I've been spending a bit more time on practicing fingerpicking/fingerstyle lately. While trying to figure out what works best for me, I've been wondering which approach you folks take.
Do you pick mostly with short (2-3mm of white) nails, longer nails, fingertips? Or even a plectrum? I'll add a poll for those options.
I've also seen some "hybrid" approaches where players use short or no nails, but have a long thumbnail, and I saw that Samantha Muir plays with short nails on the fingers, but uses the fleshy part of her thumb.
Sound-wise, I think I prefer short nails (meaning that both nails and fleshy bits touch the strings) when I play two-finger style with just thumb and index), but when it's three or four fingers I have a better time with just the fingertips.
It's probably a matter of practice and filing the nails differently, but I don't really get good sound with the middle and ring fingers (especially the letter) when trying to play with short nails. It's a bit difficult to compare because nails don't grow instantly, and those "Alaska picks" are different beasts than plain fingers.
Do you pick mostly with short (2-3mm of white) nails, longer nails, fingertips? Or even a plectrum? I'll add a poll for those options.
I've also seen some "hybrid" approaches where players use short or no nails, but have a long thumbnail, and I saw that Samantha Muir plays with short nails on the fingers, but uses the fleshy part of her thumb.
Sound-wise, I think I prefer short nails (meaning that both nails and fleshy bits touch the strings) when I play two-finger style with just thumb and index), but when it's three or four fingers I have a better time with just the fingertips.
It's probably a matter of practice and filing the nails differently, but I don't really get good sound with the middle and ring fingers (especially the letter) when trying to play with short nails. It's a bit difficult to compare because nails don't grow instantly, and those "Alaska picks" are different beasts than plain fingers.