Heavy, medium or thin picks for beginning mandolin player?

[mataimandolin]

so i ve been playing the mando for about a month and i think im pretty good but im not great and i could use a lot of improvement.
i got one pick when i bought the mandolin and its thin/heavy, but i found another pick at home and its thin. I cracked the thin pick, but i like it better than the thick one.
also the pick occasionally flies out my hand or i find it slipping? is that because of the think im using or is it just i need better pick grip?

THANKS!! this really helps me out
im currently using a 99mm pick

[T.D.Nydn]

Thick or thin,,make sure it's stiff...

[Randi Gormley]

hmmmm. well, I once had a teacher who said he'd give extra points in class if your pick went flying because it meant you were holding it loosely, which he recommended.

On the other hand, my-husband-the-guitar-player has lost more picks in the carpet than I care to think about. so there's that.

A lot of people start with a standard (and free/cheap) guitar pick until they decide to expand, then read some of the myriad pick strings around here. In general, different genres prefer different size/heaviness/composition of picks. Some are designed with rough patches to help hold the pick when your hand is slick with sweat or recommend drilling holes or putting on gorilla snot (it's a tacky kind of thing you put on the pick); some people like a big hunking heavy pick, others like smaller thinner picks. It's part of the fun of playing mandolin to experiment with picks.

if you're shattering picks, you may be whacking the instrument a bit harder than necessary. just a thought.

[DavidKOS]

if you're shattering picks, you may be whacking the instrument a bit harder than necessary. just a thought.

Not necessarily - a thin pick of certain materials can be broken somewhat easily.

[AndyPanda]

My first day on mandolin, I preferred a thin (.50) pick. Second day I preferred the med (.73) pick. Third day I preferred the thicker 1.0 pick. Now (second week) I'm loving the 1.14. I figure next week I'll be ordering a 1.3 or 1.5 pick.

[bratsche]

Well, I started using 1.25-1.5mm, picks and now often use 3mm and 4mm ones. So you never know. ;-)

bratsche

[WmBuoymaster]

I'm buying an assortment for different days. Can't help ya on this one. I have a pick thread under this thread.

[Beanzy]

I'd start with a fairly thick pick as a beginner.
If you're using a thin pick you'll need to hold it closer to the point, to give it sufficient support & stop it being too limp to drive through the courses.
Once you're settled with where your hand is relative to the strings, then you'll be able to hold it with the minimum beyond your fingers, so you can choose just based on the tone you like. Thin points in-line with the courses tend to be brighter than the same but thicker material or one held obliquely
I my experience a pick held nearer the business end does better for smooth tremolo than one held further from the point.
But you can get a thin pick effect at the point by thinning just the point on a thick pick.

It's all about combining charecteristics until you find the best ones for what you want.
I like to compare them to an artists brush collection and chose depending on the canvas & technique being used.

[pops1]

Sometimes a thin pick can sound very good, especially on a deeper sounding mandolin. Usually if using a thin pick, which I rarely do, I will not use the point, the the rounded shoulder.

[Ivan Kelsall]

You need a pick which makes your mandolin sound good. By that,i mean you need to hear the sounds clearly & strongly for the effort you're putting in. Thin picks do have a habit of being too flexible,they can also be a tad on the 'thin & bright' side of tone.

One brand of pick that you may care to try & which has seen a lot of praise on here,are the Dunlop 'Primetone' picks. They come in 2 types - 'smooth' & 'grippy'. They also come in a variety of shapes & thicknesses - the thickest is 1.5 mm. So,you can choose shape / 'type' / thickness to suit yourself. I used to use the 1.3 mm thick ones & they sounded very good indeed,but,i have one mandolin which really needs 'driving',so i opted for the 1.5 mm 'teardrop' shaped ones.The 'point' of the pick gives a very clear & punchy sound - when you want it to. On one of my other mandolins,it also produces sweet,subtle tones.

So have a look at the Primetones - & they are NOT expensive for the quality of tone that they can produce,in fact i'd venture to say that they're the best bargain in picks on the market (IMHO).
You could try one of the thinner ones to begin with in your preferred shape & then try a thicker one to see if it makes your mandolin sound better.They are inexpensive enough to try that approach out - as i did,& they're more expensive over here,but still not 'that' expensive.

One other thing - if you care to do it,experiment with different brands of string as well in the gauge (thicknesses) that you like. Strings & picks are the easiest & cheapest up-grade you'll ever get & they can make a huge difference to the sound of your mandolin - the make of which you didn't mention - that always helps in answering a question re. tone / sound etc.
Ivan

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl...cks&tbm=shop&* The ones i refer to are the Brown ones with the print on them & the transparent(ish) red ones.

