Hi Everybody,
A thread on the beginners forum got me thinking, and several of us talking about this. I'm starting a new thread cause it didn't seem like we should hijack that one- somebody let me know if this wasn't the right thing to do. THe question is- Can you play metal without a pick?
So I've been trying. What I found.
I can play a lot of metal riffs with my nails. In some cases, I like it. In fairly simple, fairly metally classics like "Mental Health" and "Street Justice," the ability to pull the strings a little more, getting my fingers on them and a LOT of energy into the strings makes for a cool, aggressive sound. Not like the original, but...pretty cool. If I ever start playing out, I may do some this way. Seems like I'm a little less accurate than using a pick, but I like the sound.
I especially like the way that, with some practice, you can get "pinch" harmonics (not really pinching, but fingertip harmonics) on several strings at the same time, even when they aren't next to each other. I could never do that with a pick.
Some riffs (admittedly not all exactly metal) seem to work better fingerpicking. My example is the first part, and most recognisable guitar bit, of Sweet Child of Mine, but a lot of metally stuff with arpeggio kind of patterns across strings would be the same, I think.
But there a lot of classic metal things that I can't do at all without a pick. I can't gallop. I can't do fast back and forth picking. FIngers are good for some chords, but the really fast, low, machine gun sounding chord patterns just aren't happening for me.
So who knows. I may start skipping the pick for a song, or a part of a song, or two. But I still won't leave the house without my picks. Exploring "fingers only" metal is sort of cool. But there's also obviously a reason why all the metal giants I'm familiar with seem to use picks most of the time.
Best,
Ande
