Rough transition to using a pic

I combine the two. I often use a pick and fingers.

I gave up on the pick in the 80s when I quit playing like Neil Young and began a playing style like James Taylor. I no longer play in that style but still prefer not using a pick (except for studio work). Nils Lofgren, Mick Fleetwood, Steve Stills, a lot of my favorite guitar players are not pick holders...

Wow those last 2 responses are candy to my ears! Exactly. For one, JT and his finger style are what I've admired for years and try to emulate. In fact I tried a set of the same brand of strings he uses.....lol to the flavored pic! Funny. To further improve my picless  tone, growing my nails longer ( which for me is a challenge)....
 

Starise
Every time I use a pick it usually ends up in my mouth and my fingers take over. For that reason they should make flavored picks. Advantages and disadvantages to both. Thick fingernails can fill in when necessary.

That is funny :)

Starise
Every time I use a pick it usually ends up in my mouth and my fingers take over. For that reason they should make flavored picks. ...

I smell (taste?) a product idea. You should take that directly to the Shark Tank.
 
I for one do not use a pick - every time I try to use one my keyboard playing turns right to rubbish.  ;p

I never fully took to using a pick, even though I started out using one. Wasn't long before I transitioned to fingers. Thumb and 2nd finger for playing single note runs a la Mark Knopfler, and all five fingers for fingerstyle guitar. Actually I sometimes use thumb, index and middle finger for single note runs in a banjo/harp style and have gotten quite good at working my way around the fretboard doing scale runs on adjacent strings. You can get some real speed and fluency doing it that way. 
 
For me, using a pick was like - pardon the analogy - the guitar version of a condom. It's a layer between me and the guitar and makes me feel a little more detached from the strings. When I play with my fingers there's this deeper connection with the instrument and I play far more expressively. 
 
I'm never going to achieve that machine gun Paul Gilbert style of picking with my fingers. But I can play pretty fast with them when needs be, especially with the use of slurs and slides and harp runs and what have you. 
 
I did make a last ditch effort to get used to a pick a few years ago, but drifted out of it again. Apart from anything else, having to find a pick when I want to play is one extra step I can do without! It's like when Mitch Hedberg said of that double-wrapped Pepperidge Farm bread - "I do not need another step between me and toast" 

Jerry, I played my bouzouki just this past weekend pickless. Although I brought a pick along with every intention to use it. You don't get quite the attack without one on bouzouki. I play it in D tuning with no E like some do playing cittern. 
I'll never forget the time I used a pick that was too thick and hit the strings too hard on the zouk in front of 50 people playing a solo.It pushed the high strings right off the bridge. That wasn't a very good day.
 
James I can relate to the condom comment. It feels like a disconnect between me and the guitar using pick most of the time. The one exception being if I use a very soft flexible pick and play with only the tip so I can still feel the strings. You know pickless is more likely the exception rather than the rule. None of that bothers me. 

When I use a pick, it always slides around in my grip.  Then I try holding it tighter, and it slides more.  So I gave it up, and created my own style  I could never be, or play like anyone else.  I admire great musicians, but don't care to work hard enough to be one.
 
I hope you are able to find your happy place in the quest for mastery of style, pick, or no pick.
 
JQS