I play blackened death metal, and I've never been able to use a pick because the only class i took never allowed them.
Thinking about that earlier, it sparked some curiosity.
Are there death/black/thrash/power metal bands that are known for not using guitar picks?

I excluded folk metal because I'm sure that's quite common in that genre.

I can't imagine playing guitar without a pick and trying to get a good sound out of palm muted riffs.

I would think it impossible, or at least horrible sounding if tried in a blackened death band. You should begin using picks.

I know one guy who preferred to use his fingernails instead of picks, but his recordings are offline now. Basically the guitar sound was just a tad muddier than a picked style, that's all.

Chris Arp of Psyopus (who it seems have been deleted from the Archives after a check just now) does not use a pick.

I can do that and tremolo "picking" quite well actually...

What the hell kind of school doesn't allow picks?

My idiot teacher who said true guitarists didn't use them.

Wow... That teacher was full of shit. Snobby classical type, was it?

You got it.
He says no other music can be played without first learning classical.
It's been my biggest roadblock in guitar playing.

Why not use a pick at home? or just drop the class(Im guessing you want to learn classical though). Also this cannot be said enough: Your teacher is a asshole.

This class was four or five years ago... I don't want to learn classical..
I try using a pick, but after about a week I find I'm much better off without it.

I've never really been able to get into the pick vibe.

Grayceon guitarist doesn't use a pick.

Well, I can't see why it would necessarily be wrong if you're a capable enough player to compensate for the sound difference. It's just more difficult than it needs to be, really.

I think one of the dudes from The Hellecastors plays fingers, but I'm not positive (and even so, they're heavy but not metal).

If you really want to stick with fingers I say go for it; it won't be easy but it will be extremely unique. If you want a bit of help, either get a thumb-pick or a set of finger-picks like a banjo player.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Ernie-Ball- ... 1123913.gc

http://www.guitarcenter.com/National-Pi ... 1123976.gc

I could post examples of what I play online...

I say stick with your fingers. It'll give a bit of a different feeling to your music than most bands.

I used to play without a pick, but then I tried Jazz IIIs, and I've been using them ever since. As I hadn't used picks much previously, they took a while to get used to. Last time I checked, I'm still uncomfortable with the other picks (well, at least the ones I tried...especially bigger ones).

I second what this dude says. Jazz III's are awesome, stubby picks are the best.

Classical. The guitar ensemble I'm in doesn't use them. I am pretty comfortable playing with my fingers or with a pick.

This is pretty strange. I'm a classical guitarist, and have been studying classical for about 2 years before I ever picked up an electric, or even listened to metal. At first, I didn't like using a pick because I was so much more comfortable fingerpicking, but you can get such a better sound (not to mention play faster) out of the electric.

I'm intrigued to see how it sounds, if you wouldn't mind posting some samples. I would imagine the biggest difficulty would be playing solos fast, and getting a clean tone out of each individual note.

However, if it works for you, I say keep to it.

Yeah, I tend to play rhythm-based tremolo picking parts on the first and second strings with simple palm mutes. but I'll record something today. Playing notes cleanly is a very big challenge, which is why the songs I make flow very cleanly... I have alot of legato in there to make up for it.

His guitar playing is almost entirely tapping, he doesn't do any sort of riffing that sounds like metal.

There are a few guys out there. It totally depends on how you incorporate it. I play the Classical Guitar a lot more than my electric, but I find it quite difficult to play one way on the other, but some lateral thinking can do such a thing, I'm sure.

Listen to Monday With a Bullet. I watched their music video, they don't seem to be using a pick.

lol you could always just play bass...

I had a guitarist in the past who grew his thumbnail out and used it to play. It was freaky looking, but he was pretty good with the tremelo picking with that thumb. I would have gotten a cramp on that shit.