Steel vs Plastic fingerpicks

Links to Elderly Instruments site:

[yaosteru]

just wanna say that playing Freight Train is the most appropriate song to demonstrate each picking choice!

[AC-heln]

I always thought fingerpicks were wore the other way around, as if they were nails. Feel stupid now.

[thejakeyboi]

Thank you for the comparison, appreciated. I must say - that's an impressive CD collection!

[kasperchristensen]

0:12 Bare fingers
1:09 Steel picks
1:40 Steel picks, take 2
2:28 Plastic picks
2:53 Bare fingers, take 2

[paulart]

Very nice. I was looking exactly for this kind of review. Looks like the metal sounds brighter than the plastic. I am a long time finger style player and one more thing I was looking for is guitars that accommodate larger hands or more room on the fret board

[New-Player]

Am i the only one that loves the rhythm, the song it's sooo perfect

[WesternSwingGuitarGrooves]

As far as I know, most of the original delta blues players used metal finger picks. The ones I saw in person 60+ years all used them. Now I only play electric, so bare fingers for that 😉

[equiidiana]

I was looking for this to make sure I wasn't not to buy something I would regret, thank you!

[naifabdalkreem]

Using bare fingers provides a much better dynamic range than plastic finger picks. The sound of metal scraping just doesn’t appeal to me. However, I’m thinking about cutting my long, hard fingernails because they raise eyebrows in professional settings, there’re just aren’t very presentable. I suppose I’ll have to make do with plastic fingernails for now.

Thank you for the video, very informative !

[jasoneastabrook]

I’ve been wearing them the other way round and it was never working so I just gave up 🤦🏻‍♂️

[ineedstuff]

Big thanks!, had no idea how to wear em

[OkcStarX]

I so was about to wear these backwards 🤣

[swankieOW]

really calming tutorial. thanks - hope yo have a good day :)

[darrendix]

Gotta tell ya, I just love my Alaska picks, not for the thumb, but for the index finger like I use it (Doc Watson style!) or for the middle finger as well. Of course, I use a thumb pick as well.

[Kennardy]

Thank you. This was a great demonstration!

[azbrez]

This was so helpful -- and thanks for covering Elizabeth Cotten!

[aaronvannatta]

so the main purpose of fingerpicks is to preserve your fingertips? I'm a beginner, but I'm interested in genres that happen to use almost exclusively fingerstyle picking, and I feel like it's a difficult thing to pull off in the long term without growing your nails out.
For whatever reason I thought fingerpicks were meant to take place of the nail, is that wrong?
Might be a stupid question, but I dunno what I dunno, y'know?

[GrantR]

Do you have or remember the tab played in this video for Freight Train? Sound great!

[hoydilla]

Thank you for the demos. I like your ragtime style playing. Do you know if the plastic picks would work with classical guitar

[bobgreen]

Very useful! I play fingerstyle and like a bit of fingernail for crispness and to protect my fingers but have a tendency to break nails, usually non-guitar related. Also, I play bass which ideally should be done without fingernail interference, so maybe a set of picks would suit me. I wasn't keen on the scrape of the metal picks so I will try a set of plastic picks.