Slippy Thumb Plectrum

Subject: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Deskjet
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 04:36 AM

Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid the thumb plectrum turning/sliding off while playing?
Sweat is the main cause for me - how do you folks deal with this?

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Peace
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 04:39 AM

Is it metal or plastic?

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 05:20 AM

"Slippy Thumb Plectrum"

Wasn't he on the Ren & Stimpy Show?

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: jonm
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 05:24 AM

If you mean on of those hoop-like thumbpicks, then I know what you mean. Yours is too loose. The inside is not circular to stop mit rotating, but it needs to feel tight when you first put it on or it will be too loose once your hands have warmed up and sweatied up.

You don't need to buy a new one, just put this one in hot water for a few minutes then mould it to the shape you need (let it cool a little first, obviously!) then once it has cooled, it will stay in that shape.

Does that help?

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Peace
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 05:47 AM

It will if it's a plastic pick.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 06:21 AM

Have you tried one of these?

JM

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Deskjet
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 06:53 AM

I'm talkin' about plastic. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Bobert
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 08:09 AM

Sure, all ya need is an electric drill, the pick, a small self-tapping screw and yer thumb... Works like a charm...

Awww, jus' funnin'...

Yer pick it too big, Deskz... Get a smaller one or reshape the one you have... BTW, does yer thumb really sweat???

But seriously, as all pickers know, finger and thumb picks do have minds of their own and will occasionally try to escape... Over the years I've learned the little tricks to prevent that while I'm performing... Ya' just have to do them in time with the song... I also have a bottleneck that has on oaccasion tried to make a break for freedom especially when my fingers are as puffy but I have tricks for it, too... Wish I could tell you exactly what it is that I do but it's kinda insticntual and I don't think enough about it when it happenes to understand or expalin... Maybe someone wlse can talk about these tricks who has actually studied the mechanics of how to make adjustments to fickle picks while playin'... All I know is that I can do it???

B~

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 08:25 AM

Or one of these?

JM

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 08:57 AM

Just wet it with a little spit, Big Mon used to do this.

There is also a commercial product called ' Gorilla Snot '

eric

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: John Hardly
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 09:10 AM

eric's got the ticket that works for me. I didn't suggest it, though, because you said you sweat yours off. That's kinda strange, but I suppose if you sweat through your thumb, then licking it (as i do) before you put the pick on won't help.

I'd just like to point out that when I said "lick it as I do" I was referring to my own thumb, not someone else's. Though for the right person and the right price...

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: squeezebox-kc
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 09:27 AM

scuff up the wide end with a nail file

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Arkie
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 10:19 AM

For the thumb picks having the correct size helps a lot. It does have to be snug. I have drilled holes in flat picks to get a better grip but ran into someone the other day who had used an awl or ice pick to punch holes in his picks. That roughed the surface even more.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 10:27 AM

In 34 states, Pick Licking is a type 2 misdemeanor and will get your name on a sexual predator list. I always knew there was something wrong with you John Hardly...........

Spaw

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 10:44 AM

When you consider what the word pi(c)k means in Denmark, I'm sure you're right Spaw.
[I would never drill holes in mine either!]

JM

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: John Hardly
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 10:50 AM

If you'd just try it, Spaw. Let your tongue slide over that hard, hard plastic of a Golden Gate....or right up the stiff side of a National. You've not lived 'til you've felt the sting of a Bumblebee as it grazes your upper lip, or dribbled just a bit on your Ernie Ball.

Of course, your Zookies have probably Dunlopped.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: PoppaGator
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 10:57 AM

Somewhere on this site, archived away in some old old thread, is a good tip that I had never heard of before, but that I've been using ever since I first read about it here:

Violin rosin.

I had always had trouble with picks slipping/falling off: in my case, fingerpicks were much more of an issue than the thumbpick ~ I'd occasinally snag one on a string and have it either fall to the ground/floor or, worse, jump straight into the guitar soundhole. There are not many things that embarrass me more than having to shake the guitar around in front of a crowd, flipping it over and back, trying to aim the pick so it falls back out of the soundhole.

Using the rosin:

I first scrape the back end of my metal fingerpicks (the end where you stick your finger in) over the rosin to (a) coat the inner surface of the pick with rosin and (b) scratch the rosin's surface to free up some loose rosin "dust." Then I'll rub my (plastic) thumbpick on the block of rosin, aiming to get some of the stuff into the pick's inner surfaces. The final step is to rub a coating of rosin directly onto my right thumb and fingers.

Works like a charm! Since I bought my first and only little chuck of rosin a couple of years ago, I haven't had a single pick slip off a finger or thumb ~ except once when I hadn't taken the time to do my customary preparations, and didn't use the rosin.

The stuff is very affordable and available at pretty much any music store. Once little piece will last you for years.

