Plectrum / Pick etc

Orton Pearson

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I am a Carlisle United supporter and thus my fingernails are of negligible size.

I have heard that some well known players of stringed instruments use a small coin or fashion a plectrum / pick from an old plastic card etc.

What type of orthodox plectrum / pick do you use or what do you use as a plectrum / pick by any other means?
 
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Ukulele players generally do not use a plectrum. I have never used one. Fingers, mainly the index finger when strumming, is all I need. Sometimes the thumb will join in as well.

Like you, I also have negative fingernails. I find a get a nice mellow tone when fingerpicking with the pads of my fingers. I like the sound and feel I use it to my advantage.
 
I have horrible nails that break off as soon as they extend beyond my fingertips. As a fingerstyle player, I'm able to keep my index, middle and ring nails just long enough to work, but my thumb nail is hopeless so I use a thumb pick. Specifically, the Ernie Ball medium thin, which I file down so the pick part isn't so long.
 
I use Dunlop 1mm or a Bill Stokes (Showcase) custom pick. I may fingerpick a bit but mainly use a pick. There is a whole subculture on picks and capos; mostly in the guitar, banjo and mandolin players. It's a search for a pick that has the old tortoise shell sound. Some cost 50 dollars or more. My thumbpicks are custom and use the Alaskan fingerpicks if needed.

Thinner the pick equals a brighter sound. Thicker means more mellow.
 
I use a pick when I play - I use the small Dunlop Jazz III's in various materials. I use the red nylon, black stiffo, and ultex. I get different tones from the different materials. I also have some custom made offerings in the same shape, but in bone and horn materials.

I don't play in a strumming fashion, but rather melody picking. If I were to mostly strum, I would be using a thinner pick. Something in the medium celluloid range.
 
I own a huge and diverse collection of picks from my mandola and mandolin playing. But alas, not a single one of them made a sound on my ukes that wasn't cringe-worthy to my ears. So I taught myself to use my thumb and two fingers.

bratsche
 
I just started using these:

IMG_1964.jpg

from guitarplayernails.com.
Not a pick or plectrum, so must be etc.
 
I use Jim Dunlop .038 or .046 Nylons for picking my banjoleles and my baritone uke. I strum chords with my fingers on the rest of my ukes.
:eek:ld:
 
Ukulele players generally do not use a plectrum. I have never used one. Fingers, mainly the index finger when strumming, is all I need. Sometimes the thumb will join in as well.

Like you, I also have negative fingernails. I find a get a nice mellow tone when fingerpicking with the pads of my fingers. I like the sound and feel I use it to my advantage.

Me too! Even playing guitar with steel strings its just the pads of me thumb and fingers.
 
I switch around to give a rest to nails on my index and middle finger. Mainly I use a rubbery flexible plastic pick that I made from flooring material. You can use any likely material. Use scissors to cut a triangle and round the corners. Also available are punches that cut out the right shape.

Also use a very thin flexible guitar pick. Latest experiment is Alaska picks. These are plastic finger picks and I put one on my index finger. They are a bit flexible so give good feel.

I have tried felt and leather picks but did not like them.
 
Del Rey often has at least one banjo pick on her fingers, usually her thumb.
Interesting thing, I went to a Del Rey workshop the weekend before last and she put a finger pick on her finger. Actually maybe more than one. While she was doing so she said something about she was going to put them on but she did not recommend using them. She said something about needing to sound louder in the class environment and having to use them for that reason, but isn't that why anyone uses a pick, to sound louder?
 
Del told me once she doesn't recommend the thumbpick and fingerpicks she uses, because they only really work in one direction: downstrokes for thumb, upstrokes for index, middle and ring fingers. It takes a whole while to get used to that limitation, although it does work for her.
 
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