Pick Thickness

[To Need a Woman]

Ah yeah, the silliest thread titles get the most views. What's the best pic thickness? The one you're most comfortable with. With it being thicker or narrower, depending on whether you're playing lead or strumming.

That's all there's to say really, yet some people seem to be able to get a lot of mileage out of it!

 

[VerbalPuke]

Thanks guys.

I just took me using a thin pick as a new guitar player cutting corners because it just seems much easier. I'm always little a leery of learning something new and just doing something because it's 'easiest'. Like using poor technique, posture among other things that make playing easy at the time but develop into bad habits.

I started thin as well, and realized that the "clicking" sound of the thinner pick drove me nuts. I've been messing with different picks since I started (late 2013), and have gone from Fender picks (wore those out quick), Dunlop Ultex (nice but they slipped), Dunlop Jazz picks with the grippy stuff (like these but kind of small and still slipped), Dava jazz picks with the grippy stuff (my go to for awhile), and now back to the Dunlop Ultex. With having a bit more experience I'm finding the Ultex doesn't slip anymore, and my strumming seems much better with them. I don't screw up and hit an extra string or miss a string as often.

 

[Russtopher]

 

[mgenet]

Yep, depends upon ones style and how it is being employed.

Thin picks generally for fast strummming and thicker picks for
leads. Again, as others have said, mostly personal preference
and I think, style.

In the end, whatever works for ya...

 

[parts]

Just ordered a selection of V Picks..

We'll see..

 

[Quill]

Sometimes I love these simple questions ... it's relaxing.

THE absolute best sounding pick I've ever heard was carved from horn - a different shape than Russtopher's pick but that's a fine looking pick.

I struggled with thin picks for quite a while and gradually went thicker and thicker (or was I getting thicker and thicker? I dunno, anything's possible) and now I have a crazy collection of picks made out of all kinds of things, but practice mostly with a pick made by a guy in the Netherlands who sells picks under the business Wegen Picks but for his real job makes medical prostheses, and thus is a prosthetist, among other things. It's a very interesting material he uses; no-one seems to know what it is, though it's a bit like Corian. Except, not Corian. For acoustic guitars, played with a gypsy-style, rest-stroke technique, the pick kind of needs to be fairly thick, at least 2.5mm though it's not uncommon to see picks between 3mm and 4mm, and I've even seen picks 6mm thick. And the material makes quite a difference, too. A real tortoise-shell pick - if you can find an old one, because no-one with a soul would even think of using real tortoise to make ANYTHING, especially something as trivial and ridiculous as a guitar pick - has a tone if you drop it onto a hard table. And they sound a certain way, drive the strings in a unique way. Glass picks sound good, as do stone picks, but there is a "click" in the attack, kind of a high-frequency "tap" that you can practice out - I used to be deadly accurate with a stone pick, and had that click under control, almost gone - but it's almost too difficult, takes too much time focusing on just that. Unless you just love the feel of the sone under your fingers, which is pretty wonderful, a V-pick is a much better choice than a stone pick - everyone knows V-picks are great for a strict alternating, free-floating technique, which most modern players use. But for older styles, more suitable for acoustic instruments, down-strokes when changing strings, resting on down-strokes - the Wegen picks, they aren't bad, they have a quality that is not completely different from tortoiseshell.

I knew some great players when I was very young. Somehow, through one of them I think, I came to have a real tortoise-shell pick ... this was back in the early '70s. Might still have it, somewhere - it made an impression as something very special - and terrible! - when I was first starting. It was about "medium" thickness, and slightly curved

But to my ear, in my hands and on my guitar, nothing, not even tortoise-shell, sounds as good as a good horn pick. It's an experience. If you have any somewhat free-flowing imagination, it can be a sometimes gruesome experience, even disturbing ... and yet, in a deep, weird sort of atavistic way, it feels really natural and right ... and irrespective of whatever one's cray head might be thinking, every freakin' note sounds great.

And still I've met so many players, especially great rock players with incredible precision and control, who sound just amazing with picks about the thickness of a Fender Medium. And how so many people can sound so great with those Herco nylon picks, I don't get it and can't do it but they keep proving the possibility time and time again. Thanks for letting me tap away on this timeless topic, feel free to skip

 

[Lefty Adams]

.88 for me, tried thinner and thicker, but that thickness is fine for me, must have some form of grip as well, otherwise I lose the damn things after 5 mins ...

 

[mgenet]

The picks I like are made by McPherson Guitars. I like the
triangular pick with 3 different points. Helps shape your
tone a bit.

The other reason I like them is that I can hold them a bit more
loose between the finger and thumb, yet they still seem secure.
I think the hole helps me provide more or less control when
needed.

Enjoy the journey. There is so many iterations of picks one
cannot even begin to fathom. Take them one at a time and
have fun.

