Don Wayne Reno playing the banjo with fingerpicks

A fingerpick is a type of

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsic ...

used most commonly for playing

Lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of pla ...

and bluegrass style

banjo music Banjo music is a genre of music that consists exclusively, or primarily of, the banjo. Banjo music can be played as a solo, or it can be played with a band. Banjo music can be played with all types of banjos (four, five, or six string). History B ...

. Hawaiian steel guitar players invented them to gain a more substantial sound from their instruments. The National Finger Pick was patented on July 20, 1928, by George Beauchamps and John Dopyera. Most fingerpicks are composed of metal or plastic (usually Celluloid or Delrin). Unlike flat

guitar pick A guitar pick (American English) is a plectrum used for guitars. Picks are generally made of one uniform material, such as some kind of plastic (nylon, Delrin, celluloid), rubber, felt, Tortoiseshell material, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, ...

s, held between the thumb and finger and used one at a time, fingerpicks clip onto or wrap around the end of the fingers and thumb; thus, one hand can pick several strings at once. Generally, three are used: one for the thumb, middle, and index fingers. Fingerpicks worn on the thumb are called "thumbpicks". Some players use a plastic thumbpick while using metal fingerpicks. Fingerpicks come in various thicknesses to accommodate different musicians' styles of playing. Thin picks produce a quieter, more delicate sound, while thick picks produce a heavier sound. However, thumbpicks come in various styles and employ different materials, as with standard plectrums. Fingerpicks are also used by

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, Hawaiian guitar,

lap steel The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of play ...

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

and

Dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...

players. Fingerpicks generally take quite some time to adapt to, even for people who come from the more common (bare fingers with or without fingernails) fingerstyle techniques. Tone-wise, they are the most similar to standard

s, offering a more consistent sound. Some players combine a thumb pick and bare fingers/fingernails. Classical guitar players, who traditionally use their fingernails to pluck the guitar's strings, may use fingerpicks as an alternative to maintaining fingernails.

See also