The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread for Steel Strings
Review by Todd T. on 28 Jan 2019 review stating The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread for Steel Strings As a classically trained guitarist, my fingers are capable of doing much more than much of the steel string repertoire calls for. Traditional finger picks don't cut it: not even close. In the past, I had to make a choice: 1. Tear up my nails, and also get a weaker tone than the instrument is capable of delivering 2: Get a great tone with traditional finger picks, but resort to an inferior technique in order to achieve that great tone. With Alaska Pik, I am able to have my cake and eat it too: maintain my good technique AND get a great tone. When you fully consider the value in what I stated above, then you are more than happy to understand that there is a high learning curve to using these. You probably aren't going to get the right sizes the first time. Further as you gain a little experience, you may find a particular finger moving up or down a size. If you just order 4 or 5 of these, you probably aren't going to get it right the first time. Fully consider the value of Alaska Pik and order enough in different sizes to freely experiment. And also realize you may need to make a second order to get it right. It is very much worth the effort. These can be filed down and buffed just like nails. However, it takes much more effort to do so. If you think about it though, that is a very good thing. If they filed down just as easily as nails, then it stands to reason that they would wear down just as easily as nails. Part of the reason you are looking at a product like this is because you need something very tough to compliment the steel strings. Also if you are a well-trained player, your nails are probably relatively short in your classical playing compared to the average Joe that plays with nails. From that perspective, Alaska Pic is going to be considerably too long. You aren't just going to put these things on and start playing. It is going to take some time to get them seriously filed down to your unique needs. If you know what to do with your nails, that knowledge will transfer; you will know exactly what to do with these. It will take some work at first and is totally worth it. As you experiment with the different sizes, there will be some things to consider. If they are too large, then the picks aren't going to be able to make firm contact with your finger tips. As a result, you are not going to get the accuracy that you demand. On the other hand, if they are too small, then that will cause unnecessary tightness and pinching of the fingertips. This is why it will take some experimenting until you finally decide which size you want for each finger. And even when you nail down the correct sizes for you, there is still going to be tightness on the finger tips. You need that tightness in order to get the stability. For that reason, I wouldn't wear them unnecessarily. When you are practicing or performing with the steel strings certainly put them on every single time. On the other hand, I wouldn't sleep with them or anything. ;-) I hope that you understand that getting the best out of these will require a bit of work and that I have explained the "whats" and "whys" above. For a great product like this, it is absolutely necessary and very much worth it. Many of my students cross train with steel string acoustic. With the great technique I develop in all of their right hands, traditional finger picks aren't the answer for them. To every student of mine that plays any steel strings, I recommend Alaska Pik.
On Alaska Pik Medium 5101
