Pondering upon picks

[Haole Jim]

Somewhere in the signal chain between our brains and the amp speakers is usually the humble guitar pick.

We spend gobs of coin and thought on guitars and amps and much less on pedals, cables, and strings...and veritably zero on picks. Yet, they are rather important in many instances.

A couple personal thoughts and observations.

'Been using primarily Fender traditional-shape heavy gauge for a long time. Preference is usually the mother-of-toilet seat (pearl) appearance, tho "California Clears" in varied hues are around, as are a few opaques and "granite-looking" and a "confetti" and "mock turtleshell" or two.

'Have a real turtleshell pick bought probably 30 years ago from a long-gone music store which is used primarily-infrequently-carefully on acoustic, especially for articulate single-note jazz-lounge stuff.

Many years ago, 'bought a "Min'd Pick" which is stone and rather thick and large.

A few shows ago, a "Jellifish" multi-steel-tine one was purchased.

At a guitar show a few months ago, a pick vendor displayed a delightful array of truly exotic stuff. Next thing y' know, after becoming about $48 lighter, a happy picker (no pun meant) walked away with a "different" selection to try and maybe use.

* 2 coconut wood
* 1 camel bone
* 1 ebony wood
* 1 pecan wood
* 1 rosewood
* 1 bison horn
* 1 agate stone
* 1 "blazer button" (Django often picked with a coat button)

Thoughts since: (bear in mind, preferred music is single and multi-string melody, rarely ever strummy strings of chords for backing up singing)
Exotic-material picks have "personality," especially the wood and horn ones.

* The turtleshell is the real thing and cared for and used sparsely, gently. It is likely the most articulate pick experienced.
* Coconut is soft and really pleasant for island and lounge, it definitely feels "organic."
* Ebony is precise, a nice jazz pick
* Pecan and rosewood fall in between ebony, in that order of hardness, therefore crispness. All the wood picks feel "live" and "friendly."
* Agate is interesting for music like show tunes and pop. It is "stone," "from deep in the earth."
* bison horn is soft and especially suited for music like folk-rock and folk-ish and World, quite "live."
* camel bone is not yet figured out. Feels least-wrong playing blues. "Weird" is the best word in mind, right now.
* playing with the "blazer button" is not easy, but the large radius of the curve provides interesting tactile and sonic results, as well as a "connection."
* the Jellifish is gimicky and not really interesting in this picker's world

Pick thoughts, anyone?

[Veenture]

Choice of pick depends on your style of playing I guess.
My choice is for Jim Dunlop .60mm for gentle lead playing and .88mm for tunes requiring a heavier attack. For rhythm I prefer to use .46mm.



Talking 'bout their use on solid body electric guitar:

[Sarah93003]

It's interesting that there are so many material choices and that they have a tonal impact. I'm a rhythm player and have more concern about the feel of the pick. For years I only played acoustics and chose thin picks. Now that I play predominantly hollow bodied electrics I use a heavy pick. I like a pick to be stiff and have no real flex to it. I'm more concerned with how well I can grip it and that it doesn't go flying out of my fingers when I'm really into it.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Haole Jim had posted:

At a guitar show a few months ago, a pick vendor displayed a delightful array of truly exotic stuff. Next thing y' know, after
becoming about $48 lighter, a happy picker (no pun meant) walked away with a "different" selection to try and maybe use.
* 2 coconut wood
* 1 camel bone
* 1 ebony wood
* 1 pecan wood
* 1 rosewood
* 1 bison horn
* 1 agate stone
* The Jellifish is gimicky and not really interesting in this picker's world

I'll keep in mind the Pecan and the Coconut the next time I'm in Hawaii (which hasn't happened yet ),
but I will make sure to stay away from the Jellyfish . Those can mess up your nerves really big time
if you approach and attack the strings the wrong way ........

[MOSDAN]

How do they turn a Jellifish into a guitar pick? I would think the pick would be a bit soft, slimy, and carry a bit of a sting to it's attack!!!

[olrocknroller]

Picks...ah yes, those things that would lie on the floor near wherever I was playing. I dropped so many that I learned to trim my fingernails just so, and pick with them. I have come up with a combination of shapes, and a clear nail hardener that gives a unique, clear, yet mellow tone. When my index finger is just the right length, I can produce "false harmonics" at will, which really ups the tonal library. As a secondary benefit, I now have five picks that I am learning to use to produce a whole new array of picking styles.

Now the only time I resort to a "hang on" style pick is if I break a nail...

olrocknroller

[Veenture]

Picks...ah yes, those things that would lie on the floor near wherever I was playing. I dropped so many that I learned to trim my fingernails just so, and pick with them.

.... I wish I could do that; my fingernails suck...weak as water

[juan_10]

Just a quicky ... fingernails on the right hand get real important when you get into pickin' .

I find it real tricky keeping my nails just that 'right' length , and trying to cut em left handed with scissors is a whole new adventure into the land of ambidexterity
( I like my new word ). I'm right handed , but I reckon it must be the same challenge for lefties too. Who has their nails trimmed by someone else ?

Also being a nail chewer from way back doesn't help .. that's why I keep three different picks with me at all times .. one rock hard one , a medium soft and a soft.

[jfine]

I'm (ahem) picky when it comes to picks. I started out with thumb and fingers on a nylon-string guitar, playing folk music and trying to play rock 'n' roll--after raising awful blisters on my thumb, I figured I'd better learn to use a pick. By the time I got my first electric, I was still trying to fingerpick it, but I couldn't play Dick Dale and Chuck Berry stuff that way, so I worked with a flatpick until I got used to it (Fender thins). Used 'em for about ten years, broke tons of them, and wondered why I couldn't develop any picking speed (I did develop some hybrid pick-and-fingers stuff--I thought I'd invented it until I saw James Burton with Ricky Nelson on TV one night). Then, one night at a jam session back in my college days, someone handed me a three-corner rounded-triangle medium pick (I think it was a Herco), and I was instantly twice as fast as I'd ever been before. Wow! It was just a matter of finding the right pick for my hand. Nowadays, I use Clayton rounded-triangle (#346-shape) .88-mm nylon picks--they produce a sound that's similar to what I get with my fingernails, so I can get a more consistent attack whether I'm using pick or fingers--and they're white, so I can find them easier when I drop one! That's on electric--for acoustic, I like those acrylic V-Picks, but they're transparent, and I've only got one, so it's panic time when I drop it! I still can't do Dick Dale-style tremolo picking with the pick, though--for that, I have to use my right-hand index fingernail.

[MWaldorf]

I'm with Veenture - I use Dunlop Nylons, either 88 or 73 depending on which I happen to pick up first.