 

[Russtopher]

This is just my theory, and I may be partially or completely incorrect on it. But, to my thinking (and I'm speaking to strictly electric guitar) is that the sound that is emitted has to do with how quickly the string is released by the pick. A stiff, sharp pick would have a very quick release. A rounded pick would allow the string to roll off the pick more slowly. The pick-ups record how quickly the string vibrates. When "unplugged" and picking on the lower strings ( E A D ) there is a definite tonal difference in relation to the pick construction and material. The Ultex and thinner plastic, nylon or celluloid picks deliver a crisper, snappier tone than the stiffer acrylic, horn, nylon, etc, picks. The difference is not as discernible on the higher strings. As I stated before, this is unplugged. Will we notice any or much difference once we plug in and go through and Amp? I'm not sure. But, I plan on conducting this test very soon. I'll use a variety of nylon, horn, plastic, etc picks. My belief is that one you amplify the sound, you won't hear the subtle tonal difference between each make of pick. Though I'm sure there will be a difference between soft, light gauge picks and much stiffer ones.

As I said before, I could be completely wrong on all of this. That is why I'll plug in and conduct my own experiment. These are a few of the picks I'll be playing with. At the moment, I really like the Horn and V Picks.

Horn, Jazz style

 

[Codeseven]

Interesting, thanks for the replies. I'm gonna try out some of those picks I didn't even know existed

So far, I've settled into using a simple and probably common, Dunlop Nylon Max-Grip .60 pick. Kinda medium thickness if not towards the thin side. For my developing skills I find the thinner pick more forgiving than thick picks. I feel like I have to be more precise when using a thick pick, a skill I rapidly lose when speeding up.

 

[LPCollector]

Actually, I have found just the opposite.
The thicker picks are more forgiving and allow for faster playing.

 

[mgenet]

...and then there is finger picking...

another option altogether and just as effective. Costs nothing but
time and effort.

Nice to use when you want some pinch harmonics.

Now the neat trick is holding that pick and using your
fingers when you want some of those pinch harmonics
during the song.

Practice...

 

[chrisuk]

I have noticed that most of the players on my open mic circuit use very floppy picks. They have loads of pick exposed and just waft at the strings. It seems to work for low precision acoustic guitar strumming.

I am an oddball with my red jazz III picks. I think they are more precise but you have to be more accurate.

 

[Shortscale]

Haven't heard much talk about the grip on the pics. The reason I used Cool Pics for a long time (and still do sometimes) was because they are made with the soft-gel type grip on both sides. Some days my fingers just need that especially in winter when my hands are real dry.

I've used many of the pics here including some V pics and I find that I'm really happy with the old standby Fender mediums. The difference now is that I stick one of these on them. Just on one side so I can flip it if I want less grip. Works great for me.

Anyone else tried these?
http://reverb.com/item/413289-monst...AP9_i46shZqm7-lpIUCUxDdA8-agfqcPI7hoCJp3w_wcB

(no affiliation whatsover, etc.)

 

[punkbird]

I use 3.0mm nylon picks for everything. When I started I used regular Fender medium picks, but couldn't keep them between my fingers; at fast strums they would fly out of my hand and trip me up. I started using thumb picks because they stayed in place, but I felt they slowed me down. I switched to dunlop 3.0mm nylon picks and haven't looked back. I can play fast with them, they stick around, and after about 2 years I can get every tone I'm after with them by altering my technique rather than changing picks.

 

[Matt_Krush]

.38mm & sometimes .46mm Jim Dunlop Nylon picks.

Only picks that:
A) doesn't slip out my sweaty fingers
B) I don't saw in half every 3rd song
C) no one else will steal
D) doesn't break the strings as fast as solid picks

 

[MooCheng]

I'm mostly a finger picker, if I do use a pick its a thick one. anything under 1.0 mm seems vague all over the place, and I hate that clicky pick noise playing rhythm

 

[Quill]

Why is this topic so fun??? Now we're getting pictures ... I gotta take some pictures of my collection.

I do believe that the shape of the pick has a great deal to do with the sound you get - also the speed of attack is huge - but i also think that the material has an influence. If the guitar is good, really responsive, I think that the strings and guitar top can vibrate and translate into sound some seriously fantastic and complex waveforms. And I know from my own experiments, I like a certain bevel and shape of point, and tend to sand and polish the picks I buy to more-or-less similar shapes. That's when the sounds of the material start to reveal themselves.

The great European Gypsy Jazz players are generally pretty fussy about their picks, most of them having one pick, very carefully chosen, that they guard with their life ... I read a story not long ago told by a stage hand at a big music venue about how Bireli Lagrene, after traveling to play a show, misplaced his pick and went into an absolute panic. Of course he could get by with any pick but, like every pro, he just wanted to sound his best for his listeners. Bireli is awesome, he is Integrity's very heart and soul. And he needed that pick to do his thing. They found the pick, all was well, the show was great - but the poor man was stressed to his limit, just before performing. Terrible!

 

[jay1williams]

anything 1 mm or bigger for me - i also use the rounded end very close to my thumb - not alot of pick sticking out

 

[revtime]

I practice both with a pick and fingerstyle. I have been using 1.14 mm brain picks for about 2 years. I ordered a variety pack of Gravity picks and they came in yesterday.
WOW. Is all I can say. I had no clue a simple pick could change the tone so much. And make it "easier" to play. It just seems to glide. The Gravity are about 5 bucks each but I can deal with that for the return I have gotten.
I want to dive down the boutique pick rabbit hole, but the price of a thick Bluechip and the damn near impossibility of getting a RedBear will stop me.
I have the V picks on my list.
So if the price of admission has been keeping you from trying these type of picks, suck it up and try some.
You may be totally blown away like I was.