[Caleb]

Something I've developed a genuine dislike of over the years is the harsh and oft times very loud "pick click" when using thicker picks. I find that a .75mm or so pick, which is somewhere between a med and heavy in the guitar pick world, takes away a lot of that awful pick noise. YMMV.

[9lbShellhamer]

https://www.amazon.com/Dunlop-512P1-...8P6XMQ7K9DNT1B

The above link is to a VERY popular shape. I use a BlueChip CT55 which is a very popular style, but this is not as pricey, and the shape still provides a GREAT surface to gain control, etc.

The below link is also popular, and still provides the benefits of the shape...
https://www.amazon.com/Dunlop-513P1-...TVFT8MC183A8X7


I still prefer the CT55 BlueChip, but these are a great intro into the pick shape.

[farmerjones]

Fender Medium. Not the teardrop, but the other.





It's such an individual thing. I'm just as adamant about my choice as anybody. But as I said, it works for me. Your mileage may very. Offer void in Alaska & Hawaii.

[Br1ck]

You do need to buy a few different picks. I'd try a Wegen or two. I started with 1.2 mm picks but now use thicker ones. Their gypsy jazz pick is so thick they hollow it out and groove it where your thumb grips. Almost impossible to loose your grip, but I'd work up to that one.

Once you develop a feel for the thickness you like, bite the bullet and get a Blue Chip, but they are too expensive to experiment with before you arrive at a ballpark shape and thickness you like. Different picks do sound different, but it will take a while to really focus on that. Like many things, as you learn you will notice little things like neck feel, strings, etc. that maybe you don't now.

In general, the more advanced I get, the thicker pick I like. A thick pick with the right grip allows for a better tone IMHO. The mandolin is a maddening little instrument in that subtleties in technique are important in coaxing sound out of the things.

[Mark Miller]

I'm still pretty new to the mandolin (although it's been 2 years + now). At first I did a lot of experimenting. Kind of liked Golden Gate picks, and in general liked a larger pick than what I use on guitar. Then I tried the Blue Chip CT 55 and it was like I had been handed my first pick after trying to play all that time with a rock. Night and day compared to any other pick. I lost it a few weeks ago and had to go back to the old ones and the difference was so big I ordered three more so I'll always have a backup. I know some people say Blue Chips are too expensive but it has made a big difference in my development as a beginning player.

[sblock]

There seems to be a common theme here. The beginner and intermediate players either prefer thinner picks or otherwise tend to comment favorably about them. They are easier to get started with, and tend to resist less, or come off the strings more easily -- at first, that is. On the other hand, the more advanced players seem to go for thicker picks, and stiffer picks. And as folks get better, then tend to select thicker picks for their improved tone and facility at higher picking speeds. When the pick is too thin/too flexible, it flexes excessively and lags behind the fingers, getting "caught up" on the string, slowing you down. And it can also "snap" back, producing extraneous noises or poor tone. Better pickers tend to use thicker/stiffer picks. There are certainly some exceptions to this "rule" (so please don't write in to remind me, I know!), but that is the overwhelming tendency.

Now, pick thickness and pick stiffness tend to be pretty tightly correlated variables, of course. These are perfectly correlated, in fact, when the shape and material of the pick are fixed. Materials that seem to be most suitable for picks don't vary all that much in their intrinsic stiffness (Young's modulus, strictly speaking), although some folks will make picks out of wood, stone, ceramic, or steel (oddball materials). But most common picks are made from various stiff plastics, or organic materials that have rather similar moduli.

"Pick click" is not just a function of the stiffness/thickness, however. It also depends A LOT on things like: (1) how the pick is held by the player, (2) how it slides off the string (i.e., the friction between the material and the steel or brass-wound string), and (3) the beveling and edge shape of the pick. Folks who are not happy with "pick click" should therefore not just consider a different thickness of pick, but also all these other considerations.


