice I'd rather use I-M-R than M-R-L if using three. But can't get the hang of straight alternate picking or funk style rhythm with thumbpick, flatpick beats it hands down for me. So I use flat, like Albert. No rules, whatever works best
Hey! order some "John pearse thumb picks" they are great, I use them, they are not heavy and clunky like dunlop thumb picks, and they feel the most convertible on my fingers then others I have tried.
I file my flat picks down so there wider at the bottom I've absolutely no idea if this makes any improvement what so ever ??? But watching this vid iv just discovered that eating toffee while watching RU-vid and country chops vids makes your fingers sticky and less likely to drop your picks ?!? ( free tip)
Their called Black Beauties, made by DR - I thought the strings would show better in the videos so I use them once in a while. They seem like pretty good strings, but I've never tried them at the gig.
Check out the Fred Kelly Bumble Bee thumb picks if you haven't already. Great as a thumb pick but also works well as a flat pick! I've tried dozens of styles over several decades and these are my faves.
Thank you for helping us. Have you tried the Fred Kelly bumblebee thumb puck? I have just ordered one. Wondering how it will be. I have never tried a thumb pop pick
I like your video but could you do another one using the Fred Kelly speed thumbpick . It is available in med heavy & light gauges. It seems more precise for picking at least to me.
I don't understand why you don't do an upstroke... I only use a thumbpick.. And i use upstrokes with it alot.. I get very very high speeds with the 'shotgun' technique.. but i don't use my whole hand i just use my thumb.
+Balta Yoshi I do use the thumb pick for upstrokes when I'm doing a "machine gun" or shotgun style lick, but I have to hold it like a flat pick with my index finger supporting the bottom side of the pick when I do so.
Are those tapewound strings? If so, any comments about them, because I'd like to move on to electric or steel-string acoustic guitar (I'm current playing on a nylon string guitar). I'd like strings which are focused in tone and mellow like flatwounds, but with more response for strumming and less twang. I'm really impressed with videos showing tapewound bass strings, but I'm not really able to find videos showcasing tapewound guitar strings for non-jazz styles.
+b foshizzle No, they were not tapewound. They were black in color, and I forget the brand name. I thought I'd try them because the strings show up better on the video, but I didn't care for them. Thanks.
I also use a Fred Kelly, it looks a little different than yours though. They now have more colors than the orange. they have blue and green and a few others too.
My mom and dad always used a thumb pick. While I don't use one, I do use my thumb kind of mark knopflerish. Sometimes while playing rythm I'll run the bass line with it or play rythm in the style of Waylon. But lately I've been wanting to use a thumb pick.
Does it really make a difference and would you say it changes your playing style overall? I've always used a flat pick, but I decided to go pickless. I litterally just finished my first set without a pick. I got flustered myself, but overall it was fine. I really love the tone and the sound dynamics I can get without a pick. Also, I'm learning new phrases by not using a pick. How has your playing changed since using a thumb pick and fingers?
I fingerpick a bit but need a pick at times. The thumb pick stuck out way to much for me so I took regular shears cut it down to the size and shape of my ring finger nail tip and sanded with a nail file. Works for me and I seem to have picked up more speed ?? but that may be me practicing more.
All youtube instructors love to establish their credentials by saying "I called them up." Fred Kelly Slick Picks, in each thickness, come in many colors--I have a bunch in orange, transparent, white, and faux-tortoise.
Hi ken, what are your thoughts on just using your thumb? I started like that and now can't stop. I seem to be able to get pretty crisp attack, not as crisp as a pick, but I find the strings more accuratly
Mark Knofner uses his thumb, and he's one of my favorite players, and has incredible tone. I've got a "dead" thumb, it doesn't have any tone at all, so I have to use the pick!
I used a TP when I was real young. I started using it again a few weeks back. Same orange type you use. I play rock n roll and punk. The best thing these things do for me is do a great downstroke. In up I always have to grip it like the flat pick.or PoP! I really like it as you also mentioned it takes time.
Thanks for the reply Thomas. I find myself gripping it more like a flat pick these days also, so I get the benefits of the thumb pick plus a flat pick. Your right, if you don't grip it on the "up stroke", it'll pop right off!
they're really useful in stuff like country blues, especially incorporating finger picks as well. you can generate more volume than just fingerpicking alone.
Johnny Winter used a thumb pick since he was 12 years old. He first used Gibsons then switched to Fenders after the Gibson model became unavailable. He says Fenders are 'just as good.' This is per a Premier 'Rig Run Down' interview on youtube. I wonder if he used upstrokes. I would guess he did.
***** Yeah, alternate picking would be difficult but maybe if you changed the shape of the plucking part to make it thicker at the base and then tapered so it's sort of triangular then you would have a good attack both going up and going down.
Filthy Casual Thanks! It's actually a partscaster I put together from spare parts I had lying around. The finish came from spray cans. It looks good from a distance, but kind of rough up close!
CountryGuitarChops Figures that I would like it so much. I'm not a fan of pristine, overly finished guitars. I can see that it's rough, but that's what I love about it. Gives it a unique vibe.
Yep, I agree! The neck is old, so it's naturally reliced, but the body was unfinished. My paint job went to crap, but the more I looked at it the better I liked it.
I'm not sure what you mean Tobus. When you use a thumb pick, your basically hybrid picking all the time because your using your fingers in conjunction with the pick. Does that make sense?
CountryGuitarChops Sure. I've started hybrid picking using just a flat pick pinching with my index. What I find is that I can really pluck hard using my middle and fourth finger. Using a thumb pick would free up my index too though.
+Jovanny Ceballos Picks are used for "picking" the strings, not pressing them down. There is no cheating your way around sore fingers when your first learning to play! Good luck.
Cool hey thank you very much for responding! I love that intro / lick. Are any other country songs that have that kind of lick? I would like to get into country guitar, I like the guys like Danny Gatton, James Burton Merle Travis of course, Chet Atkins, I use the Dunlop Large thumbpick, but I find that it is too loose on my thumb, So I went with a medium size instead. It takes a bit of getting used to, I also use the Bumble bee Fred Kelly pick, it's adjustable so it's kinda cool.. I noticed that when I use the thumbpicks the pointy part of the thumbpick wears out. Any books or DVDs you can recommend on guitar that covers the styles of the these guys I mentioned. Is that an American Tele? I plan on getting this month, Christmas present to myself. Sorry for the man questions!! Have a great holiday!!
