Pick click

[MediumMando5722]

I did a shoot out between my BlueChips, Primetones, Proplecs, and Wegens the other night to see which had the least amount of click. My 12 year old judged between them, and at the end, shrugged and said, "I don't know... they all click a lot."

Between that and listening to some of my favorite players and hearing all their picks clicking like mad, I'm done fighting a losing battle and embracing the click.

[sblock]

You don't necessarily have to change the brand of pick you use.

Pick click can be reduced by using a pick with a more rounded corner shape. The amount of click is also affected when you use picks of different sizes (smaller picks click a bit less). It can be reduced by changing the type of edge bevel on the pick (rounded or sharper). And it can be reduced by changing the angle of attack against the strings (this is right hand technique). Chris Thile, for example, uses a fairly high angle of attack. John Reischman uses a reverse angle of attack. It's very possible that you hear a lot of click because you're holding the pick nearly parallel to the strings as you strike them!

Anyway, I'd encourage you to try experimenting with these parameters, not just the pick brand. I'll bet you discover that some of these matter much more than the type material used to make the pick.

[Tobin]

Pick click on the strings (as opposed to pick click on a fretboard extension) is just a natural part of playing the mandolin. You get used to it after a while and it stops bothering you. Kind of like the zippy sound of sliding on wound strings. If you focus on it, it will bother you. But it's inherent to the instrument, and even the professionals produce these secondary sounds. Learning to embrace it is a good thing.

[billkilpatrick]

I kind of like the click ... Rounded edges help ... and I'm sorely tempted to fork-out whatever a blue chip will cost me + postage to Europe.

[Willie Poole]

I recently found a web site that offered me a free "Dawg" pick, they are slightly rounded on the corners and are a tad thicker than the Prime Tones that I have been using, the Dawg pick doesn`t seem to have any pick click at all but it takes different picks on different mandolins to please us all of the time...

W.P.

[Paul Busman]

Some instrument sounds are just part of the way the instrument. You can hear the clicking of the mechanism of a harpsichord. Unless you have flatwound strings, string squeak is part of guitar playing as you slide up the neck.
I do agree with the suggestions to round the tip of your pick, and experiment with angle of attack. I use a Primetone sculpted triangle pick with one tip slightly rounded. This gives you the extra advantage of having two distinctly different sounds from one pick.

[Lord of the Badgers]

I kind of like the click ... Rounded edges help ... and I'm sorely tempted to fork-out whatever a blue chip will cost me + postage to Europe.

Jon Press in the UK... I have a BC on approval to see if it makes any tonal difference in the studio this week. That said, tbh, my primetones have a brighter sound, but there's not a terrific amount it in. A little less click with a BC... unless you go rounded as people say.

[billkilpatrick]

Jon Press in the UK... I have a BC on approval to see if it makes any tonal difference in the studio this week. That said, tbh, my primetones have a brighter sound, but there's not a terrific amount it in. A little less click with a BC... unless you go rounded as people say.

Thanks, Badge'. I think "rounded" is what I'll go for but those TAD's and that CT55 look the biz'.

[Lord of the Badgers]

Jon's gonna fit me a pickup in my Brook. Lovely bloke

[MediumMando5722]

The Dawg pick as the most rounded point I like. I prefer a TF140, TAD60, CT55, or similar.

[mandroid]

You can specify a rounded corner and a rounded'bevel' on BC.. CT opted for points, that's what he likes .

TAD-3R, is one of the ones I got off the classifieds.. a couple years ago..

not as roundish as the Dawg pick, but you could do some DIY rounding
and polishing, Right?

[MediumMando5722]

The Dawg has a more defined point than the rounded BlueChip I had. Still, I like actual pointed picks the best.

[mandroid]

Newer Dawg has 1 point, less rounded than the other 2, and extending out a bit

the dozen I got in the 80's all 3 were the same .. More like the 'other 2'

I see a V pick offered, now, that is actually Round.

[MediumMando5722]

My Dawg picks are the current version.

[DHopkins]

I used to try to equalize the pick click out by turning down the mid range. Since I switched to Dawg picks, the pick noise has virtually disappeared. A couple or three months ago, I bought a bag of 10 from the Dawg for just $10.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Bill - Have a look at this page half way down :- http://www.jp-guitars.co.uk/sales/pa..._and_picks.htm J.P.Guitars in the UK sell BC picks.

