How do you keep banjo picks on your fingers?

Question

I have a lot of experience on guitar and mandolin. Then last year, somebody gave me a banjo. This one's a bit of a struggle, in that when I slip the metal picks onto my fingers, they just fall off.

Should I just play with my fingers, or is there a trick? It sounds like you get better tone with the finger picks, so I'd like to figure it out if possible.

Answer 1

Try wrapping your fingertips with medical tape (the cloth kind for attaching dressings to wound areas, not the plastic or paper kinds), it will make up for the extra space between fingertips and fingerpicks, and is slightly sticky besides.

Answer 2

Those metal picks - if I'm thinking of the right ones - need to be clamp-tightened.

I find the plastic fingerpicks a little more comfortable and they stay on your fingers better. I've just been using my fingernails but you do get a lot better tone if you train yourself to use the finger picks.

FP

Answer 3

if you like to use your bare finger/nails because it is comfortable then use them but if you are wanting to play with a pick then go to ur nearest music shop and buy those little things that slip over your finger that holds the pick on. i cant remember what they are called though sorry (electrical tape will also do the trick also).

Answer 4

hi Jame steel finger selections are used mostly for Banjo for the hassle-free reason that the strings on a banjo have greater stress than a guitar. edit....Mike's answer is quite plenty on- the-money.

Answer 5

If they're metal then can you squeeze them together to make them fit more snugly? I've never seen anyone play without them, I think you need them for the banjo to sound right.....try adjusting them or go to the music store and see if they have smaller ones...I think they must have more than one size because kids play too and they would need picks that fit their fingers.