The size of your thumbpick is critical, too, of course. If it's too loose, no amount of stickum is going to help. Try to find a brand and size that works for you and "stick" with it. [Pun intended.]

I'm partial to the National "M," but couldn't find any last time I needed a replacement. Had to settle on a pack of four Dunlops ($5), which fit OK but are slightly different, requring me to readjust a bit out of my "comfort zone." The picks are a little tighter, which makes them just as secure if not moreso than my "regular" preferred pick but a little less comfortable. Also, the business end of the pick extends out a bit farther from the finger than with the National, requiring a slight readjustment in playing "attack."

Of well, by the time I wear out these four picks ~ years! ~ I will probably hae readjusted thoroughly and won't want to go back to the Nationals.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: bankley
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 11:07 AM

this sounds like a question for a proctologist...

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 09:14 AM

Look here John.......Man, I tried to avoid this but you just can't let it alone can you.

Folks, it isn't so much that John has already been arrested twice for "Acts of Indecency with Ernie Ball" but his sicko tongue perversions know no bounds which make them a major no-no, ya' know?   He's also now tried the world of oral bestiality as you can see in this Pre-Arrest Photo taken last spring when the swallows returned to Capistrano. Please note how he has duped the poor bird with alcohol to make it easy.............

Geeziz......Whatta' sick fuck................

Spaw

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: GUEST,iancarterb
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 11:01 AM

Rosin does work, as mentioned above. That glue called Gorilla Snot mentioned above or just contact cement works too, and a friend once picked up a flatpick after fiberglass-repairing a boat and didn't part with that pick for many hours. My own favorite is ElastoPlast bandages on thumb and forefinger (this for flatpick, but just thumb for thumbpick works too) and JUST before the first tune take them off. Reapply between sets. It also helped me to relax after fifty years of tensing up on the pick, and that improves control of the pick and hence the playing.
Carter B

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: John Hardly
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 11:09 AM

Geeziz......Whatta' sick fuck................

You make that sound like a bad thing?

On the subject of thumbpicks slipping...

...have you tried thumbpicks with a smaller picking portion to the pick -- like the Kelly "Slick Pick"?

'Cause it might just be that if you're using something with HUGE "blade" like a National, you're just digging in so far that the pick can't help but turn.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: olddude
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 12:07 PM

Here is an old banjo trick from Earl Scruggs, take a knife and make some slits in the plastic on the inside of the thumb pick ... a few diagonal cuts will make it stay in place. I do this all the time and it resolved the problem

Dan

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 12:49 PM

I like the big Gibson Triangular pick, as there's more to get hold of. I also find that after a while it dishes slightly in the middle, which makes it even easier to hold on to.


JM

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 01:07 PM

RE; John's "smaller picking surface" suggestion. Rick (Fielding) used to modify the pick portion of a Golden Gate so it was narrower and thinner as well. Improves the performance and sound all the way around. Around what I'm not sure but at least you ain't lickin' it!

Seriously, try it. Rick was great with those little touches that make a helluva' difference. Best known I suppose was the capo slotting but the thumbpick mods work a wonder.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Deskjet
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 07:04 PM

Some useful tips there - thanks

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Jayto
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 09:38 PM

John I have tired both of the thumbpick/flatpick hybrids you posted. I don't like the Herco (the straight plastic one) at all. They are too flimsy for me. Even the heavy ones are too flimsy around the curve. They slide and break way to easily for me.

The metal one that is connected to a regular flatpick is cool though. I am having a hard time adjusting to it even though I like it. It rides different than my thumbpick of choice and the flatpick holds different than I hold my flatpick. So it ends up being awkward for either one a thumbpick or flatpick. I really like it and hope I can get used to it enough to use it full time. I am stuck in a dilemma because I jump between flatpick and thumbpick alot. Often several times in the same song so this would be great if I could just get used to it.

I use a Fred Kelly speed pick for my thumbpick. They are normally tight on my thumb and I actually pull it apart to stretch it out. I really like them alot. I use the medium which is orange in color. The one that I use has the 3 prongs with 1 long prong in the middle and 2 shorter prongs on each side (one on each side of the long prong). I have used them for 14 years or so. for my style they are the best but that is just personal preference. If you haven't tried them I would highly recommend them. I will also jump to no pick alot when I play. So during my sets there are normally picks flying everywhere lol. You don't really have to go buy these picks just come see me play sometime and catch lol. When I start trying to jump between flat pick and then thumbpick and then no pick I end up throwing them all over the place lol.

