JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Guitars and Guitarist Forum Thumb pick vs Regular pick

So for all the four years I've been playing guitar, I've always used regular picks. The other day, though, my grandpa gave me a thumb pick...and I've been in love ever since. It feels so much more natural and really opens up creative doors for me. I still like regular picks, of course, but there's just no denying the joy of the thumb pick! =P

That's all my opinion, at least. What does the rest of the world prefer?

Thumb picks work well for those who get used to them. They are great for a folky Travis picking style and people like Tommy Emmanuel or the late Chet Atkins can play two or three parts at a time on the guitar because their thumb operates independently with the thumb pick, leaving fingers 1, 2 and 3 to do other stuff.

But for fast lead work, the thumb pick does not work for me because I cannot alternate pick with it - I can pick down but not up. So I use a flat pick and use my 2nd and 3rd fingers sometimes.

It all depends what you want to play. It is hard to switch once you get good at one method.

I use flat picks all the time because thumb picks are unnecessary for me.

When I learned to play guitar, I learned on an electric, so I never had any reason to fingerpick. Thumb picks make it easy to strum and fingerpick at the same time. Since I don't fingerpick, I don't use a thumb pick.

Seems awkward using a thumb pick or anything above medium thickness. Sometimes the sound is not fat enough without that though, at least for that certain sound. I like going pickless the occasion I fingerpick.

I agree with all said... I use thumbpicks religiously... but I write and record songs with a Gibson J-150... I used silk and steel folksy type strings which give the guitar a big fat muddy sound. When I first started learning to play the guitar I used a flatpick but growing up in a bluegrass houshold I quickly learned fingerpicking styles. So I guess it would certainly depend on the type of music and the type of instrument you play... Hope this helps,
Greg H.

Check this out for all the folks that think the thumb pick is just for acoustic :0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68Q6vs5la8k

Just sick..!!

I use fingers and thumb because I never liked thumb picks that much. I just could not keep them from rotating on my thumb unless I got them too tight and I could not wear them the whole night. However, I have a friend named Sal Salvato who is an amazing player who uses them and shreds with it when he wants to. He does not use finger picks choosing to use his finger tips as I do, but he will hold the thumb pick just as if it were a flat pick when he goes into shred mode.

Wow, that Scotty Anderson video just blew my mind! I'll have to look up more of his stuff

Brent Mason and many other sure can blaze using a thumb-pick. I started out learning from old Blues guys using no picks, just a thumb & fingers. You'd think with that background a thumbpick would easier for me to adapt but a flatpick seems more natural for me... so far... I think it is great to have as many options and varieties as you can...

the main thing is being able to "hybrid pick" with pick and fingers or thumb & fingers