Guitar Picks

[Jesse Screed]

How long did it take you to find the right guitar pick?

For the longest time I thought I needed to use light picks even though they were difficult to hold on to.  One day I was out and the only pick to be found was a medium, and what a difference it made.

I guess I need to try other kinds and materials and styles.  Does anybody have any opinions which picks to try?

Thanks

[craigb]

These were the ones I used for years:

Until I discovered these!

That said, these are nice too! ?

[Rain]

My preferences have evolved. 

After using whatever I could find and afford for a few years, I caught a green tortex pick at a Metallica show (Master of Puppets tour). I started using these as soon as I could find some (and used the one from the show until then because, well, I was poor). They are a good option for that type of music.

When I started playing blues-based music, grey Dunlop (.73 mm IIRC), but I played them backwards, hitting the strings with the big edge, for more attack - I had intuited that SRV did the same and apparently I was right.

In the last couple of decades, mostly these yellow tortex, as I find them versatile enough. I like picks that bite into the strings a bit more, and anything above .73 mm doesn't do that to my taste.

I still keep a few green ones around for fast, all-downstrokes stuff.  And I have the super thick black ones that I don't really like that much but that I use to try to teach myself sweep pickin..

[Jesse Screed]

9 hours ago, craigb said:

These were the ones I used for years:

Until I discovered these!

That said, these are nice too! ?

Those DAVA picks look interesting, the price is big.  I'll have to see if the local store carries them to try one out first, but maybe you can't buy singles.

The pickini.  You've posted that pic before.  I love the beach.

[Jesse Screed]

5 hours ago, Rain said:

My preferences have evolved. 

After using whatever I could find and afford for a few years, I caught a green tortex pick at a Metallica show (Master of Puppets tour). I started using these as soon as I could find some (and used the one from the show until then because, well, I was poor). They are a good option for that type of music.

When I started playing blues-based music, grey Dunlop (.73 mm IIRC), but I played them backwards, hitting the strings with the big edge, for more attack - I had intuited that SRV did the same and apparently I was right.

In the last couple of decades, mostly these yellow tortex, as I find them versatile enough. I like picks that bite into the strings a bit more, and anything above .73 mm doesn't do that to my taste.

I still keep a few green ones around for fast, all-downstrokes stuff.  And I have the super thick black ones that I don't really like that much but that I use to try to teach myself sweep pickin..

Thanks Rain, it seems that most guitar players change picks at various stages for different reasons.  I am going to try the .73 dunlops to see how they fare.

Now I must go listen to some Metallica!

 

[Brian Walton]

14 hours ago, Jesse Screed said:

How long did it take you to find the right guitar pick?

For the longest time I thought I needed to use light picks even though they were difficult to hold on to.  One day I was out and the only pick to be found was a medium, and what a difference it made.

I guess I need to try other kinds and materials and styles.  Does anybody have any opinions which picks to try?

Thanks

It took a few hundred bucks and a number of years.

Tortoise shell is the best material out there, but basically illegal to aquire at this point.  Used to be legal decades ago.

What I've lanted on myself

Blue Chip Model  https://shop.bluechippick.net/tad80-1r/   I also like this one for feel but can be dark sounding....love the added thickness though  https://shop.bluechippick.net/tad100-1r/

 

Vpick but adding a custom "ghost rim" edge   https://v-picks.com/shop/ols/products/b-sharp

 

The Blue Chip when I'm doing more clean work, V-Pick for some dirty electric and want more pronounced attack.

Can't stand thin picks like the afformentioned .73 Tortex, it isn't just the feel, but the tonal qualities and dynamic range control.  

[Guest]

Someone bought me some wooden ones in a tin once as a gift - look lovely but sound and play badly (too chunky and zero flex).

I don't use a pick that often tbh but when I do I use sharkfin mediums - I know they split opinion - they work well for me.

Andy

[Jesse Screed]

1 hour ago, Brian Walton said:

It took a few hundred bucks and a number of years.

Tortoise shell is the best material out there, but basically illegal to aquire at this point.  Used to be legal decades ago.

What I've lanted on myself

Blue Chip Model  https://shop.bluechippick.net/tad80-1r/   I also like this one for feel but can be dark sounding....love the added thickness though  https://shop.bluechippick.net/tad100-1r/

 

Vpick but adding a custom "ghost rim" edge   https://v-picks.com/shop/ols/products/b-sharp

 

The Blue Chip when I'm doing more clean work, V-Pick for some dirty electric and want more pronounced attack.

Can't stand thin picks like the afformentioned .73 Tortex, it isn't just the feel, but the tonal qualities and dynamic range control.  

Thanks for the info Brian.   I'm learning a lot from everyone.  I never realized there was that much variety in picks. The bluechip is going to be out of my price range right now.  I would need to put it on a lanyard and get one of those ping devices that show me where I left it when I set it down inadvertently.

The v picks are a lot less scary price wise.  I can afford to try one of those.

The next time I get back to a city I will go by the local GC and buy several different picks and continue to experiment. I might even try to make a few picks out of different materials to get more knowledge.

[hockeyjx]

I use an odd pairing, I use a Dunlop Nylon .46mm for my acoustic(unless I need to pick a section and I may go up slightly)/electric and a Dunlop Tortex Jazz 1.14mm for electric.

I love the detail a thinner pick can give the sound.

[Jesse Screed]

2 minutes ago, AndyB01 said:

Someone bought me some wooden ones in a tin once as a gift - look lovely but sound and play badly (too chunky and zero flex).

