Pick thickness

[BarryB]

I'm new to the mandolin and have a question about picks. I have read that picks 1mm or thicker are recommended for mando picking, but I get a better tone right now from a "medium" pick. Are thicker picks something that have to be worked up to? Does one have to do a certain amount of perfection to picking technique before a good tone can be achieved with a thicker pick?

To clarify, the medium picks seem to give a clearer, brighter louder tone--although it is not a "tinny" tone as some have complained of. Picks of 1, 1.2, and 1.5 mm seem to make me work harder and have a duller sound than the medium.

Thanks,
Barry

[JiminRussia]

You may want to experiment around with the pick shape. Get yourself a handful of cheap plastic picks and file them to points and rounds an just about any shape that you can think of and see if they don't all sound different. I finally settled on an ivory pick with a very slightly pointed tip, but just play around with them, different shapes, stiffnesses, materials, etc. and you'll eventually find something that sounds good to your ear.

[mandroid]

advantage for mandolin playing for thicker picks is getting the upstroke note to sound like the downstroke note, particularly when practicing to make a nice tremolo.
Round and pointy can be created out of rounded triangle picks and the common guitar shape. X heavy Fenders are cheap by the dozens..

[BarryB]

Thanks for the advice/info. I appreciate it. I know that I should experiment with different picks and I have quite a few already so I'll keep going with that.

[Chiledog]

Barry thanks for asking this question, I could not figure out how to word it so that it wouldn't start a "war". This thread answered a lot of questions for me!

Peace All,
Todd

[earthsave]

Currently using 1.5mm (M150). Used a 2mm (D207) prior to this.

[Jim Broyles]

You'll probably find that it is more a combination of pick thickness and pick material. The thermoplastic resins (D'Andrea ProPlec, Dawg) seem dull and muted to me, the celluloid (standard Fender guitar pick, Golden Gate) seems to have a fairly wide tonal range and the Lexan and other hard plastics seem the brightest to me. The one which sounds the best to me is the Dunlop Ultex 1.14 rounded triangle. I hear they stopped making them and when distributors are out of them they're gone. Anyway, try a few different materials and thicknesses. You'll probably hit on one that you really like.

[Sean Greer]

My first mandolin pick was the pick that Weber included with my oval hole. It wasn't quite 1 mm and at first I really liked the tone it produced. But then I thought I'd give other picks a try and found I liked the 1 mm Cool picks. As I grew accustomed to that pick, I began thinking heavier might be better and ordered the Wegen 140 and 150 picks. My current favorite is the 140, which has a great feel in my hand and produces great tone. So, my advice is to experiment with picks, they're cheap after all (except the Blue Chip, which I'll wait to demo before buying).

[Santiago]

Used to use Dog pics, but now I don't usually use anything thicker than 1.1 or 1.2.

[woodwizard]

I think you'll find that using a thicker pick in time will very much improve your right hand wrist action instead of relying on a thinner pick flip. As mentioned by another already it will give a more even tone on the up down pick strokes as well. Guess you just have to eperiment around and do what feels and sounds good to you. These are only MHO's

[G'DAE]

I started out with a Dunlop .65 ( from guitar ) to .67,.73,heavey fender,played on the side, mainly,Dunlop jazz,to finally a Golden Gate. I don't even know the gauge of the Golden Gate, but it's my fav. I found that the thinner picks seem to still be flexing back into position when I am on the downstroke and thats the story I'm going to use for missing the string.
The Golden Gate seems to slide over the strings in both directions,rather than digging into them.
Bob.

[Stephanie Reiser]

I use Dunlop 1.14mm's, but want to try a Wegen.
Or whatever brand that is which has the little holes in it.
Seems to me that would help to hold the pick and keep it from slipping.

[Bertram Henze]

Started around 0.70 (Dunlop mostly) and ended up with 1.40 (Wegen). Yes, it's kind of a career - takes time to get used to the more direct control and feedback.
I still keep a small bag with my thin picks to give away to guitarists in sessions who lost theirs - they all say they can't play with hard plecs.

Bertram

[Jim Broyles]

Don't you just want to scream when those guitar players insist they can't play with a heavy pick? I personally don't think there is any earthly use for thin picks and just barely a few uses for medium picks. When you learn to control a heavy, even for strumming a guitar, and use your own motion to control the dynamics of your playing, you will enter a whole world of playing you never knew existed.

[Celtic Saguaro]

Barry, getting bright tone is the least of your worries when playing mandolin. That comes with the territory. Medium picks often just make the mandolin sound shrill. A good heavy pick will cut out a lot of higher pitched jangle that sounds great on the guitar, but not so great on the mandolin.

As far as how heavy should you go. #That depends very much on the mandolin you are playing and the style you develop. Experimentation is best. #Some picks that don't sound good at all on certain mandolins work fine on others. Some picks are fine on everything, but there are always a few that work better, and which ones will always depend on the instrument.

[Bertram Henze]

Don't you just want to scream when those guitar players insist they can't play with a heavy pick?
Yes, but then there are so many things people miss out on that I'd have to scream at, that I've trained myself to just not bother. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Bertram