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Thread: Using a pick.

  1. #1
    Registered User Flame Maple's Avatar
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    Default Using a pick.

    Hi ,
    I have had my Eastman MD 315 for about 3 weeks now.I have had some good help from the members on this Forum.
    I have been playing guitar for many years .
    My problem is,, with the guitar I used to use a pick when I started but after a while I preferred to use a claw hammer style ,1st finger and thumb.Also playing lead guitar. I am not used to using a pick now. I have read and seen loads of info on using a pick for Mandolin. What gauge/thickness of the pick. When I used a pick the picks I used for guitar were very thin flexible picks.The guys on the Forum talk about reasonably heavy picks but I cant get used to them. I have shredded a few old picks trying to use them. Question is,-- Ok , playing with my fingers using the outside of my nail for strumming chords and picking strings with my finger loses volume but the volume with a pick is to much for my vocals.It might be better to install a pickup and be able to balance the sound. Do many players here play without a pick. ?


































    thickness
    .

  2. #2
    its a very very long song Jim's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    You may play any way that works for you and you enjoy. Most choose to play Mandolin with a pick. Some very unorthadox methods of playing any instrument can in fact create wonderful new sounds and schools of thought.
    Jim Richmond

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  4. #3
    Registered User Flame Maple's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    Thanks Jim I understand what you are saying and I do think in time when my playing improves and I want to progress I will have to get to grips with a pick. All the Mandolin players I watch use a pick,it was just something that was on my mind. Old habits die hard.

  5. #4
    Registered User Petrus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    I started off without a pick and still play that way when I want to play very quietly, but the benefits of the pick are inarguable. The mandolin is not really designed for finger playing because of the close spacing of the strings, but it can be done. You can also play with the fleshy part of the thumb, rather like Wes Montgomery used to play the jazz guitar, which gives a limited but unique style. I find I can work up a pretty fast tremolo by waggling the thumb with practice. Still, you're never going to get the volume and speed of using a pick, if that's what you're after.

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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    I had the same leanings after coming from fingerstyle guitar to mandolin.

    To learn to use a pick properly means you will have to go thru the weeks of terrible results to get to the other side.

    The payback will include that you will also be able to play guitar with a pick.

    Putting in the effort to play mandolin without pick makes as much sense as playing fiddle without bow

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  8. #6
    Registered User Flame Maple's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    Hi Petrus , I totally agree with what you say .I did think about how will I master tremolo using my fingers .Its still early days and I'm fumbling through the chords but I want to play Mandolin so I shall practice with the pick and it will get easier ,I think laziness also pops up in my playing.

    Thank you ,

  9. #7
    Registered User Flame Maple's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    Thanks Mark , That is certainly is a great comparison playing a fiddle without a bow.

    This is a great web site .

  10. #8
    Registered User Flame Maple's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    Just listened to Cold Wind Mark. Really nice track. A great sound.

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  12. #9
    Registered User Petrus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    Playing fingerstyle certainly generates a very different sound. I can do a nice rasgueado with the backs of my fingernails and create a quasi-flamenco sound. So it's not standard practice but it can work for certain effects, as can strumming the tailward section of the strings for example.

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  14. #10
    totally amateur k0k0peli's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    Dare I confess? I sometimes use fingerpicks, especially on Irish-tuned mandolin (GDAD) and mandola (CGDG) -- 2 or 3 National steel fingerpicks and a Dobro plastic thumbpick. It comes from having fingerpicked steel-string guitars for a half-century. Old habits, etc. But I've accepted flatpicks. As as guitarist I rarely used flatpicks. Now that I've been hunkering-down on mandos awhile, I flatpick almost everything with metal strings. Flailing away at the banjo-mandolin with fingerpicks is always exciting. And loud.
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  16. #11
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    Picks and mandolins ....... 1.0 mm or greater in thickness ... the short string length and the double courses of string makes it necessary to supply a goodly amount of energy to get them moving ...... try out the larger rounded triangle shaped pick preferably with holes in in they are a little easier to hang on to ... loose wrist loose grip , if you don't drop the pick every once in awhile you are gripping it too tight, .... down up down up picking pattern to start ...... other patterns will emerge but down up down up works well with all styles ..... start slowly with scales and tunes work the chords and strumming with the melody .... be patient .. it's not easy to do well .... but the rewards of enjoying playing last a lifetime ..... R/
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

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  18. #12
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    You could emulate the late Kenny Hall, who played with his index fingernail:

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  20. #13

    Default Re: Using a pick.

