Playing lap steel without picks

[Ken Koellner]

Is it common to play lap steel just with finger tips without picks? I think I've seen some videos with people playing like that. I get a bit of forearm stress from playing dobro with a thumbpick so I'm wondering if it would be good to switch off playing my lap steel with no picks.

[Mike Neer]

I’ve played with picks for most of my time playing, but over the past few years my default is to play with bare fingers. But it is all dependent upon the style I am playing. I feel fortunate to be able to have those options. It would not be possible to do some of the things I do without the picks, and it is impossible to sound a certain way with them.

[K Maul]

I prefer at least a thumbpick but playing without picks allows muting with fingertips and a different kind of control of dynamics. I don’t do it much because my fingers get sore!

[Noah Miller]

I never use picks. I prefer the sound and greater control of bare fingers, plus my fingers don't move in the direction necessary to use with picks.

[David DeLoach]

I play with and without picks.

One advantage of not using picks is that it is a bit easier to dampen strings that you don't want ringing.

Also, if a 4 or 5 note chord is needed, you've got 4 fingers and a thumb ready to pick those 4 or 5 strings (I typically only use a thumb pick and 2 fingerpicks when using picks).

[Rich Ertelt]

I'll play with fingers doing bluesy type stuff, especially with distortion.
I mainly am a guitar player, and I play a lot of slide, with fingers, and it is pretty natural for me. I play country kind of stuff with finger picks.

I also play a bit of pedal steel, and use picks but have been in situations where I want to emulate slide guitar. Put on an od box, and use fingers sounds better to me than picks in that case.

I think being able to do both is good, more tools in the tool box.

[Chris Clem]

Well I just looked at my YouTube channel just to refresh my memory. I have 397 videos of my favorite players Lap & Pedal steel. There is not even one player who doesn't use picks.....like zero.

When you get a new player who is looking for advice. Why wouldn't you tell them to learn to play with picks?

Yet some seem to be saying it's OK to play without them.....is that good advice for a beginner?..... I don't think it is.

[Fred Treece]

So, all the great players use picks. Should be a good enough answer, I guess, but it sure doesn’t go very deep.

Tone and Technique. What is the difference in sound? What are the physical advantages and limitations? If you play without picks, do you use your fingernails or the flesh of yr fingertip?

With so many forum discussions on the topic of fingerpicks and how to choose and shape them and get comfortable actually using them to play - I mean, they’re kind of a pain, right? So why do all the great players use them?

The real answer might be interesting to some of us. I would guess the most likely and most common response would be, because that’s the way they were taught. And of course, that means they sound their best when they are using picks because the muscle memory of the technique involved is so familiar, and playing without them probably feels very foreign and uncomfortable. Even though they would probably still sound great to most people, the fact that it feels different means the player is hearing the result as inferior, and it quite possibly is.

Great players probably don’t need to use fingerpicks, but they do because they want to be at their best. A steel guitar beginner has plenty of discouraging obstacles to overcome without the fingerpicks dilemma. I think a good teacher would be willing to work around it until some of the other difficulties clear up and the student can be guided through the process of overcoming the discomfort of fingerpicks.

[Mike Neer]

I agree with learning to play with picks, and I have always said so. However, many great players, including Buddy Emmons, also played without picks, especially later in their careers and maybe beyond their active career. That is where I am at and where I am coming from.

Someone asked a question and I responded in kind without preaching.

[Roland Sturm]

Remember that the original post included:

I get a bit of forearm stress from playing dobro with a thumbpick so I'm wondering if it would be good to switch off playing my lap steel with no picks.

Whatever is most comfortable is best, depends on your hand and the string tension. Like previous posters, I play both with and without picks. String tension plays an important role in what is preferable.

Without picks: First, no need to search for them. As with previous responses, fingers give me better control for damping and tone and also the possibility to pick more strings individually if needed (all 5 fingers). Slightly different tone that can be preferable. But either no picks or all picks for me because otherwise volume/tone are too unbalanced (although some people seem to be ok with thumbpick oly).

With picks: Sharper and clearer tone that can be preferable at other times. I always use picks for a Hank Williams type country and a Don Helms type sound. Picks give noticeably more volume, although that is somewhat irrelevant with an amplifier.

The higher the string tension, the more preferable picks become. Dobro is on one extreme, I don't think there is a choice, picks are essential to get volume and not hurt your finger tips. In contrast, the steel is much more gentle even with the same tuning/strings (scale is 2 inches less for me) and now both picks and plain fingers work equally well. I'm comparing 8-string G6 tuning with low and middle E here, the only tuning I have in common between the acoustic and electric.

