Finger Picking!

A few songs i intend learning to play use fingerpicking techniques & as ive never really seen a close up of a guitarist using his finger picking, id like to know if you play with the tips of your fingers(your skin) or finger nails, because i dont have long nails & i have fairly short nails & dont intend to grow them

if so is there any way to get around the "nail growing", ive seen some sort of pick you attatch to your thumb can you also get these for your fingers or what?

i really dont have a clue about this subject, can somebody shed any light?

i see your having a little fingering problems! dude, just look at james hetfeild bro. if you want a good finger picking exercise learn call of the kultu on the ride the lightning album. all of the intro and most of the song is finger picked. so, try that and about the finger pick thing its more trouble then what it is worth. use the tips of your fingers, its alot easier. take it easy bro and good luck

You can tell some flamenco guitarists by their neatly trimmed nails on their left hand and their claws on their right.

Some people finger pick stricktly with their nails only , but some classical schools says that good tone come from both skin and nail (don't have very long nails , and include a bit of sking with the nail when picking).

If you don't wanna grow your nails like all elec guitarists , buy finger picks , or forget about spanish guitars like I did. :D

You can play without long nails, it's still functional.
But with long nails, it's a different world!
I've played classical guitar for 10 years and only played with long
nails the last year or so and it's a completely different sound.
More tone, accurate playing, faster playing, etc etc.
But if you don't feel like long nails are your thing you shouldn't
get them, it works pretty well anyway.

Thanks for you replies, its not really spanish or classical guitar im wanting to play, its mainly the odd blues track, not many - mainly just man of the world by peter green which is a track which uses fingerpicking, its the 1st track ive ever wanted to play that ive discovered is fingerpicked.

ill try out using my fingers but may end up having to buy some finger picks, ill have to look to see what they are like ive never heard of them, ive only ever used the godd ole' traditional plectrum.

thanks again

I don't know the guy you've just mentioned , but elec guitarists who use fingerpicking like "Mark Knopfler" don't use any nails.
Steel strings will do to your nails what it does to worn picks in a short while , may be nails wear even easier.

you've never heard of peter green? he was the main member of early fleetwood mac (peter greens fleetwood mac they were called). they played blues, and after becoming famous he didnt like being famous & started to get ill with depression, & it climaxed when his lawyer brought him a royalty check for thousands of pounds, he didnt want it beause he didnt want money for playing guitar so he was so disgusted he went to the lawyers office with a gun, it wasnt loaded though he was just making a point. he always said "why all this fuss for playing guitar?" - he done it for pure enjoyment, not fame of fortune, he gave a lot of his fortune to charity. he's a really good player, very unique style & he now has a new band called peter greens splinter group, you should check them out.

well back to the point of finger picking, ive tried using my finger ends as suggested as i dont have long nails, but i found that i couldnt get even tone/volume even after about 2 hours practice picking the same note with alternating fingers so i might have to invest in some finger picks.

dont buy them..i bought them once and there not that good...get a teacher..he/she will show u the proper way to get that loud nice tone...and TRUST me..it takes more than a few hours to get it down..lol

when i first started fingerpicking, i didn't even know you were supposed to use your nails. i started using them, and i like the tone, but they keep breaking off at work. by the way , don't ever complain about breaking a nail on a construction site.
the thing that did bother me , is when i relied on my nails, and then broke one, it would mess me up. making the tone of the one note played with the finger that had a broken nail too quiet compared to the rest.
so i'm trying to get used to with or without, so if i break one, i'll cut 'em all and work with that, until they grow back.
paco rules

click the "pikentrix" on the bottom, i put a fingerpicking exercise in there