Classical guitarist Jason Vieaux was recently a featured performer on NPR as part of their Tiny Desk concert series. The concert included three performances, the first a prelude by Bach, then a real interesting piece by composer Maximo Diego Pujol titled “Candombe en mi,” followed by “Capricho Arabe” by Francisco Tarrega. There’s also a sidebar on NPR’s site about how Vieaux embeds a piece of a ping pong under his thumbnail to aid in playing.
Watch Vieaux’s Tiny Desk concert below:
I guess that can be considered the poor man’s thumb pick. haha Personally, I try to practice as much finger-picking without any finger picks. I want to get callouses there too. He’s really a great guitarist however.