Im with Seiler on the hard picks. Soft picks for me, tend to react much too slowly. They are more suited to strumming than picking. I used to use the vinyl "grippy", with the raised ribs. They help a lot for holding on to, but create kind of a slapping sound if played too hard. I have changed to hard plastic in recent years. There is a fellow locally where I live in Ontario that make picks out of turtle shells. I have never tried them, but apparently they are very expensive and sought after by the professional players. I play quite a bit of finger picking as well. I also have tried the finger picks in the past, with very little success. I hold my pick at a 90 degree angle to my thumb. It takes a bit of practice, but once you get on to it, it increases your picking speed quite a bit.