Picks...

[GreySeraph]

Anyone else use non-plastic polymer picks? I use Jazz IIIs, but I also use bone, horn, wood (lots of types like ebony and rosewood), and Brazilian Agate picks, and they all have their moments to shine.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Which ones specifically are those? Are they made of the same thing as the Dunlop "Big Stubby" picks, or that white nylon type material?

 

If either of those, yes- about .0004% of my playing time, once in a blue moon for the occasional novelty of it, and then I lose interest in 'em; other than that, I don't use any kinds of picks at all, just finger-tips and nails.

[picker]

I use unbreakable plastic picks around 73mm in thickness, either Ultex, Delrin, or Cool, which all sound pretty much the same. I don't need more decisions to make. I have enough option anxiety trying to figure out which amp and guitar model to use on my XT Live/Variax setup.

[Gifthorse]

I use D'addario thin picks. I love em. I used another weird styled pick for 24 years and then I tried these.

 

I love em. It took some time to adapt but they sound better for certain strumming techniques on acoustic. If you want that clickity clackity glide you can only get from a thin pick.

 

For lead they are great too.

[skipclone 1]

I have many different types but these have been my main guys for years, all the variety you could want-more than they have listed. If you don`t mind `em on the heavy side these are the guys:

 

http://www.dugainpicks.com/

 

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

I have a stainless steel pick given to me by one of the guys in Def Leopard that has a great sound,a nd some agate picks from the 70s that also sound great, but both eat strings.

 

I've been considering a custom run of Delrins,right now I use progrips or gatorgrips. around .9 to 1 works great for me.

 

I hate a pick that bends. Fenders bend. Gibsons don't. I used Gibson heavys for years and the black shredded plastic was always all over my guitars.

[G. A. Donis]

I just started using Dunlop Ultex Sharp picks. I had been using the Tortex but noticed that I was rounding out the end pretty quickly so I decided to try a different material and a sharper end.

 

So far I really like the sharper end. I'm getting more time out of my picks but that could be because of the sharper end and not the different material.

[Jasco]

 

If either of those, yes- about .0004% of my playing time, once in a blue moon for the occasional novelty of it, and then I lose interest in 'em; other than that, I don't use any kinds of picks at all, just finger-tips and nails.

 

 

Amen.

 

I threw all my picks out the window one night on the way home from a gig and have never looked back.

 

 

[anderz]

I have some Dunlop .88 Tortexes. Love 'em.

[Larryz]

Everyly (orange .60 medium) Star Picks, bought 12 many years ago and still have 5 unused and at least 5 in the cases, gave one or two to my buddies...love them and they cost next to nothing...

[trushack]

I would like to try some of those RedBear picks, when I eventually get the guts to drop $20 on a single pick

 

I'm mostly a medium Tortex/Delrin guy, but I like to switch it up and use a little bit of everything. I have handfuls of Ultex, Herco nylon, Fender celluloids, etc and will pick up whichever gauge/material speaks to me that day.

 

I also have a bunch of Jazz IIIs that I like to use for Travis picking-type stuff. Sometimes I'll use a thumbpick for that, but I actually prefer the Danny Gatton method of using a normal flatpick.

[theTragicRich]

I went through the pick debate not too long ago, even had a thread here.

But I went from using Tortex Standards around the .60 gauge for years, to discovering a love for the Ultex Jazz III's. For my acoustic strumming I go with a thin pick, and for my hollow-body to get a nice warm and round sound I use the D'Andrea Pro Plec 351's or whatever they're called.

 

Also fingernails/tips for fingerstyle as well... when I can.

[GreySeraph]

lol i open a thread for non-plastic picks, and I get nearly all replies saying they use tortex, ultex, etc...lawl.

 

I have a stainless steel pick given to me by one of the guys in Def Leopard that has a great sound,a nd some agate picks from the 70s that also sound great, but both eat strings.

 

I've been considering a custom run of Delrins,right now I use progrips or gatorgrips. around .9 to 1 works great for me.

 

I hate a pick that bends. Fenders bend. Gibsons don't. I used Gibson heavys for years and the black shredded plastic was always all over my guitars.

 

I heard though that with agate picks that they wont eat strings if theyre unbeveled and are sculpted round. if you go on www.picksandstones.com, they have an FAQ about this. I wonder if it's all bull.

