Brand New Player - Pick Question

[Petrus]

Chris, Some picks have a learning curve, and some do not. Never judge any pick in a few hours or a few days or you might miss a gem. Get a lot of picks, and test them against each other. Never judge any pick in 5 minutes ever.

Picks open up over time.

[mandroid]

Oh just buy the Blue Chip now. Why prolong the agony?

1st I had a good idea of what Shape I wanted (346) then saw someone reselling one of that sort of shape
on the BC recycling page , the Classifieds here.

[guthriej]

No on some picks they can be so different from what you are use to like flexable plastic.
If so a Blue Chip is going to knock your socks off when you pick it up. Don't get me wrong
I think every pick they make is worth the money even the $100.00 picks. However say a stone
or a metal or some other material you might not like at first but later learn to play with, and like it a lot.

So keep an open mind, and experiment with other materials when you practice Play with you like,
and are comfortable with

[guthriej]

If you have a Blue Chip use 2500 grit silicone carbide paper, and 5 micron alumion oxide fine polish (3M makes it),
and you can keep them slick, and they will wear so slow they can last you many years. Just keep an eye on the
business end, and polish them when they need it.

[Petrus]

This is as good a place as any to express my confusion over the common recommendation to favor thick, rounded picks for mando. I've got one Dawg pick, fairly thick and with rounded edges, that is probably the quietest playing pick in my collection. It's tough to get any sort of sound out of the instrument when I use it. It's almost like using a mute, so I like to use it late at night when I want to play quietly. I find the thinner, more flexible picks able to generate more sound from the strings and also make for lightning-fast tremolo and picking overall. I dunno, maybe I'm using the Dawg wrong.

BTW here's my pick collection (from another thread) ...



I've got a few more little cigar boxes full. The thin, mottled triangular ones (not the big brown Fender triangles, which are thicker) seem to work best. I've put a few of 'em through a pick puncher to cut them down to standard size. I also seem to have good luck with the felt ones, apparently intended for ukes, which you can sand down to a desired thinness with sandpaper; they are good to grip.

[Mike Barber]

Petrus,
I have the same issue with the Dawg pick. And the Pro-plec, to a lesser degree. I've found that a thicker pick with a bevel works best for me.

[Killian King]

Petrus - I didn't see any Wegen picks in your collection? Did I miss them?

[teleman73]

I will say that for me when I started playing I'd never played an instrument that used a pick before so I was completely new to that hand motion. Starting from zero like this I found that a slightly softer pick allowed me to develop better technique with my left hand. the more I played the more I wanted thicker picks, but that was a slow progression and I would often just buy some new picks when I bought new strings every few months. I did find as I went to thicker picks that I had a hard time getting good volume so I did end up getting a beveled pick which I found got that volume that I lost with a lot of the thicker picks. The main point that I wanted to say though was that I found a medium stiff pick allowed me to learn skills like cross picking and tremolo better. I've even been considering stepping back to a more flexible pick because I feel that my left hand technique has plateaued and this might help me to get over this.

[Petrus]

Petrus - I didn't see any Wegen picks in your collection? Did I miss them?

I don't think I have any! An unfortunate oversight that will eventually be corrected.

[shins]

I also agree that the prevailing trend to use thick picks Is odd. With a thinner pick, it bends against the string and stores energy like an elastic. When it plucks the string and releases, it does so at ahigher strength and velocity than a rigid pick. This makes for a significant increase in volume and clarity. To me the perfect pick bends and stacks enough, but is also firm enough to be able to play fast . I still think around a .7 or .8 is best. The type of material a pick is also makes a difference two picks of the same thickness can sound totally different or even flex more or less. I prefer a harder material most of the time, a harder material will also increase volume.

[shins]

Oh and if you use good technique, a rounded pick is not needed. I used to use the rounded part of a pick when I was a beginner at guitar because it was kind of a "cheat" and made tremolo easier, but it makes for a very "muddy" and sloppy sound with excessive pick scrape. Using the point makes for better defined and clearer notes, it just takes better pick control.