All that said, it's hard to find a plastic material that slides off strings as nicely as graphite-doped polyimide (fast!), that maintains just a bit of flexibility (highly desirable!), and comes in a thickness range from 0.040" to 0.060", and with a nice edge bevel. And that perfectly describes -- drum roll! -- the BlueChip pick. What did you expect?! All pick threads on the MC seem to eventually devolve into discussions about BlueChip picks, which have set the standard, so far as I can see.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Blue Chip picks do seem to have their advocates,but they don't suit everybody. The ONLY way that you could tell if a BC pick is worth buying,is to find one that's exactly the same shape / thickness as you're preferred pick & compare the tone that you get from each. I've tried 2 BC picks & to my ears on my mandolins,they weren't any 'better' than the Primetone picks. I honestly couldn't tell the difference even when the owner of the 2 BC picks played my mandolins in front of me. They'll work on some mandolin / string combos.,but maybe not all,
Ivan

[Beanzy]

The amount of waste tip hitting the string has a big effect on pick click; everything that is wider than necessary just generates a slapping sound on the string.
I gave up using the Wegen and the Bluechip as a result. Drove me nuts until I dealt with it by designing a new shape from scratch.

[DavidKOS]

I've tried 2 BC picks & to my ears on my mandolins,they weren't any 'better' than the Primetone picks. I honestly couldn't tell the difference even when the owner of the 2 BC picks played my mandolins in front of me.

I too found no reason to use the BC picks - I had the same result after purchasing some and trying them on my mandolins. I could not find anything the BC did better than the Primetones.

Other than cost way more.

[Caleb]

I tried the CT55 in the Traveling Pick Sampler for about 10 seconds, shrugged, put it down, and went back to a regular pick. YMMV.

[mandobassman]

I too found no reason to use the BC picks - I had the same result after purchasing some and trying them on my mandolins. I could not find anything the BC did better than the Primetones.

Other than cost way more.

The one big advantage that Blue Chip has over the Primetone Sculpted is a ton more selection. I have the Primetone 1.4 triangle and when I compared it to a Blue Chip CT55, which is virtually identical, I also found very little difference in feel or tone between the two. If I based my decision on that alone, I would never have bought a Blue Chip. However, I tried several different Blue Chip models, with and without a beveled edge, and found one that provides the perfect balance of feel and tone on my mandolin. Primetone only has three shapes to choose from and, in my case, having several different shapes to choose from helped me find what I needed.

[MediumMando5722]

I use a variety of heavy picks. Anything over 1mm will work, but I prefer BC TAD60s. The Primetone version is good, but it doesn't stick to my fingers like the BC. Above, a loose grip was mentioned. I can hold the BC with almost zero pressure and it stays put. V-Picks are excellent for grip as well, but I don't like the chirp. The Ghost Rim V-Picks are better than the polished ones, but I still prefer the BC enough to own two TAD60s and a TD40 for electric guitar.

Oddly, none of the holes or grip textures work for me like the uber-polished BC material. I don't know how on earth Chris Thile can hold a Wegen like he does without losing it.

[JeffD]

It depends, for me, on what kind of music and what kind of setting. The thin pointies are my favorite for classical, and for serious practicing. The Primetone has become my jamming pick. When I noodle at home or in a small intimate jam, where one can hear the tone quality, I like the BC and the RedBear. And I love my Wegens when I need a little punch.

I find absolutely no reason to "settle" on one pick or one kind of pick. Heck I haven't been able to settle on one mandolin...

[Ivan Kelsall]

Blue Chip picks do come in many variants of shape / thickness & i'd love to try them all to see (hear) if i could find a pick which produced a 'more pleasing tone' to my ears on my mandolins,but,that's not going to happen any time soon. I'm averse to simply ''buying to try'' & then needing to return it because it's no better than my Primetone pick,especially at the UK price of £39.95 ($50.00 US). Also,the Primetone picks are so inexpensive,even over here,that i can have one 'for use' + a spare for each of my 3 mandolins, something totally out of the question re.Blue Chip picks. IMHO - Primetone picks run a very,very close second to the BC picks & if i could try 'em all,i might find one 'more pleasingly different' than my PT pick - maybe !,
Ivan

[MediumMando5722]

Blue Chip picks do come in many variants of shape / thickness & i'd love to try them all to see (hear) if i could find a pick which produced a 'more pleasing tone' to my ears on my mandolins,but,that's not going to happen any time soon. I'm averse to simply ''buying to try'' & then needing to return it because it's no better than my Primetone pick,especially at the UK price of £39.95 ($50.00 US). Also,the Primetone picks are so inexpensive,even over here,that i can have one 'for use' + a spare for each of my 3 mandolins, something totally out of the question re.Blue Chip picks. IMHO - Primetone picks run a very,very close second to the BC picks & if i could try 'em all,i might find one 'more pleasingly different' than my PT pick - maybe !,
Ivan

If the BlueChips you've tried didn't feel better than the Primetones, you're probably fine with the Primetones. I agree the Dunlops are very similar tonally, but they don't feel as good to me.