First gig using Alaska Piks last night...

[BlackHatHunter]

Long story short:

 

1. I fingerpick. Because I can't use a pick.

2. My rhythm playing is very percussive and uses the side of my thumb to mute strings.

3. Because of some heavy gigging lately - for me anyway, w/ 3 nights a week on average over the past 4 or 5 months - my index finger nail and my thumb nail are completely shot, down to the quick, which both hurts and prevents me from playing

4. I tried a thumbpick, but it's like having to learn to play all over again, to say nothing of stopping me from being able to mute strings the way I like to

 

So I tried Alaska Piks on some online recommendation I read.

 

I use three of them: thumbnail, index and middle finger. The first thing I noticed was how the sizing was surprising. I use an "L" for each finger and an XL for my thumb. To give you an idea, I am 5'9" and I weigh about 155 pounds soaking wet. Bottom line: I thought I could have gotten away with an "M" for my fingers and an "L" for my thumb, so if you are interested in purchasing some, be aware of that - or better yet, go to your local music store and try them out.

 

First impression was that it took me about 40 mn of playing to become comfortable with the picks. Not bad.

 

I did have to change my picking style a little bit, but in a minute way compared to using a thumbpick.

 

I played around the house with them on, and felt good about the fact that they didn't come off when I strum, which was one of my concern.

 

Ventured to a local open mic hosted by a good friend of mine - he recently started it, so I drop by to give him one more musician. It's not rare that it's only the two of us for the night, but he's a good friend so I don't mind supporting him, not to mention that I get a kick out of playing with him anyway.

 

I opened the set by asking for request, and the first one was Jason Mraz' I'm Yours. About 20 seconds into the song, my thumbpick goes flying off the end of my thumb. Finished the song, put it back on, launched into the next tune - crowd requested Summer of 69. About 20 seconds into *that* song, damn thing flies off again. Picked it up off the floor at the end of the song, put it back on. This time, a lady in the crowd asked for Landslide. I do the whole fingerpicked tune without losing it.

 

Conclusions:

 

1. They work great for finger picking, not so great for strumming.

2. I clearly strum a lot harder when playing live than I do playing at home since that never happened when I was home.

 

Last night, I had a three-hour solo acoustic gig so again I brought the Alaska Piks. But this time, instead of using an "XL" on my thumb, I slid on an "L" like the other two fingers. Three hours later, it hadn't slipped off my finger once. It did budge, but I simply had to remember in between songs to push them back on whether they felt loose or not.

 

So it's a win in the end. While I much prefer the feel of playing with bare fingers, this way I will be able to get through the tougher winter months - somehow my nails are always more brittle in the winter - without hurting my own damn fingers.

 

Two quick notes:

 

1. Tone: the picks make my tone sound tinnier, treblier than my natural fingers do, so I have to adjust the tone knobs on my Crowdster to compensate.

2. Look: a kid was mesmerized last night by those things on the end of my fingers and I heard him tell his mom that I must have had an accident and that the tips of my fingers were now fake

[John Backlund]

(From my TDPRI post)

I've exclusively been using Alaska picks for about the past five years, though for the past two years, I've been using their brass fingerpicks, not the plastic ones because the plastic picks would wear down too fast for me, and I must admit that they look a little weird....I've wondered why they weren't made from clear plastic rather than the 'average caucasion' color, which are too light to minimise their appearance.

 

 

I was watching a documentary on PBS about American folk music or somesuch and I noticed that Joan Baez was playing with the plastic Alaska picks in recent years.

For a thumbpick, I use a plastic Doyle Dykes speed pick (though I sound nothing like Doyle Dykes), not an Alaska fingerpick.

 

I seldom lose my thumbpicks anymore, never making a downstroke with them but I found that it helps to 'anchor' the thumbpick if, before putting it on, I use a little old fashioned spit on the thumb where the pick is positioned, letting it 'air-dry' for a second or two, and then sliding the pick on while still a bit tacky. Crude, but apparently effective.

 

When still using the plastic picks, I would actually number mark them 1,2,3, with a sharpy pen to make sure that I had the same pick on the same finger each time because they would each wear slightly differently and it would sometimes throw me off a bit.

[BlackHatHunter]

Hey John, thanks for the reply. I thought about the metal ones, but I wondered if they wouldn't add even more treble to the tone?

 

I tried that thumbpick you pictured in there. Of all the ones I tried, it was the more "natural" one for me, but still forced me to change too much of my natural playing style to make me feel comfortable.

 

When you use nail glue on the picks, how do you take them off? I've never used nail glue, so I have no idea how adhesive it is...

[John Backlund]

 

When you use nail glue on the picks, how do you take them off? I've never used nail glue, so I have no idea how adhesive it is...

 

 

I just use a little natural spit on the plastic thumbpick, not nail glue. No 'adhesive' on the metal fingerpicks though, and yes, they can be pretty 'bright' on the old telecaster.

 

I originally tried the Alaska picks out of desperation, I was just tired of breaking nails, etc, and wanted some 'continuity' on my picking hand. My problem with the Alaska picks was that the local dealer who had them stopped carrying them in the store so I couldn't just hop over and pick up new ones every month when I needed them. I ordered the brass Alaska picks straight from the manufacturer and have been playing with the same picks for over a year as they just don't wear very fast....though they're pretty hard on guitar strings.

 

Like you, I never play with a flatpick anymore...not that I really could anyway..the downside is that now that I want to try to learn some surf guitar and maybe some rockabilly, I'm trapped by my own 'technique'....'Folk-Surf' anyone?

[BlackHatHunter]

Folk surf... I dig that!