 

I would like to try some of those RedBear picks, when I eventually get the guts to drop $20 on a single pick

 

I'm mostly a medium Tortex/Delrin guy, but I like to switch it up and use a little bit of everything. I have handfuls of Ultex, Herco nylon, Fender celluloids, etc and will pick up whichever gauge/material speaks to me that day.

 

I also have a bunch of Jazz IIIs that I like to use for Travis picking-type stuff. Sometimes I'll use a thumbpick for that, but I actually prefer the Danny Gatton method of using a normal flatpick.

 

Those redbear picks actually are amazing. I have a bud that's got some, and I might purchase some after I get some more horn picks from brossardpicks.com.

 

In all seriousness, I use these different picks all the time for the slight push in a specific tonal direction. I feel it's rather an easy decision: just put the pick to the string and hear the sound in comparison to a normal pick or fingers. They all sound different. It's just like using tasto (playing up the neck) versus ponticello (playing brightly right at the bridge); theyre all ways to provide a large tonal spectrum.

[Caevan O’Shite]

 

If either of those, yes- about .0004% of my playing time, once in a blue moon for the occasional novelty of it, and then I lose interest in 'em; other than that, I don't use any kinds of picks at all, just finger-tips and nails.

 

 

Amen.

 

I threw all my picks out the window one night on the way home from a gig and have never looked back.

 

Wonder if they hit some poor lone stranger, standing down by the crossroads, waiting for some infernal nocturnal guitar-lessons...

[G. A. Donis]

I did use a brass pick once. I can't say I really liked it or hated it. It definately had a different feel to it. I couldn't really comment on its effect on tone since I was playing some high gain metal type stuff and I imagine its contribution to tone was swallowed by the distortion. I definately did not like all the brass that covered my guitar.

 

I'm too cheap to buy the really expensive and exotic picks. I tend to loose picks and I'd have an stroke if I lost a $20 pick!

[GreySeraph]

stroke over a 20 buck pick? just think of it as 4 lunches. After u use a pick for a month, it's made back well over the money you put into it :-P I would hope you never lose a guitar; divide by 0 error might occur and the world will implode.

 

 

[Scott Fraser]

About once a year I'll pick up one of my old white Fender jazz medium picks, play it for a couple minutes, then remember that I'm really a finger nail guy. Have been since the late 60's. Picks just get in my way.

 

Scott Fraser

[Dannyalcatraz]

Nothing against fingerstyle- it definitely has its benefits- but there are certain things you can do with a pick that you simply can't do as well with your fingers.

 

For example, I've used my pick kind of like a bow- rasping it gently on the string to get a pulsing hum type sound.

 

Personally, I'm looking forward to getting some exotic stone picks. Agate & Jade are very hard and are tougher than most metals- they shouldn't abrade like a brass or plastic pick.

[Scott Fraser]

Nothing against fingerstyle- it definitely has its benefits- but there are certain things you can do with a pick that you simply can't do as well with your fingers.

For example, I've used my pick kind of like a bow- rasping it gently on the string to get a pulsing hum type sound.

 

I do that too, with my nails. One thing you can do with a pick is play a lot louder than with just fingers.

 

Scott Fraser

[GreySeraph]

Regarding Danny and Scott's posts, I think that one should facilitate good playing with both. Both are amazing sources of varying textures and can do things the other cannot. One cannot play huge intervals simultaneously with a pick, and one can't do tremolo with the same ease that picking can (of course, we can definitely do tremolo with fingers, but it ends up sounding much different anyway). That being said, don't limit yourself to playing with one or the other.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Nothing against fingerstyle- it definitely has its benefits- but there are certain things you can do with a pick that you simply can't do as well with your fingers.

For example, I've used my pick kind of like a bow- rasping it gently on the string to get a pulsing hum type sound.

 

I do that too, with my nails. One thing you can do with a pick is play a lot louder than with just fingers.

 

Scott Fraser

 

Oh, I can do it with my fingernails as well, but a pick gives you a larger surface area to work with AND its well removed from your flesh so there is less risk of accidental muting.

 

Even neater...you can do multiple strings at once with the same amount of control, esp. with a large, triangular pick.

