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  #1  
Old 09-27-2015, 04:41 PM
Lewis Lewis is offline
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Default Thumbpick help!

I have been working with a thumb pick lately. Fingerpicking is working great
and so is alternate picking. Strumming is good but not great. The upstroke is a little loud.

Any suggestions? - Thanks!
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Old 09-27-2015, 05:02 PM
stanron stanron is offline
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I take it that you know that you don't have to strum full chords all the time. Down strokes can alternate between bass notes and two or three treble strings and up strokes can be single strings sometimes. Variety can equal interest.
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Old 09-27-2015, 10:24 PM
Lewis Lewis is offline
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Yes, that is a cool way to strum. I try to do that quite a bit.
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Old 09-27-2015, 10:46 PM
51 Relic 51 Relic is offline
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Good luck with the thumbpick . I have only been using one myself for the last couple of months . I use a Fred Kelly Speed Pick , it has a very narrow shift and it gives a lot more , I use the light gauge , hardly know that I'm using one now . I hardly strum the strings with the pick itself , I tend to play with thumb providing the bass and I strum the pattern brushing with fingers three and four . Take a look at the way Martin Simpson or Doyle Dykes use the thumb pick , outstanding players . James Taylor is another but he uses the thumb nail
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Old 09-28-2015, 01:01 AM
JonPR JonPR is online now
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I'd never attempt upstrokes with a thumbpick, or strumming in either direction. Some do, I guess, but I can ever get it to sound good or feel comfortable.
For me a thumbpick is only for fingerstyle, where only downstrokes are needed, and fingers do all the upstrokes. If I had to strum a chord while wearing a thumbpick, I'd probably use the backs of my fingernails, because the thumbpick sounds so crude. (A thin, bendy thumbpick would do the trick, but then it wouldn't be as good for its main job.)
But then, for fingerstyle I tend to use my thumbnail anyway - it feels so much better, even though the sound is not quite as good.
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Old 09-28-2015, 04:39 AM
macmanmatty macmanmatty is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis View Post
I have been working with a thumb pick lately. Fingerpicking is working great
and so is alternate picking. Strumming is good but not great. The upstroke is a little loud.

Any suggestions? - Thanks!
Upstrokes with a thumb pick??!! I have broke three thumb picks that way (right in half) and no longer use thumb picks for strumming only flat picks unless the song requires both fingerpicking and light strumming.
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Old 09-28-2015, 09:29 AM
stanron stanron is offline
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Most of my thumb pick use was playing melodies on mandolin. Virtually every other note was an upstroke. I held it like a plectrum but the beauty of the thumb pick was I never dropped it. After a lifetime of finger picking my plectrum grip was not good.

I used a thumb pick on guitar for a while, but mostly for finger picking, not strumming. These days I prefer flesh and some nails.
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