[Nic Neufeld]

I showed up for a gig last week and realized...I didn't have a thumbpick. Having regular finger picks but no thumbpick is not easy so I played mostly single notes and doublestops, channeling Andy Iona (who was missing his thumb). You can play chords with regular picks and no thumbpick but the string struck by the bare thumb can't compete in output with the other strings and it sounds not great. It really enhanced my appreciation for having picks!

[Mike Harris]

I can't stand fingerpicks. I use a thumbpick and my fingernails. Nail wear is sometimes a problem.

[Marc Muller]

Kevin Barry. Touch and tone.

[David M Brown]

Although I rarely play lap steel without the usual set of fingerpicks, I have at times used the steel and an A/B switch box with my regular guitar and have used a flatpick and hybrid picking.

It would have taken too long to put the on fingerpicks, so I just used my guitar pick.
It worked well enough.

[David DeLoach]

Another factor in playing without picks is the ability to use the index finger on the picking hand to play harmonics (touch the string with the index finger of the picking hand 12 frets higher than the bar, and pluck the string with the thumb, or 3rd or 4th finger of the picking hand).

Not really better or worse than using the heel of the hand 12 frets above the bar when using picks - just different.

[Andy Volk]

I'll use fingerpicks, bare fingers or a flat pick depending on the tune, how crisp things need to sound and my level of laziness on any given day.

[John Chadwick]

The age-old debate and discussion on picks continues! For the benefit of the original poster, I feel obligated to voice my unconventional viewpoint.
Simply put, I have arthritic pain in the base of my right thumb, and I have found that the only pain-free way of playing any lap style instrument is with a flatpick. So, I hold the flatpick with my thumb and index finger, and use my middle and ring finger to grab other notes -- sometimes with fingerpicks on, and sometimes not. I play lap steel in C6 too, even though it presents some more challenging three-note pinches with straight bar on non-adjacent strings.
It's not ideal. I'd prefer to fingerpick. But that's just the way it is, and as long as I can hold a pick and balance a guitar on my lap, I am going to keep playing that way, and feel very fortunate that I can.

[Colin Boutilier]

Kim Deschamps played without picks on PSG, Dobro, and everything else to my knowledge.

[Frank Nims]

I think the main reason picks most players usually use thumbpicks & fingerpicks on steel is that strings on a steel are heavier and strung at higher tension than they are on other types of guitar. Can mess your fingertips up pretty good, especially for beginners.

Plus, in my case, I prefer the sound picks make.

[Joseph Lazo]

I'm a fingers only player, but sometimes I'll use a thumb pick on acoustic guitar or lap steel. I've tried at various times to use fingerpicks. Just never could get used to them. I'm still trying to give it a go with pedal steel, but it's not going too well.

Nail care is pretty important. Use a diamond dust nail file instead of nail clippers. This helps keep fingernails strong (so I've read) and allows you to contour each nail just right.

[Jack Hanson]

Aside from my resos, on which I feel picks are mandatory to produce a decent sound (I favor plastic fingerpicks), I have been gradually attempting to wean myself from using picks. On pedal steel it's more difficult than on lap steel, but doable.

[David Irving]

I can't stand fingerpicks. I use a thumbpick and my fingernails. Nail wear is sometimes a problem.

I've tried using thumb- and fingerpicks on and off for nearly 60 years, and just can't do it. (I find them too frustrating to persist with.)

I deal with the nail wear by going to the local nail bar every month or so and having this acrylic stuff painted on. Looks weird, but works a treat.

[Jesse Pearson]

I learned how to play lap steel without picks and just got use to it that way, but I think picks sound way better on steel in the end and it seems harmonics are easier to do with picks. I also play classical guitar without any nails so I can play organ easier. I even prefer the sound of bare fingers on classical guitar now. It's nice to have a lap steel next to my work desk and be able to pick it up and play it without the hassle of having to put on and take off finger picks. Playing without picks is more convenient and works, but picks sound better in the end. I find finger picks feel like some kind of torture device on my fingers and can't get used to them at all...lol.

[BJ Burbach]

Pointing to a thread from a year ago on this;

viewtopic.php?t=398281&start=0&postdays ... highlight=

I still go all three ways, picks, plastic, metal, nails, depending on the guitar. Sally Hansen Hard as Nails hardener is pretty good, especially the one that says, with nylon, which lasts longer.

BJ

[Mike Neer]

The only way I can satisfactorily play in this chordal style is by using bare fingers. It’s just what works for me. I’m using 4 fingers at times and I cannot comfortably use 4 picks and still have an accurate touch. Also, I like the tone I am able to get because I can hit strings a little more confidently and have a soft, round tone. This is like fingerstyle guitar playing for me.

Don’t Get Around Much Anymore (Ellington)
https://youtu.be/cw3P_8ZQHO4?si=TREErI5FuVygAYdm