Should I force myself to learn to play with a pick?

Both are skills you should master on an at least passable level. The techniques give differen't tones and sounds out of your axe. Picking will take you some getting used to, but the more you do it the easier it will become. Some songs just sound better picked and some not.

Most often I prefer the sharper, crisper tone of a pick. And sometimes it just doesn't fit the song so fingers are needed.

thanks

It depends on the music you play, and on your sound.

It's true that some sounds can't be had with a pick, and others can't be gotten with fingerstyle - but either will get you close (pick-only players often do hybrid picking passages, etc.)

Wes Montgomery, the great jazz guitarist, played with his thumb. After he'd been playing for a few years, he realized that guitarists who used a pick were much faster than he was on runs, so he should learn that....

Several months later he realized his playing sucked. It just wasn't natural. He went back to thumb only, and discovered... his playing sucked. He came to the realization that he had already developed HIS sound, and to try to do anything else would be pointless; he went back to thumb only, and became one of the great jazz guitarists.

If your aim is to be versatile, learn both. If you have other goals in mind, persue them instead. Segovia never used a pick either :)

Didn't Jeff Beck play the electric guitar with his fingers. Didn't that also give him a great control over his dymanics.

I'm having a similar problem....three months in I can strum chords to a few songs but am having a problem doing it with a pick. I can use a pick for scales, but haven't learned how to finger pick yet. If I ever want to do solo parts I either have to learn to finger pick or strum with a pick. So in a nut nutshell I can strum with my fingers but not a pick....I can pick with a pick but not fingers :?

I can strum with my fingers but not a pick
My advice- and I've only been playing for about 8 months- is to go out and find some very skinny picks. When I started playing, I used one of my brother's old picks that was verrrry thick. I found some advice (on this website) and went out and bought a couple of the thinnest picks I could find, and they helped out a lot with strumming. Thin picks seem to 'give' more as you strum the strings, so you don't have to expend so much energy. The only problem is they break pretty easily (maybe because I found it so cool that I strummed as fast as I could :twisted: ). The cool thing, though, is that picks are so cheap. I played around with thin picks now, but now that I'm learning to improvise (also from this site 8) ) I use thicker picks because they seem to give more control for single-note music. I hope that helps someone.

Hi briank, I do have thin picks. I thought they were the thinnest you could get maybe i'm wrong I'll look into it. Maybe they should make thin rubber picks for people who have this problem, because part of the problem is just the way it feels when I hold it. I can better get a feel how to contact the strings with my fingers when strumming...the pick gets hung up in the strings, not good for the music or the strings

They do make some picks that are really flexible, not sure if they're rubber or just some sort of softened plastic, but they exist.

Tom, Greg, Joe or someone else with a greater range of experience can probably tell you better, but of the advanced players I've had time to sit down with, only one I know uses thin picks.

From my perspective, I can get every sound a thin pick can get out of a thick pick, by relaxing my grip a little bit and angling my wrist, but the opposite it not true: some sounds I get out of a hard pick seem impossible to get out of a flexible one. I always feel like soft picks dull the tone of my single note lines too much, and I can't bring it back without picking on top of the bridge, which turns everything twangy.

Early on I used super thin picks. They were less likely to pop out of my fingers (and usually into the soundhole) when I was trying to strum quickly.

As I got better in technique, and my ear improved, the super thin picks sounded 'slappy' to my ear (for lack of a better term). I went to mediums, then to extra heavy - I've been using Fender extra heavy (large triangle) for at least 20 years now. They give me great tone, good control, and the large size gives me plenty of pick to grip - almost all of it sits under my thumb, with just enough sticking out to strike the string with clearance for the thumb.

Early on I used super thin picks. They were less likely to pop out of my fingers (and usually into the soundhole) when I was trying to strum quickly.

As I got better in technique, and my ear improved, the super thin picks sounded 'slappy' to my ear (for lack of a better term). I went to mediums, then to extra heavy - I've been using Fender extra heavy...

Same for me, first pack of picks I bought were Fender thins. They're made of thin flexible, almost rubbery, plastic. You could almost bend them in half and you wouldn't know you had done it after. I still have 10 of them left over from the pack.

Right now I'm using fender heavy celloid 351's. Incidentally these are the only picks that I had break on me, though, it wasn't because of playing. I ran over one with a caster on my chair, broke a corner off. And I've only got 2 or 3 left, and my strings won't hold tune.

I need money.

My suggestion is to buy an assortment of pics.
Guitar Center seems to only sell picks in packs of 12 but the smaller mom and pop shops around here sell them in singles.
I played the whole range. I still like the Fender thins but my favorite right now is the Dunlop .73mm Tortex picks. Seem to have just the right amount of flex and have a texture that makes them easier to hold onto.
Just try a bunch of different ones out and you will find that perfect fit just for you.