    Hi there, I'm just starting off myself. I've played guitar lots probably 75% without pick and 25% with it. When I just got this new mando, I decided right off to go with a heavy pick but I didn't have any. I went to a local music shop and just picked up a Dunlop Ultex 1.0, and another one a Golden Gate (a little thicker) with more rounded corners on all sides. I guess a true mando pick. Anyway, I am forcing myself on the Golden Gate and it's getting better and better. Pick control comes with practice, practice and more practice. It's working for me so far and I'm sooooo slow and awkward but little improvements daily. Every day I pick up the instrument and just try a tremolo or a chop or just pick some notes, gets just a little bit more comfortable. Kinda like I have to forget everything I know ( or think I know) and start fresh with this thing. I may not be making any sense to others afterall I'm am a rookie and not worthy of giving advice but it is free from me my thoughts anyway....

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  22. #14
    Registered User Petrus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    Quote Originally Posted by k0k0peli View Post
    Dare I confess? I sometimes use fingerpicks, especially on Irish-tuned mandolin (GDAD) and mandola (CGDG) -- 2 or 3 National steel fingerpicks and a Dobro plastic thumbpick. It comes from having fingerpicked steel-string guitars for a half-century.
    I've never tried fingerpicks, so now of course it's something I have to try!

    I also use a slide on occasion ... it's epic on an electric mando especially when you can get way up to that 15th fret or whatever, start hitting those dog whistle notes.

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    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    For any kind of strumming, a pick is in order. The volume is a matter of how much you dig in and of the type of pick - a thicker, rounder, stubbier pick makes less volume (for an extreme, take a button off your overcoat and play with that; if it's still too loud, picks won't be an option indeed).

    Fingerpicking is a different thing altogether. I do finger picking on my OM (three fingerpicks and one thumbpick), but spacing on a mandolin would be too tight for me to do that.
    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

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  26. #16
    Registered User Flame Maple's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    I will continue to persevere with using a pick, I have various types of picks lying around.I have large hands and so the large triangular type suit me better. I am going to drill a hole in them so that its easier to keep them between my thumb and finger.

    Thanks for all your replies .

  27. #17
    Registered User Flame Maple's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    I also went to a music shop looking for picks.I have known of the owner as we jammed together here in a bar about 15 years ago.
    He is a multi instrumentalist and played on Cruise Ships as well as teaching music in the local international school.I said that I have bought an Eastman MD 315 Mandolin and was starting to learn to play it,he had never heard of them.I mentioned about picks and I had shredded a couple ,he said you will , he showed me a few picks , thats all he had .I asked him for a set of D Addario EJ 74 strings , he only one set of Rotosound strings ,I didn't bother buying them.So Mandoleisure,I have had better advice from you than from a guy who has been playing Mandolin for years .

  28. #18
    Oval holes are cool David Lewis's Avatar
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    Default

    Try a thicker pick like a v pick or a Dunlop prime tone. The shape is different and you may not find it as difficult.
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  29. #19
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    Quote Originally Posted by Flame Maple View Post
    Hi ,
    I have had my Eastman MD 315 for about 3 weeks now.I have had some good help from the members on this Forum.
    I have been playing guitar for many years .
    My problem is,, with the guitar I used to use a pick when I started but after a while I preferred to use a claw hammer style ,1st finger and thumb.Also playing lead guitar. I am not used to using a pick now. I have read and seen loads of info on using a pick for Mandolin. What gauge/thickness of the pick. When I used a pick the picks I used for guitar were very thin flexible picks.The guys on the Forum talk about reasonably heavy picks but I cant get used to them. I have shredded a few old picks trying to use them. Question is,-- Ok , playing with my fingers using the outside of my nail for strumming chords and picking strings with my finger loses volume but the volume with a pick is to much for my vocals.It might be better to install a pickup and be able to balance the sound. Do many players here play without a pick. ?

    .
    Getting used to a heavy pick most likely involves modifying your technique. E.g., many beginners hold the pick too tight; also, they often strike the strings with an outward sweep, rather than towards the top (rest stroke). By angling the pick suitably you can secure the pick in place with almost no effort. The sound of a mandolin can be very penetrating to be sure, but it's a whole different range (the lowest note is in the middle of the normal male vocal range); also there's no need to play very loud behind your vocals. Avoid chords with open notes.

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  31. #20
    Mediocre but OK with that Paul Busman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Using a pick.

    I'd love to see a video of the original poster's technique. Maybe we could all learn a few tricks from him.
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