Fingerpick recommendations besides Fred Kelly

I tried the vaunted Fred Kelly fingerpicks and am not impressed. They are way too bulky and too thick. Does anyone have any suggestions for something thinner and less instrusive? Something that is as "barely there" as possible?

I ordered some of these: http://www.butterflyfingerpicks.com/

And some of these: https://alaskapik.com/

But I am skeptical of both...any other suggestions?

I hybrid pick so I use my fingernails. It can be frustrating, since I do a lot of construction work and the nails get frequently broken.

I have known people who get fake nails glued on their guitar picking fingers. I have one friend who swears it is great. It really looks like a plausable solution. The down side is that you have to keep getting new nails glued on and that cost $. I wish that you could glue those thing on by your self, but I have not seen anything like that available... so I keep working to cultivate my own nails.

I once read an article where the guitarist talked about using Acrilic Powder and glue to reinforce his nails. But I have never seen any of that available either.

Originally Posted by: snojones

I hybrid pick so I use my fingernails. It can be frustrating, since I do a lot of construction work and the nails get frequently broken.

I have known people who get fake nails glued on their guitar picking fingers. I have one friend who swears it is great. It really looks like a plausable solution. The down side is that you have to keep getting new nails glued on and that cost $. I wish that you could glue those thing on by your self, but I have not seen anything like that available... so I keep working to cultivate my own nails.

I once read an article where the guitarist talked about using Acrilic Powder and glue to reinforce his nails. But I have never seen any of that available either.

I'll need to look into that if I can't find thin enough fingerpicks. You can buy fake nails and adhesive in the beauty supply section of most variety stores, I don't know how well they'd stand up to fingerpicking, though... maybe I just need to dip my fingertips in shellac...

I did find these.. https://www.tiptonic.com/ ... anyone use them?

I know guitarists who cut them out of ping pong balls and glue them on

Really cheap.

Please post what you find Faith as I too could not get used to the Fred Kelky picks. I went with the mediums and they were too small even after boiling them to resize they just don't feel right. I think any pick is going to be hard to get used to especially if your like me and have gotten so used to just using the fleshy part of the fingers. And I just love fingerpicking. [br][br]Moe

male guitarists are fitting acrylic nails so they must work.

Not sure of shaping. Read one blog where he gets them fitted, oiled but does all the shaping himself. I just googled. It was on an acoustic blog so need to be even stronger .

Not so dramatic on a female hand.

http://www.woodpecker.com/blogs/guitars_and_fingernails.html

If you are looking to slellac your fingers to make them work as a pick... I would suggest using epoxy instead. I believe that will hold up better in the long run. ;- )

Thanks, everybody! I ordered the two top candidates so we'll see how it goes.

I'm glad this came up again. I think I've tried every finger pick out there and I have settled the Kelly Delrin picks as the best, but I wish there was something better. Probably the Pro Pick Finger Tone was a close second and the Pro Pic brass angled finger picks are the next best for me, but I'm still trying to get them to stay on my fingers better. They are also expensive but so are the Delrin finger picks. Also, the Finger Tones are metal and will give you an entirely different sound than the Delrin picks. The Alaska Picks were the worst for me. I tried different Dunlops and they were no good for me either. I would guess strong finger nails are the best for playing however mine just flake away and so it's picks for me. I hope that helps. I suppose there's a pick that will for for you but you have to have to just buy a bunch of them and give them a try. Faith, if you haven't looked at The Acoustic Guitar Forum, check it out. There is some good info on this topic from much more experienced players than me. Good luck.

Originally Posted by: driscolldavid4

I'm glad this came up again. I think I've tried every finger pick out there and I have settled the Kelly Delrin picks as the best, but I wish there was something better. Probably the Pro Pick Finger Tone was a close second and the Pro Pic brass angled finger picks are the next best for me, but I'm still trying to get them to stay on my fingers better. They are also expensive but so are the Delrin finger picks. Also, the Finger Tones are metal and will give you an entirely different sound than the Delrin picks. The Alaska Picks were the worst for me. I tried different Dunlops and they were no good for me either. I would guess strong finger nails are the best for playing however mine just flake away and so it's picks for me. I hope that helps. I suppose there's a pick that will for for you but you have to have to just buy a bunch of them and give them a try. Faith, if you haven't looked at The Acoustic Guitar Forum, check it out. There is some good info on this topic from much more experienced players than me. Good luck.

Thanks! I'd be fine with just my fingers, but my nails aren't cooperating and I don't think I have the patience for the whole manicure thing... I'm hoping one of the ones I ordered will work. I just can't with flat picks. Every time I try, I throw it across the room in disgust after a few measures. It's so not me. So fingers crossed that I can find something that works and doesn't feel like it gets between me and the music.

PS -- Love Acoustic Guitar Forum (I mostly haunt it just for the JD threads, but it's useful for other things too ;-) )

Update in case anyone is interested. The Butterfly picks felt like strapping a prop from Edward Scissorhands onto my fingers. Nope.

The Alaska picks are okay because they go under the nail and can be filed, so I'll keep them around for those times when my fingers hurt a little and I need a break.

But I'm about done with picks of any kind altogether. They just feel so intuitively wrong for what I'm doing that I'm gonna stick with my fingers for now. I also value the ability to be able to play any guitar anywhere without worrying about whether I have my "special" picks with me.

So that is the result. So far. Maybe. Probably.

I hear ya Faith. I feel the same way about them and I've tried a few myself. Thanks for the reviews. One thing that I have discoverd though if you are intent to use just your fingers is to keep the nails uniformly short and consistent. I work in the trades so long fingernails won't cut it, but even if the nail is short I find parts of it, like the corner, might accidentally hit a string while im in picking motion. Makes everything sound sloppy. Keep them trim, filed and short and I don't think it would be a problem. I know there's not as much volume and you don't get the nice snap sound of the string you get with a pick you can resolve that a bit if you have an electric acoustic. Plug into an amp and the sound is a lot more crisp and those softer weakened notes become more alive.

Good Luck,

Moe

Yep, that's pretty much the plan, including an electric acoustic eventually. My biggest issue isn't the sound -- I prefer the sound with fingers over picks anyway for what I do, at least for now. It's that the sides of my index and middle fingers get a little tender on the upstroke after awhile and I was hoping to find something I can use for when that happens. The Alaska picks sort of work for that, though I wince at the sound -- who was it in a prior post who likened playing guitar with a pick to holding a roaring monster? That's me, at least right now.

But then I listen to JD play his guitar in his solo shows with (I think) METAL fingerpicks and it sounds so lovely... sigh... off to practice I go... although I'm occasionally convinced that John used magic fairy dust to get that magical sound from his guitar. Nowhere else have I ever heard a guitar sound the way it does under his fingers.