I don't use a pick that often tbh but when I do I use sharkfin mediums - I know they split opinion - they work well for me.

Andy

I started out with a pick, and then exclusively played with just my fingers for the longest time.  When on a whim I tried a pick again I found out how they can help in many instances.  I will take a look at those sharkfin too.

Thank Andy

[Jesse Screed]

2 minutes ago, hockeyjx said:

I use an odd pairing, I use a Dunlop Nylon .46mm for my acoustic(unless I need to pick a section and I may go up slightly)/electric and a Dunlop Tortex Jazz 1.14mm for electric.

I love the detail a thinner pick can give the sound.

Thanks hockeyjx, it looks like this pick journey will take a little time to come to conclusion.  I'm finding that not all pick companies show thickness in mm.  The manufacturers use vague terms like thin, heavy.   Dunlops seem to be around quite readily.

[Brian Walton]

3 hours ago, Jesse Screed said:

Thanks for the info Brian.   I'm learning a lot from everyone.  I never realized there was that much variety in picks. The bluechip is going to be out of my price range right now.  I would need to put it on a lanyard and get one of those ping devices that show me where I left it when I set it down inadvertently.

The v picks are a lot less scary price wise.  I can afford to try one of those.

The next time I get back to a city I will go by the local GC and buy several different picks and continue to experiment. I might even try to make a few picks out of different materials to get more knowledge.

It doesn't have to be from bluechip but one of these pick fobs should be standard issue if you buy a good pick.  I own a number of Blue Chip picks and in the 10 years I've been using them never lost a single one of them.  I'm not going to say they don't wear out, as that depends on your playing style but they are not remotely in the same class as your typical guitar pick when it comes to longevity, they are made of extremely expensive material that has some unique properties that allows it to keep the bevel and shape for a very long time.  One pick played often will last me many years.

https://shop.bluechippick.net/products/Bluechip-Pick-Pouch.html

 

 

[Brian Walton]

3 hours ago, Jesse Screed said:

Thanks for the info Brian.   I'm learning a lot from everyone.  I never realized there was that much variety in picks. The bluechip is going to be out of my price range right now.  I would need to put it on a lanyard and get one of those ping devices that show me where I left it when I set it down inadvertently.

The v picks are a lot less scary price wise.  I can afford to try one of those.

The next time I get back to a city I will go by the local GC and buy several different picks and continue to experiment. I might even try to make a few picks out of different materials to get more knowledge.

GC pick selection will be fairly minimal.

But check if they have these in stock by you   https://www.guitarcenter.com/Dunlop/JD-JazzTone-208-Guitar-Picks-6-Pack.gc

Those are some of the best sounding picks you can get for fairly cheap prices.

[DeeringAmps]

I’ve used the Fender “teardrop”,(medium) since the early 70’s. Never drop them. Tickles me when I see picks taped to every available surface. Are you spastic? The only time I need to change is if I do a bunch of “scrapes”. Then I clean it up with an emery board and put it back in rotation. I still have some from what must have been a gross of them I bought in the 70’s. Came in a cute little square box with the Fender logo…

t

 

[craigb]

7 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

I’ve used the Fender “teardrop”,(medium) since the early 70’s. Never drop them. Tickles me when I see picks taped to every available surface. Are you spastic? The only time I need to change is if I do a bunch of “scrapes”. Then I clean it up with an emery board and put it back in rotation. I still have some from what must have been a gross of them I bought in the 70’s. Came in a cute little square box with the Fender logo…

t

 

I know when I used those they would go flying out of my fingers (could be because I was playing sports as well and often had numb or injured fingers).  That said, I never taped picks anywhere but just used one of these:

I actually saw someone who would like the tortoise shell type and stick it to his face!  Ya, that's a good look. ?

Needless to say, not having the pick take off is why I started with those gold flex pics I posted earlier.

[57Gregy]

On 10/26/2022 at 12:32 PM, Brian Walton said:

thin picks like the afformentioned .73

Funny, I think of a .73 as thick. Been using .60 since forever.

[Doc H]

I started out using Tortex picks when I first started playing. I switched  a US quarter back in the 80's (that was before I found out that Bill Gibons was playing with a Peso). Then copper picks that were roughly the same shape as Jazz IIIs just a little larger. Finally ended up with Jazz IIIs. the red ones as opposed to the black ones. That was about 10 years ago. That's all I use anymore. I'll try there ones but I keep coming back to the Jazz IIIs.

[Zargg]

I've used 1.0 mm Dunlop pics on el. geetarz and bass since I started playing. For acoustic I used thinner, but have now started using 1.14 mm Dunlop pics with another kind of gripping surface. I recently started using something called Attak picks when playing fast/doing shredding.

For bass I have found a new favorite. A 1.6 mm Dunlop pick with the same kind of gripping surface as the 1.14 mm.

I've also toyed a bit with a 3 mm Attak pick for bass. 

The attak picks give very nice attack (as the name suggests), which I like when playing fast/shredding.

All the best.

 

[msmcleod]

I use Dunlop 0.73 yellow tortex picks almost exclusively,  the only exception being when strumming chords on an acoustic 12 string - then I use the red 0.5mm, or lighter pick if I can find one.

[CoveCamper]

Dunlop Max-Grip Jazz III.  They are smaller and tend to slide less in my fingers and have a good grip.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MXE4JU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by CoveCamper