If you smoke or play with someone that smokes cigarette ashes are the best thing in the world to stop you pick from sliding or to keep you from dropping a flatpick. Rub some on your thumb or between you first finger and thumb for a flatpick. Works like nothing else especially for sweaty fingers. I learned that trick from Danny Gatton and it works.
cya
JT

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 11:48 PM

"cigarette ashes are the best thing in the world to stop your pick from sliding"

It's the lye - like potash - (behaves like NaOH) which cleans the skin - in fact will eat it away. People used to make soap by boiling fire ashes with fat.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: GUEST,chris
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 01:47 AM

glue the hook side of velcro to the plectrum

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 03:40 AM

I think I was wrong - Slippy Thumb Plectrum was one of The Happy Tree Friends, I think.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 06:48 AM

I don't use plectrums but I do play the washboard and need to keep ten thimbles attached to my fingers and thumbs while swinging my hands fairly hard. Two things that help:

1. Micropore tape - stick a little strip of it inside a new thimble.
2. Rust - this will always develop over a few years with steel thimbles and eventually gives all the grip you need.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: catspaw49
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 07:13 AM

Have any good techniques to enhance the rusting process in plastic?

Spaw

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Jayto
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 12:12 PM

Foolestroupe I didn't realize it was lye that is cool. My aunt used to make lye soap all the time when I was a kid. She was good at making it but sometimes someone would make a hot batch and it would set you on fire. Here in Western Ky. there is a very long tradition of making lye soap and it is still carried on today. I haven't used any in a long time but it is burned (no pun intended) into my childhood memory. My mom always had a big box of lye soap around the house when I was growing up. You just jogged a big memory for me with that post. I haven't thought about lye soap in years.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Gurney
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 03:28 PM

Paper masking tape,-ask a painter- will help make the hole smaller, and with handling, a certain amount of the adhesive will migrate through the paper and make the tape tacky.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 07:12 PM

Of course, if you have been diagnosed with Palmar Hyperhidrosis, or "sweaty palms," you may have a treatable medical condition. A lot of quacks and some actual doctors have ads out claiming cures. Then again, you could fasten the thing on permanently with super glue, but it might cause some consternation to your partner (assuming you still have one).

Truthfully, I'd try the heat-sizing method. It worked for me. Do let it cool first. I had a red ring around my thumb for a week the first time I tried it.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:20 AM

Cyanoacrylate glue.

eric

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: GUEST,Alistair Russell
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 05:05 PM

Of course your pick needs to be a tight fit. Try using ivoroid picks - they have a different texture which is not so slippy. Another bonus (to m mind) is that ivoroid is harder and sounds crisper on the string - they last longer too!
All the best.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: GUEST,Bruce M Baillie
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 05:10 PM

I've been using thumbpicks for over 35 years and NEVER had any problem at all with them slipping off. I'd say either you're deformed or just plain stupid? Is this really worth discussing?

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: John Hardly
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 05:24 PM

No. Nothing is really worth discussing. Now move along, folks. Nothing to discuss here.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Jayto
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 05:25 PM

I have had trouble with certain types of thumbpicks slipping. I have even had it happen with my favorite thumbpicks (the Kelly speedpicks) but that was after they were worn out and ready to be tossed. Normally the main pick part had been worn down to a nub by the time they started slipping. If it's a problem someone is encountering I think it is a very legitimate question and discussion. I know Bruce didn't aim that comment at me but I really did not like it. I hope deskjet finds something that helps in this thread. I have played with a thumbpick for about 18 years and haven't had much trouble with slippage before either. I think it is alright to ask though if someone has encountered the problem. He is looking for advice not ridicule. C'mon man be cool alright the guy is just seeking advice. He is not dumb and chances are he is not deformed. I really didn't like your post man.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: Peter T.
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 09:04 AM

What's capo slotting?

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: leftydee
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 01:38 PM

Use a paper punch to put a hole in the middle of the pick. The edge area of the the hole make for a good grip. Even my old arthritic hand holds on to picks this way. I use a three hole punch just because it's easier. I used to use Gorilla Snot but it just too messy for me, it winds up on everything.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: John Hardly
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 01:46 PM

Feilding suggested slotting the capo so that the close courses of paired strings of the twelve-string don't slip together beneath the capo.

Subject: RE: Slippy Thumb Plectrum
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 01:54 PM

Plastic thumbpicks usually break down, eventually, right at the spot where they are bent at the sharpest angle ~ turning from the flat "bottom" surface to bend back over the top of the thumb.

A day or two before a pick will completely break in half at that point, it'll start to get loose there and not grasp the thumb as tightly as when intact. That's the only situation where I've found a thumbpick to slip off my thumb more easilly than normal ~ when the pick was just about to die a natural death.

What I wrote above about violin rosin, several days ago. was s solution I sought and adopted because of my trouble keeping fingerpicks from slipping off, not thumbpicks. Now that I use the stuff, however, I use it on my thumb and thumbpick as well as on my fingers and fingerpicks.