Beginner's lesson on using finger picks

[@mapanarepatrick]

Ive been playing for years...and I hadn't used finger picks for...30 years...got them out and it was a mess...this was a GREAT reminder for the basics. excellent job.

[@c_farther5208]

Great instruction! You and your guitar sound fantastic, very talented person.

[@alanlightyj185]

Thanks...lmk if I can help you with anything

[@brucearmstrong3526]

Thank you for giving a simple, yet easy to understand lesson on the basics.

[@tj48649]

Suggestion: Use a hair dryer to heat the plastic a little to make it pliable and THEN try to shape it. Don't heat it too much, only just enough to make it more pliable. You could also use a heat gut but heat guns get REALLY hot, can burn the hand immediately, and can melt the plastic easier than you'd guess. If you only have a heat gun, then just make sure to keep the gun moving. Heat in one place for very long and you'll have a plastic art form instead of a pick.

[@Cooper-cs6dp]

Maybe a hair dryer would be sufficient?

[@dmildrum91]

Damn this is crazy helpful. Love the sound that pickin pattern. Many thanks man

[@mandyrarsh7568]

Oh wow i feel so dumb right now. Never heard of those picks befor. just saw them a few weeks ago and bouht them. tried it 5 minutes and immediatly thought they are useless. Now i stumple across you video and realize, that besides from the thumb pick, i put those picks up the wrong way :D...unbelievable. Thanks for that cool video!

[@giraffeone15]

thanks alan need more simple & straight forward tutorials like this

[@ronskokandich1002]

Great lesson learned alot you took the mystery out of it for me Thank you

[@VirginiaWolf88]

Thank You!!! I want to try some of this with the finger picks. I haven't done it in a long time. This was helpful.

[@weasel6535]

DUDE! I was trying to use finger picks for Travis and the picks kept grabbing the strings, within 10 seconds of this video I realized I had my picks on up side down (they were curved towards the floor instead of ceiling). Second was I was using my thumb pick to strum up, never occurred to me to use the finger pick. Thanks for the clarification.👏

[@alanlightyj185]

Glad I could help you out

[@MrA1582000]

Me too

[@sharecroppersmule7361]

Jorma! Great name drop, happy 80th Jorma!

[@DG-mv6zw]

Great, useful tutorial, thanks. Would you use thicker gauge strings when using thumb/finger picks or dare lighter gauge strings ok? 👍

[@alanlightyj185]

I personally use 13's on my J185... l use 12's on my Ditson...l play the Ditson without picks..

[@flylippfantom8425]

I just got steel finger picks. I use Dunlop medium thumb pick and I sand the point down a little to where I have 3/16" to stick out help 100

[@SergeUnplugged]

fantastic full of tone guitar!

[@peteranthonyofthefamilybir18]

Very helpful THANKS 😊

[@GJeanRobert1]

Merci beaucoup pour cette première leçon.

[@Billsingsong]

What about using finger picks on your other two fingers your middle and your ring do you use them?

[@alanlightyj185]

I use one on my middle finger if the song requires it, like for Hot Tuna.....Never on the ring finger....l use what the artist used.... ie: no pics, two fingers and thumb for Mississippi John Hurt

[@dsvideoWashington]

Good job! Thanks!

[@garyhighley9022]

I play Scruggs style banjo too so it's second nature to use finger picks for me. Get a Blue chip or Propik thumb pick and it will last year's and not cut off circulation. I've had the same Blue chip for over a decade. Fred Kelly thumbpicks are nice too but the plastic band will wear out and get flimsy after a while if you have a heavy thumb. I can play with about any thumb pick but I like one with a metal band for sturdiness. I don't care for an all metal thumb pick though....even though they feel good , they don't sound as good to me.

[@Billsingsong]

Do you have other intermediate and advanced lessons you actually Travispicking using the first second and third fingers?

[@DaisyChaine]

So I’ve been at beginner with fingerpicks, but fingerpicking for over 10 years and this has been difficult. I recently saw a video on Otis Gibbs channel of Townes Van Zandt’s fingerpicks, and he looks like he bent the shovel of his way way up almost like a 90° angle is this common you’ll have to watch the video let me know

[@alanlightyj185]

You shape them to work the best for you! A lot of banjo players really wrap them around the finger tip.... l don't when playing guitar. I think of it as an extension of my finger.

[@seenundercygnus6870]

Oh man nice gibson! 1962?

[@alanlightyj185]

@seenundercygnus6870 no, it's a 1956....Gibson only made the original J185s from 1951 to 1959.

[@seenundercygnus6870]

@alanlightyj185 I wondered. It looks a lot like my 62-63(not sure) Gibson Country Western. The old Gibsons are the richest sounding acoustics I have ever heard. Thanks for the video. I am composing a song and am trying different picking styles so I got a set of these picks to play around with. Still not feeling natural but I am still noodling around with em, we'll see what type of plectrum wins my ears over. Thanks for the lesson!

[@Michael777Simmons]

Awesome thanks

[@gregschroer2314]

I feel that finger picks Are a must but I use 2 finger picks and one thumb pick Feel like I get much is much more balanced out of it

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

I don't know much about technique but I can say that I prefer the metal ones. Even on the thumb. The plastic ones tend to break on me. I have some finger picks but I don't often use them. But I play this kind of music. Like folk and fingerstyle. I call it picking. Anyone know of a more advanced lesson?