Rounded picks simply don't 'push' the strings,they slide over them too much for me,unless you hit the strings 'slab sided' - that's when you get the 'click' . Using my teardrop shaped 1.5mm Primetones,i get no pick click at all,
Ivan

[billkilpatrick]

Bill - Have a look at this page half way down :- http://www.jp-guitars.co.uk/sales/pa..._and_picks.htm J.P.Guitars in the UK sell BC picks. Rounded picks simply don't 'push' the strings,they slide over them too much for me,unless you hit the strings 'slab sided' - that's when you get the 'click' . Using my teardrop shaped 1.5mm Primetones,i get no pick click at all. Ivan

Thanks, Ivan. There's two music stores in Siena which might stock the Blue Chip picks and a store near my parent's house in Vermont. The "science" involved in choosing one model over the others is daunting and - contrary to most, if not all my MAS-related purchaces - I'd like to try them before buying.

[Lord of the Badgers]

It depends on the player and application - I use the same picks as Ivan. In studio conditions the click is apparent and that's my focus this week. With the Thile badged BC one still gets click but it's muted because the pick itself isn't as bright as the prime tone pick.
There's no right or wrong - I will try the one Jon Press has let me try when I'm recording this week. Should be interesting as the engineer is totally impartial but unlike me he doesn't like click whereas I do like it a bit!

[Beanzy]

I've been designing and redesigning picks for about five years now, specifically to deal with my dissatisfaction with pick noise.
Even within the string only noise there are three distinct types I am aware of, I think of them as the 'thunk', the 'slap' and the 'whisper".

It's a bit like a dripping tap or a whispered conversation in the next room when you're trying to sleep.
The more you are annoyed by it, the lower the threshold for tolerating it seems to become.
When you're trying to get rid of it you may well drive yourself daft in the process.
I think I'm happy enough with what I do to picks now, but I've become a bit overly sensitive to what others just don't hear.
Until I point out what I mean of course, then I've poisoned another persons ears with dissatisfaction and feel guilty about it.

Anyway my take on the rounded ones probably ties in closest with Ivan, in that they increase the whisper factor too much for me and I miss the brilliance. Thin ones just get all slappy and flappy unless I hold them really really close to the tip, which can cause bouts of knuckle dragging on the strings. Wide picks like my wegens & BC CT55 give an awful lot of the slap sound, and more the harder I drive them.

Now I go for picks I shape in 3 dimensions, with a stupidly narrow point that horrifies everyone who sees it.
However when I point out the other modifications to compensate for this and add brightness and avoid snagging they kind of get it a bit more. I'm still not sure they don't increase the 'Thunk' factor more, some may like that harder attack. I've not bothered to make them for anyone else as it takes a bit of getting used to using (who wants to train themselves to use a specific pick? :/ ) and takes too much time to make sense as a commercial prospect. They definitely give more useful volume for less effort though and I often think about just doing a post on here to see if anyone else 'gets it'. I've alway baulked at doing that as there's just too many factors to explain in each point of the design and they're complex to make, so you'd just end up with another endless thread of people saying how they couldn't work.

I think a good off the shelf compromise for me if I'm stuck has been the smooth Primetone in a 1mm or less size but held really close to the tip. It's not ideal though as it needs a bit more concentration on the right hand, especially crossing strings.

[Michael Neverisky]

The click is an organic part of playing an instrument with a flatpick. If you listen to guitarist David Grier's solo album you'll hear what sounds like a metronome clicking eighth notes in the background.

[UsuallyPickin]

Technique and tools...... that's what it's always about. THe angel of the dangle. The rounded triangle is the shape I have finally settled on and CT-55's the pick. I tried everything available at the time in an effort to change from animal material. I haven't tried the new Dawg , I didn't care for the material the first iteration was made from. I also haven't tried Primetone as they weren't on the market when I made the switch to BC. Wegan 1.4 is my second choice but as BC's don't seem wear out I may not be in the market to try out anything new for a time. R/

[MediumMando5722]

The click is an organic part of playing an instrument with a flatpick.

My 12 year old plays drums. It occurred to me that if he were as obsessive about the click as I was, he'd wind up using brushes on everything.

[mandroid]

Yea but brushes are not Rock & Roll drumming, nor are felt mallets..

[colorado_al]

My pick of choice is the Primetone semi-round 1.3mm. 2 of the points are beveled and have a bit more angle than the dawg picks. The third is more rounded like the dawg. I also like the material better

[Lord of the Badgers]

My teacher prefers wegen - his rationale was to show me the difference in sound when he dropped my primetone (1.4 textured btw) and comparing the sound they make - the wegen being much duller when he did it.
Not sure of that theory but the guy's an amazing player and I didn't see fit to challenge the idea!