Beginning Banjo - Get The Bends! (In Your Fingerpicks)

[@nightskyimaging]

Great info! I am beginning my banjo adventure. I tried using the finger pics but stopped as they added another very difficult and awkward element to my trying rolls, I do better without them. Your video has helped me shape the pics so much that I am now feeling very comfortable using them.

[@EricEllis-b2m]

If you look at other pictures of Earl's right hand you will see the pick blades extend a little beyond his finger tips. That has to be done so you can get enough pick on the strings. If you just play with the tip of the pick you're not going to get much sound.

[@heymrwood]

You're correct and it's how I have my picks oriented. Some people like no tip, some a tiny tip, some like picks straight out of the box.

[@EricEllis-b2m]

Everyone's fingers are shaped a little different and that makes a difference too. It just depends on what works for each person. Personally I'm for trying to get as much of the pick as possible on the string. The late Sonny Osborne said the finger picks should strike the string from the hole in the blade out to the end. That makes sense to me.

[@picker63028]

File the teeth off the pliers or use heat shrink to cover the teeth. Pliers are cheap.

[@tommaxwell429]

Just put the pick on your finger and use the top of a hard surface to roll it around your finger. I have found that trying to roll it off my finger or using pliers resulted in creasing the thin metal of the picks. Once the metal is weakened by even the start of a crease, you'll never get it right, throw i away and move on to another one. Just curious, what's white stuff on your thumb and knuckles?

[@heymrwood]

I've tried that too and it's a 1/4 chance that the pick just bends at the hinge. I only use 0.025s or prewar nationals so that's probably why. If you're using 0.010s or 0.014s I'm sure the roll trick works just fine!

[@heymrwood]

Made me think for a minute! Pretty sure its interior paint from a project I'd been doing at the time.