5 Reasons I STOPPED Using a Thumbpick for Fingerstyle Guitar | Adam Rafferty

Hey! Do you use a thumbpick? How do you play guitar? Leave a comment below to let me know!

All my heroes used thumb picks, and I have tried pretty much every brand.
I still prefer not to use one. I agree with Adam in that that the "groove" is better for me without one.
I also prefer the bass being more subdued (but fatter) than I can get with a pick.

How do you strum with a thumbpick? Pls help

It's true. I got fascinated by fingerstyle guitar due to Tommy Emmanuel and to this day he and Joe Robinson are my favorite guitarists. Both use the thumbpick so I felt for years like I had to use one as well. But, it's wrong and I never got into it. It took me quite some years for some reason to understand that the guitars, amps or picks my heroes love and use, are not necessarily for me. So now I play bare thumb and maybe like 5% of the time I grab a thumb pick.

I would like to use a thumb pick but there is not one that feels right for me. Same with finger picks, I have tried different styles and it feels like a runner with shoes on the wrong feet. I am an Americana-style picker and I want that bright tone. I have twice had my nails done on my right hand at the place my wife goes to and I LOVED IT! I felt so free and the tone was wonderful. Sadly, I am a guy who is most weekends digging holes, working a chain saw or planting stuff and I had to say bye-bye to the nails. I wish there was something that would make my natural nails grow hard. I believe Adam would say, "Just be you, man. Make your own sound."

What style of guitar are we talking about ?

Ask me to join after the video. Joining before I see if I like it does not make sense.

Hi Adam, been watching your magic for years now and I notice how your right hand position has changed considerably. Would you care to share the reason ?

I am a blues rock guitarist. My band does Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff, Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, etc. etc. I changed my style about five years ago and went completely with my own fingers. I got rid of the pick. That’s because I fell in love with Jeff Beck and wanted to play like him. Fast forward to now and I’m feeling very comfortable with just using my fingers and I wanted to thank you for justifying that. I don’t need no stinking pick lol.

I could never get on with a thumb pick. I preferred thumbnail....once I learned to not bite the nails on my right hand. I can't feel the strings with the pick

Great advice. Just shows how you learn, develop, or, can hold yourself back by blinkered thinking.

I almost always play bare thumb unless I'm playing my 12 string. My thumb is too fat to get between those strings reliably. If I want a thumb pick sound, I usually hybrid pick it. If it's good enough for Albert Lee it's good enough for me. Not that I'm that good.

Bare thumb

I don't use a pick period.i don't have the feel with a pick.

I am playing on a Gibson LG2 made in 1954 which sat dormant for about 65 years. My music school went out of business when I was about 10 yrs old.
I've picked it up again and went to Tune University to reteach myself.
I always used a flat pick when I was young but got onto fingerstyle and dropped the picks altogether. I never thought about it much but did love the sound that I was making.

so well explained

Have many picks and a few thumb picks . Even invented a few minimalist ones but am never comfortable with not feeling the bass string. I remember one interview where Chet said if he had to do it over again, he wouldn’t use a thumb pick. I compromise by growing a longer thumbnail, using flesh and nail. Besides ..classical guitarists don’t use a thumb pick and their musicality is unquestionable. Thanks for the video.

What a great video Adam. I “let go” of picks years ago for a similar reason as the last one you mentioned. I realized that I didn’t like the idea of how much of the presentation of the songs was built upon my not having an issue with the pick (having it slip around, dropping it, etc.) I also wanted consistency in going from the strum to the fingerstyle aspect. Transitioning from pick to fingers was far too dramatic, sonically, than what I wanted. Anyway, I could say a lot more, but just wanted to share that and say I always appreciate your analysis, thank you! 😊

Ive never picked up the habit of playing with a thumb pick, but I want to learn only for Harp/cascading Harmonics, but everytime i start I hate them.

You are very sensible in all your thinking and we feel taken very seriously. This is rarer than one might think. Anyway, I have been a passionate fingerstyle player most of my playing life and it was always with fingernails. I just recently tried a thumbpick on Alex de Grassi's Causaway and that tune sounds more "right" with it. I think it depends on the song. More importantly for me, I can't strum comfortably with a thumbpick (too stiff).

I use my thumb 80% of the time, but lately I have been incorporating the thumbpick on some of my songs. I would never go with a thumbpick on my nylon string, but would like to use it more in the future on my steel stringed guitars.

I don't use finger picks or thumb pics ... I've tried them all but I always come back to and now exclusively just use pretty long fingernails. It was just a natural evolution not even so much an actual l choice

I keep trying and buying different thumb picks and just bought a few more today but i try them for 5 minutes then go back to my thumbnail as i find most of the thumb picks like the dunlops etc too thick compared to the regular guitar picks i use. I’ve found a few of those light pickboys but they’re too flexible and come off too easy. My thumb and nails just feel more natural and that goes for fingerpicks also

I’ve never used any pick. Firstly, I wasn’t taught HOW to use a thumb or flat pick and over the 50+ years of trying it out on all levels, I equate playing with a pick to wearing snowshoes on my fingers. I’m so much more relaxed and fluid in both my strumming and finger style without the hindrance. I guess I should add that strumming I use my nails and finger style I use a sort of hybrid nail/flesh attack as I keep right nails trimmed at just at barely above the top edge of finger flesh. When they get longer, sometimes they get caught up on the string. Cheers.

I play classical and flamenco guitar and use acrylic nails.

It depends on the song. Fat jazz bass, no thumb pick. Muted bass Chet Atkins style, yes.

Great tips.

