What pick do you pick when you pick a pick for your picking?

[Midnight Toker]

I'm not too picky. I haven't bought any picks in ages. The band I once worked for had several sponsors and we got boatloads of picks w/ the band's logo on one side. Just generic picks in H, M, L. I still have Mason jars full of them. Heck, if need be, I can make due w/ a plastic bread loaf tie. (Just round one corner w/ scissors....and you have a pick!! ) Also, we used to play upwards of 250 shows a year, so I picked up probably hundreds of picks from club stages over the years. All kinds of brands, weights, shapes, sizes. Never really had a definite preference. Something in the ballpark of a standard Fender medium is fine by me. Been focusing more on hybrid picking anyway, so it's become even less of a concern.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

When I'm using picks:

- On my thumb, a plastic National or Dunlop thumbpick.

- On my fore- and middle fingers, Dunlop .88 finger picks when I'm lazy and heavy brass finger picks (don't remember the brand name) when I'm being responsible.

On guitar, I also play bare-fingered a lot. Not for mando and squareneck. For those, I always use fingerpicks.

I never, never, ever, ever use flat picks. And yet I have hundreds. Why is that?

=O.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Thank you, but no.
I'd rather you just didn't call me late for dinner.
RBSinTo

Or LTD for short.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Blue Chip and Charmed Life casein. Charmed Life preferred for the mandolins.

It took a mandolinista to bring up Blue Chips. Mando players are the world's pickiest pickers!

 

[RBSinTo]

"......Heck, if need be, I can make due w/ a plastic bread loaf tie. (Just round one corner w/ scissors....and you have a pick!! )......"

Or you can buy a pick punch and crank out new ones as you need them.
If you prefer thin picks, the clear and black tops and bottoms of take-out food containers are ideal. For thicker picks there are any number of plastic containers that can be used as raw material.
RBSinTo

 

[dwasifar]

Or you can buy a pick punch and crank out new ones as you need them.

*shudder*

 

[Rayk]

Cool Juratex picks

 

[dwasifar]

Cool Juratex picks

I like those too. I like the Ultras better, but either the Juratex or those clear yellow ones (whatever they're called) will do in a pinch.

 

[Rich Cohen]

Shape, thickness, material are everything, and it depends on what you're playing, both guitar wise and genre wise, not to mention the type of strings you're using. Having said that, for my acoustic playing I prefer something around .70mm. However, for the archtop I play ('37 Gibson L-7), I prefer thicker picks...at least 1.0 to 2.0mm depending on the sound I want. One of your most important gear, in addition to the guitar, is the pick you use. It's all about percussion...the ability of the pick to bring out the best in your guitar and its strings. Go for it!

 

[Bill Ashton]

I will chime in that I am also a Dunlop ULTEX user, and my own testing reveals that to my
ear it sounds identical to the Blue Xxxx. I am a very mediocre bluegrass/old time flatpicker
for the past few years (love fiddle tunes), and use a 1.0 or 1.14 in the large triangle when I can
find them. Yes that pale-yellow makes them nearly invisible when dropped.

Italian flat-picker Beppe Gambetta was using the Ultex last time I saw him at Kaufman-Kamp because...well, see above

I must add here, if it wasn't for the accidental "gifting" of a BC when Default and I did a guitar swap a few years back, I never
would have had the opportunity to try that brand...thanks Steve, need it back yet? LOL

 

[JohnW63]

"I never, never, ever, ever use flat picks. And yet I have hundreds. Why is that?"

Mystery solved!

That's where all those missing picks everybody complains about ended up.

 

[donnylang]

I’ve used Dunlop orange Tortex for 20 years or so- to me, the best all around pick for anything … because picks are one of those things I prefer to just find one that covers the bases and not think about it.

That said, I’ve experimented over the past year or so- and I just ordered some .58 D’Andrea celluloid. Helluva time finding them in this Light-Medium gauge though, as .50 is too thin and .70 too heavy for me.

 

[CocoaPicker]

I'm mostly fingerpicking these days, either naked or with a 1.22 mm Fred Kelly thumb pick. When I do grab a flat pick lately it's a Snark .94, which is nicely textured on only one side which I find strikes the right balance. The thick picks brings out the warm tones of my Guilds, which are strung with 12-53 and 12-56 D'Addario Nickel Bronze strings.

 

[dreadnut]

When playing leads/harmonies/scales on the guitar and mandolin, I like a thick, stiff pick for control. This is where the silver picks work best.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

"I never, never, ever, ever use flat picks. And yet I have hundreds. Why is that?"

Mystery solved!

That's where all those missing picks everybody complains about ended up.

Oho! I'm the Pied Picker!

 

[kostask]

I will use any pick when there is no other choice. I tend to gravitate to thicker picks than what most here seem to use. When buying my own picks, my favourite is the Steve Clayton Ultem 0.94, standard shape. Link is here:

Steve Clayton USA | Ultem Guitar Picks

Steve Clayton, Inc. Guitar Picks, Custom Printed Guitar Picks, Guitar Straps, Guitar Slides, and Guitar Polish.

steveclayton.com

I just find that I like the sound that I get using with either the D'Addario or the GHS Signature Bronze/Americana strings that I normally use. If a guitar is particularly bassy, I may move down to 0.80 or even 0.72 picks. I like the matte finish on the picks that makes gripping easier, and they are fairly stiff, but not completely rigid.

 

[Tom O]

National thumb pick and Ernie Ball Picky Picks on 12 strings and resonators. Nice and bright and fit better between the strings on a 12.
With no fingerpicks I use a Fred Kelly speed picks on my thumb.

 

[JohnW63]

I need to get comfortable with finger picks. I've used thumb picks at times, by themselves, but I haven't get the handful of picks figured out. I think I would need to trim them all down to make them feel right. Getting finger picks that feel comfortable will take some time.

 

[Br1ck]

It took a mandolinista to bring up Blue Chips. Mando players are the world's pickiest pickers!

It must be so. When I first started, I did not understand when people said you had to pull tone out of a mandolin. Now I do. You have to grab it by the neck and force it to sound good. It's not enough to put your finger on the right spot and pluck. It has to be exactly the right spot, right behind the fret. Then you have to have just the right grip on your pick, just so to "pull" the right chime out of the instrument. And if a guitar needs to be set up to the hundredth of an inch, the mandolin need to be in the thousandths. And just when I found an instrument to fit my small hands, I was introduced to the G chop chord! Spent two months on stretching exercises. So yes, when a pick can give me an edge, I use it.

Oh yeah, all the above is big fun. Now if you could just buy a good one for less than $5K.......

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It must be so. When I first started, I did not understand when people said you had to pull tone out of a mandolin. Now I do. You have to grab it by the neck and force it to sound good. It's not enough to put your finger on the right spot and pluck. It has to be exactly the right spot, right behind the fret. Then you have to have just the right grip on your pick, just so to "pull" the right chime out of the instrument. And if a guitar needs to be set up to the hundredth of an inch, the mandolin need to be in the thousandths. And just when I found an instrument to fit my small hands, I was introduced to the G chop chord! Spent two months on stretching exercises. So yes, when a pick can give me an edge, I use it.

Oh yeah, all the above is big fun. Now if you could just buy a good one for less than $5K.......

Yup, the bluegrass G is murder. And yes, it's amazing how the slightest setup problem makes 'em unplayable. The nut is notorious.

And I learned when I was getting started that, much more so than on guitar, different picks give mandos completely different sounds.

As for $5k — that'll be the day! I'm getting by on my lowly snakehead beater — probably my last mando.