The trial pack of four different Black Mountain thumb picks arrived this morning; that's fast (from Canada to France...). Well packed in a stout envelope, with wooden dowels where the thumb goes, to prevent them being crushed in the post, a nice thought. The paper inside states that it would be normal to have about fifty hours of picking to start to feel 'at home', with these or any other picks. I chose one from the pack and did a couple of ten-minute stints; only forty-nine and a half hours to go..!
First impression..? Positive. I've never been able to get on with plectrums, as my fingers don't grip very well (yes, I drop drum-sticks, too...). I looked up a string-skipping exercise on t'web, then played a few of my chord-melody sequences, and it started to feel quite comfortable. I can switch and/or mix my finger-picking/claw techniques, but will have to adapt the thumb strokes, as they are now using the pick. I could swivel the pick away to use 'thumb-brushing''; I'll get on to these refinements later.
Altogether pleased, for the moment. I'll try the others in the pack, although as I'm not a veteran pick user, and am not overly fussy in general, I suspect that I'll find 'em all much of a muchness. Are they worth their price..? Too soon to pronounce definitively, but so far I've no regrets. If it enables me to use a plectrum where before I couldn't, it'll be a winner for me.