LOL! Well I think I am going to raise the action when I get the new strings. The E string tends to lose its ability to vibrate with the action that low when I'm playing higher frets.
A gauge change — especially with a Goodtime, but maybe across-the-board — is probably gonna mess with the action. In my case, the lack of a truss-rod guarantees it. Either way it
can help, if you go the right way. Sonny Landreth, on his strats, adjusts
nothing but as he strategically adds mass, he naturally ends up — no strings attached — with an ideal action for slide playing, at least as far as
he's concerned. Who could argue?
A higher action, they say, is
often beneficial to sound production, to a certain
degree. Most luthiers probably prefer a higher action, on an acoustic instrument, if they can get away with it. It makes them look (sound) good
Buzz is a buzzkill. Maybe, banjo's the same.
The amazing thumb of Wes Montgomery. I was never any sort of Wes Montgomery with or without picks
but I did it bare-fingered when I did fingerstyle. Couldn't stand the picks at all. Eventually I only flatpicked, though I always did both fingers and pick on bass. So I doubt you'll find it very educational but I did find one thing out today...
National fingerpicks made in the US are collectable for some reason, and there are several small builders who do what they consider exact recreations but they charge a lot. Fortunately the Dunlops are doing me just fine, except I want to try the thicker gauges since I preferred the .018's over the .013's. But apparently Nationals are the big sought-afters. I don't know enough to care.
But I do know I need to get my thumbpick game sorted. I like how the Dunlop Ultex feels but I think I need a lesson in how to wear a thumbpick comfortably, because I can't get it to stay tight on my thumb without cutting off circulation after a while. I have L and M but they don't come in an XL, only in celluloid, and celluloid picks wear much quicker. I think it's got to be a case of operator failure because my fingers are neither long nor fat. The midsection, however...
Yeah. Don't mind me
I mention Wes only in an attempt to draw a clearly overly-optimistic similarity regarding certain tonal characteristics — an ensuing warm and silky (
dull and thudding) texture
(I should get back to the banjo — I'm still trying to get the knack of a new-fangled ching-ring and everything
else that's attached to it — that came my way, in recent times. Best, I think, to steer clear of drumming
Mastery is evidently evasive
Same as it ever was.)
I can't stomach fingerpicks either
I no longer even possess any. Playing a bass, the last thing I want is any foreign protrusions getting in the way
And you won't see me pouring toxic goo onto my fingertips any time soon. There are enough toxins about the place already
Mainlining superglue doesn't seem all that wise, if you ask me
My guess is that, within a few months, the noggin will readily have adapted and learnt to ignore any odd distal tip-extensions,
and any concurrent pain caused by those crippling, sadistic contraptions. Clearly, it
does happen sure enough, across-the-board, for anyone who toughs it out for long enough.
Those are
another Tommy's pick, if it helps any (The tort pick's another story).
Love this guy. He'll do me. And his choice of
pick is not unlike mine, dimensions-wise — an all-round good start, I'm guessing. I'd be happy to start there, at any rate.
On ya, Tommy
"Tommy uses D'Andrea ProPlec rounded triangle picks and Jim Dunlop medium thumb picks."
The pain of it all
Where picks are concerned, micro-managing the position of a pick is par for the course, no matter how abrasive its surface. I wonder if it's not the same with a thumbpick — ongoing pick attitude-maintenance seems logical. One with a little bit of give will be more tolerable but there will be subsequent drawbacks, I'm assuming.
Looking forward to more tipward tales and tunes, Jimmy. There's gotta be a better way to climb that foggy mountain
A beautiful world, it
is I'd be inclined to give
corporate anthem a go, out of the traps — more my speed
… a lot of their songs from "Whip It" onward don't feature guitar all that much.
Don't let
that stop you
This is gonna be good 
