Finger nails or lack thereof

Thank you Mivo. I’ll have to try these. Are they on amazon? If so can you provide a link? I think I found them but want to be sure . Thanks

I mentioned the Fred Kelly's Freedom Picks above, but there is another type of fingerpicks that I recently tried that I enjoy greatly: the ProPik FingerTone picks. Those are banjo-style picks, but most of the pad of the finger is uncovered, so the strings are (or can be) hit by both the rounded metal and the flesh. They look like this. I was surprised at how good this sounded, especially with my sopranos that tend to lose volume up the neck when played with just fingers. It's also possible to strum with them, which really doesn't work with most fingerpicks. Fingerpicks that cover the whole pad are also noisy and sound metallic. These FingerTone ones have a natural sound, at least in my ears, with much greater volume and clarity. They are also very comfortable, unlike most fingerpicks that cut into the area around the nail.

They are not worn like the Alaska Picks, but the nail looking part goes on the underside of the finger, like this. The only trouble with them is that you pretty much have to buy two or three of each size to figure out which sizes work for you. For me, it is L on middle, M on index, and S on ring finger. Recommendations based on hand size I had read didn't really work out for me, so I had to order twice before I had a set that fit my fingers. I use them with a heavy Slick Pick thumbpick (similar sound, I find), but thumbpicks exist in so many shapes and forms that it's all very subjective.
 
I've never used fingernails or picks to play guitar, or now uke, I prefer to use the fleshy part of my thumb and fingers, I like the tone and feel, and even strumming fast, well after 40+ yrs I guess I'm just used to it..
 
I mentioned the Fred Kelly's Freedom Picks above, but there is another type of fingerpicks that I recently tried that I enjoy greatly: the ProPik FingerTone picks. Those are banjo-style picks, but most of the pad of the finger is uncovered, so the strings are (or can be) hit by both the rounded metal and the flesh. They look like this. I was surprised at how good this sounded, especially with my sopranos that tend to lose volume up the neck when played with just fingers. It's also possible to strum with them, which really doesn't work with most fingerpicks. Fingerpicks that cover the whole pad are also noisy and sound metallic. These FingerTone ones have a natural sound, at least in my ears, with much greater volume and clarity. They are also very comfortable, unlike most fingerpicks that cut into the area around the nail.

They are not worn like the Alaska Picks, but the nail looking part goes on the underside of the finger, like this. The only trouble with them is that you pretty much have to buy two or three of each size to figure out which sizes work for you. For me, it is L on middle, M on index, and S on ring finger. Recommendations based on hand size I had read didn't really work out for me, so I had to order twice before I had a set that fit my fingers. I use them with a heavy Slick Pick thumbpick (similar sound, I find), but thumbpicks exist in so many shapes and forms that it's all very subjective.

I can’t strum with the backs of my nails with either of these, Alaska or ProPik. Can with the thumb pick ProPik, but it’s pretty harsh. Hard to chunk without a downstrum, unless you have a trick you want to share?
 
I've used Fred Kelly Freedom pick in the past but I recently decided to try Alaska picks after watching Aaron Keim's very good YouTube video on his pick choices. I'm liking them a lot. I love using a plastic thumb pick along with Alaska picks on index and middle. I can easily strum both up and down with my index and it prevents the heavy wear that I used to get on my strumming nail. Also nice clean consistent picking. Still like a flat pick sometimes.
 
I have very fragile nails and have damaged the nail bed on the middle finger of my picking hand so that it won’t grow a decent nail at all. I’ve tried the Alaska picks in the past and they might work if I didn’t meet to actually grow a nail to use them.

I’ve looked at the Fred Kelly Freedom picks but haven’t given them a try yet.

Right now I’m trying out finger picks made from ping pong balls. I saw a description on how to make them on a guitar forum and it looked easy enough so I decided to give it a try. They function similarly to the Freedom picks but they’re much less expensive. Preliminary results show them to be promising. Once I’ve gotten used to them I’ll post a review video and tutorial on how to make them.
 
Look up my recent post on a product called The Ultimate Fingerpick. For me, works lots better than all alternatives I have discovered.
 
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