[@alanlightyj185]

My email is [e-mail]...I'll shoot you something or we can zoom...lmk what you want to learn

[@benstokes7964]

I put my thumb picks in boiling water for 10 seconds and then quickly put it on my thumb until completely cool. It makes it fit perfectly without the purple thumb!!

[@basfludi]

There is an instrument that looks like an oud hanging on the wall behind you. Do you play it and if yes, what kind of pics do you use?

[@alanlightyj185]

Yes...it's an Oud...l don't play it in the traditional way...and l tune it differently...l just use a heavy flat pic

[@basfludi]

@@alanlightyj185 I'd love to see you playing it!

[@alanlightyj185]

@@basfludi send me an email to remind me to work something [e-mail] 🙃

[@Billsingsong]

Unfortunately, you are not really focusing on the finger pics. Just the thumb pic.

[@amygodbless8544]

are you always pinching at high E?? can vary that as well, right??

[@alanlightyj185]

My email is [e-mail]...send me a note and I'll give you a free zoom lesson and answer any of your questions...

[@chrysafis]

is that a bouzouki hanging over your left shoulder?

[@alanlightyj185]

It's an Oud....

[@ruki4585]

👏👏👏👏👏

[@Billsingsong]

What is the name of those for finger pics? Where do you buy them and can you play dusted in the wind or landslide

[@alanlightyj185]

I use an Acri medium on my index finger, a Dunlap .025 on my middle finger if I need it, and Golden Gate thumb picks...l get mine from "Banjo Ben's"...Google him up...l don't play those tunes, but I'll do them for ya... "Never going back Again" is on my KZbin channel....thank's

[@crazeindia]

U r great

[@Oooo-bi7bi]

Thanks so much for this. Been trying to get the hang of them. The metal ones seem easier. It’s taken me two years to get used to the slide . I’m a parlour and resonator guitar player. Want to be louder for busking, plus they are the best sound for the slide. Cheers 🇬🇧

[@alanlightyj185]

Lmk if l can assist you with anything else

[@Oooo-bi7bi]

@@alanlightyj185 had to look up what lmk meant. Thanks so much for the offer. One question I have, to play in different open tunings . Is it the norm to just retune the same guitar.

[@Oooo-bi7bi]

@@alanlightyj185 I ended up getting a brain injury in my early twenties. So have a lot of free time, but struggle to be around others. Have played and organised open mics in the past. But that’s playing percussion which I’ve played since 90 and 16. So super confident, only started guitar a decade ago. Since then the left arm I broke my wrist in motorbike crash. I have broke and had a titanium plate put in the forearm. So had to play slide due to lack of mobility. Since last break it’s painful so switched to mandolin as smaller scale. I’ve never had formal lessons in guitar or mandolin. I want to get my grades as can join local string group if certain level. And for personal satisfaction. Can reach whole of fretboard on mandolin. Just don’t feel I can get where I want through online lessons. Do you recommend going for face to face. ?

[@alanlightyj185]

If you can afford one for each then maybe think about it...but you're probably going from D to G...???.... not that big of a deal to retune is it??

[@Oooo-bi7bi]

@@alanlightyj185 I have a resonator that’s too loud to practice in flat. So have parlour of same make. I love open d but after 5 years. I feel I should try another tuning. But thanks for answering obvious to some question. Just wondered if it’s common practice to switch between a couple. Cheers again.

[@micahblakeslee]

Oh... I had them upside down. Haha XD

[@hulingmusic]

Name dropper. 😂

[@Billsingsong]

Can you show Travis picking

[@jdgzan1634]

11:43 - “the guitar is a percussion instrument” 🤔 No, it’s not. Even if you beat a rhythm on the body the guitar is still a “string instrument”. Just sayin’…

[@alanlightyj185]

The Harp, Piano and Guitar, Mandolin ect are part of percussion section of a Orchestra...the string section is Violin, Viola,, Cello and Upright Bass.. if you have to "hit" it to make music, then it's a percussion instrument... no worries...you can call it whatever you want to....lol

[@Billsingsong]

Instead of just strumming can you actually Travis pick a song like Dust in the wind or Landslide Showing how to use Fingerpicks

[@ThrowawayJonez]

lol @ how incredibly wrong this is. this subject is somewhat subjective , at the end of the day where them however you want but i have never worn my thumb-pick that high on my thumb, i laughed so hard beer shot out my nose

[@alanlightyj185]

Obviously you never saw Rev Gary Davis.... hope your guitar didn't get wet😂

[@russellroesner6073]

OMG 5 mins hitting G over and over again saying how great it is with no further instruction? No wonder this video is so long. It could be 5 mins long tops. Moving on to someone with less free time on their hands.

[@benvs8459]

Wow dude, stop being a dick. This guy created and uploaded a video for you to watch for free and you're complaining that its not good enough for you? If you're so short on time that you can't stand to watch the whole thing, why waste the time to comment at all??

[@desertdean9177]

This is a very good video on learning finger picking by a master picker. If you don't have the patience to go through this and to spend a lot of hours working on it, then you are never going to get finger picking down. There are no shortcuts. Grab yourself a flat pick and strum simple rhythm if you don't have time or patience.

[@Ori0987]

It’s as easy as clicking off and watching a different video.

[@karelmartel8508]

All thumbpicks I ever tried to use playing the guitar just had one thought in mind,, "Stop his or her bloodstream" Fuck picks , connect to the guitar with your body. Your flesh, your fingers....

[@alanlightyj185]

Then you're not wearing them correctly 🙄