 

Its simply a better tool for that particular technique.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Regarding Danny and Scott's posts, I think that one should facilitate good playing with both. Both are amazing sources of varying textures and can do things the other cannot. One cannot play huge intervals simultaneously with a pick, and one can't do tremolo with the same ease that picking can (of course, we can definitely do tremolo with fingers, but it ends up sounding much different anyway). That being said, don't limit yourself to playing with one or the other.

 

I'll give that an "Amen!"

[Scott Fraser]

Oh, I can do it with my fingernails as well, but a pick gives you a larger surface area to work with AND its well removed from your flesh so there is less risk of accidental muting.

 

Even neater...you can do multiple strings at once with the same amount of control, esp. with a large, triangular pick.

 

Its simply a better tool for that particular technique.

 

Yeah, the right tool for the job, etc. In my experimental/noise gigs there are a lot of fingernail scrapes, scratches & extended techniques, but I also use a lot of other implements, especially for bowing effects, such a threaded rods, bamboo or steel skewers, a smooth river rock, various brushes. In fact anything with some sort of texture is fair game for eliciting sound from a string.

 

Scott Fraser

[Terrell]

i use a chicken foot, blessed by a voodoo shaman or human bones cleansed by eagles and sun bleached.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

Well. we were talking about picks, not fingers. I started out taking traditional guitar lessons, so I was taught to use a pick and to finger-pick in the classical way. I adapted that to a thumb and three-fingered picking style, while using my index finger to hold the pick out of the way under the plump part of the thumb, able to pull the pick into play at will.

 

I have a handful of Ultex picks, they are the best plastic picks that I've used.

 

The agate picks break if you drop them. Loved the sound though.

 

I used to use a quarter, and what was better was a quarter left on the railroad tracks.

 

I also have a quarter from the year of my birth, shaped to pick shape. Some guy on ebay sells them.

 

My wife bought a couple of wooden picks for me, but they wear too quickly. She also picked up some sort of bone pick, but again, wear is an issue.

 

Never got comfortable with thumbpicks, but Kelly makes one that you are supposed to cut and shape, and that is the best that I've used.

 

On a side not: when I played in a blues band (which bores me silly) I took a razor blade and distressed the edges of my picks. Gave me a great scratchy/gritty sound by turning the pick in a little to the string.

 

Tried various finger picks,never liked any of them.

 

[picker]

i use a chicken foot, blessed by a voodoo shaman or human bones cleansed by eagles and sun bleached.

 

Wow, somebody done hoodooed the hoodoo man...

[Terrell]

ok ok ok... you got me... Green Dunlop Tortex that are sharpened to a point on carpet.

[GreySeraph]

Well. we were talking about picks, not fingers. I started out taking traditional guitar lessons, so I was taught to use a pick and to finger-pick in the classical way. I adapted that to a thumb and three-fingered picking style, while using my index finger to hold the pick out of the way under the plump part of the thumb, able to pull the pick into play at will.

 

I have a handful of Ultex picks, they are the best plastic picks that I've used.

 

The agate picks break if you drop them. Loved the sound though.

 

I used to use a quarter, and what was better was a quarter left on the railroad tracks.

 

I also have a quarter from the year of my birth, shaped to pick shape. Some guy on ebay sells them.

 

My wife bought a couple of wooden picks for me, but they wear too quickly. She also picked up some sort of bone pick, but again, wear is an issue.

 

Never got comfortable with thumbpicks, but Kelly makes one that you are supposed to cut and shape, and that is the best that I've used.

 

On a side not: when I played in a blues band (which bores me silly) I took a razor blade and distressed the edges of my picks. Gave me a great scratchy/gritty sound by turning the pick in a little to the string.

 

Tried various finger picks,never liked any of them.

 

I wanna see that quarter ebay guy, but i cant seem to find him. Could you link me? Oh and yeah, i keep my agate pick on a necklace so it doesn't drop.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Try Jade- its hard, smooth, and its structure gives it a toughness that means it should be less susceptible to shattering than agate.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

 

I wanna see that quarter ebay guy, but i cant seem to find him. Could you link me? Oh and yeah, i keep my agate pick on a necklace so it doesn't drop.

 

on a string while you are playing? See, they are so smooth, I 'throw' them when I get sweated up, and they shatter. At $6 each (in 1973 dollars) I quickly ran out of the desire to use them.

 

As tot he quarter guy, I don't know, my wife bought them as gifts for a couple of us several years ago, and I'm pretty sure she got them from ebay.