Спасибо ! Очень полезное видео!
Я не использую ни медиатор ни thumbpick , поскольку без них звук более натуральный и управляемый. Полностью согласен с Адамом)

I never have used a pick, I have tried but it feels completely foreign and uncomfortable. Moreover, I have more control over dynamics when using the flesh of my thumb

I searched this topic to find you. I’ve been playing (mostly not out) for 54 years, only now trying to go fingerstyle. It’s humiliating do you have a “spastic” right hand, but every time I put a thumb pick on it either flies off or it’s too tight. No pick = one less distraction.

Hi Adam, great video and very interesting hearing what you have to say about the confidence aspect of playing without picks or fingernails and the sensory connection of the finger flesh with the strings. I 've played classical guitar for over forty years and trying to maintain finger nails has been an endless problem. In recent years I have been experimenting with all kinds of different thumb and finger picks including trying to adapt thumb picks for nylon strings by sticking bits of felt or rubber on the pick as I did not like the the buzz against the wound base strings when trying to damp a string with the pick and also unbalanced volume. I have had quite good results with a combination of a single Alaska type pick on the RH 'a' (anular) finger (which always seems to be the one that breaks!) and a 'damped' thumb pick. One of the main advantages I find using a thumb pick is not having to arch the RH wrist at all in order for the thumb nail to make contact with the string and this makes for a straighter more efficient wrist position. Using a thumb pick I do like the more defined baselines especially when I to play Bach (try to!). However, I think over all the tone without picks or nails is superior especially when recording.

Interesting. I started using thumb picks in the early 60s and yes they were clunky, then, while making a demo for Guy Clark, he showed me what he was up to and I’ve been running with variants of his modified thumb pick ever since on all the stringed instruments that I play. Fusing a flatpick to a thumb pick that will stand up to stage demands has been a long process but it works. Sort of. There are some flat picking upstroke passages that aren’t as good as the real thing, but they are passable. At least I can play clean 8ths or 16ths to a bar with a thumb pick.

I messed around with a thumbpick a little but found it impossible to play quietly when playing late at night while my wife and kids were sleeping (which is when I do a lot of practicing) so it was a pretty easy decision to nix that thumbpick.

No thumbpick. No need.

I use thumb. No pick. But I have an issue with tone. Mostly the tone is warm but occasionally-often on run downs or chord changes-the note becomes harsh. Any ideas? Thought a pick might solve. I have developed most of my technique on a classical guitar and this problem usually happens on acoustic travis picking.

I use a thumb pick but i play bass,the longer thing with 4/5 strings...that's only because it stops me dropping my damn pick's a lot...i don't know if anyone else uses them this way but who knows,maybe...Dunlop medium gauge...better than a regular shaped pick for me.....

Hi Adam....I'm straddling the fence as well. I've always played pickles, but getting harder to keep my nails (work/job). You've inspired me to dive deeper on the groove and feel...Thank you!

Great coverage of the ever elusive subject of thumb pick or no thumb pick. I use a thumb pick. Tone is easily controlled with the "attack" or employing different thumb picks for different tones. I cannot identify with reason number 5. When I am nervous it affects ALL of my fingers equally. Accuracy and control go out the window! Removing the thumb pick isn't going to change that.

I think the tone of the fleshy thumb actually i superiour to both picks, nails as well as all other fingers, and not just on the Bass strings.... contemplating playing only thumb but arpeggios and pinching will be tricky :-)

I was almost all the way to thumb pick converting from watching such great use of them. But you've convinced me, I agree with all 5 points. 🙏

Thank you for this video. My only problem with "bare thumb" is, It gets really sore after a while. I haven't practiced with a pick very much so, I have very little confidence using it. I have to give my thumb a break and will not play much for a week or so. Any advice that speaks to this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Bare-thumb boy here.

I dislike the boom chick sound, I get why many really good guitarists use it. Sorry not for me. The flesh of your thumb will produce a great sound what ever the genre. Organic, double bass sounding is how I would describe it. Also muffleling the bass strings puts your picking hand into an unnatural position.

I agree with each of those reasons and would add the convenience factor. I always have my thumb, but I don’t always have a thumb pick. This was a great validating video for me, as I have struggled with this question. I learn so much from you Adam. Thanks

Fingerpicks and thumb picks have just never worked for me. If they work for someone else, that's awesome, but they get in my way more than they help me with anything.

Hey, Just find you for the first time. Love your advice. I will follow you for shure.
I am having a hard time with the Thumbpic.
Norman Farrell, Montreal

I started playing a National resonator with a slide when the pandemic started, before that I played acoustic with my fingers. But because of the Resonator I feel that the different sounds I can get with different types of picks seems limitless, including with my fingers. I also play with found objects that add a different coloring too, one of my favorites is a wooden coin. But yes my bare fingers do hold a certain place in my heart.
It’s kinda like making a set list with using different styles of picking.

But my sound kinda accommodates this. it’s a mix of delta blues, punk rock, classical, and some Native American sounds.

It's a Fred Kelly speedpick for me.
But my style of music is more folk/clawhammer than jazz or soul/funk.

No picks ever!!!

Good presentation. I use all my finder tips and find it very rewarding. Advantages. No nail prep or maintenance necessary. Very good feel and warm sound. I can pull on a string for emphasis when needed. It’s very powerful to sound several notes at exactly the same time much like a pianist does when chording. When I listen to a plectrum raked across the strings the chord sounds jumbled to me. The strings do don’t resonate as well to my ear. I can always rake across the strings with the backs of my fingernails to produce that sound. I do see where a thumb pick can be used like plectrum to play fast lines and to project. It’s a matter of taste I guess.