What pick do you use?

[Tobacco Worm]

One year when helping out with a kids camp for a buddy in MI, we'd do campfire stuff and play his tunes and such. Use things like Pignose Hog 20's and such and wail well into the night. Ok, at least 'till around 11 PM as we hadda get the kids to bed down for the next day.... But I had noticted that Ted was playing a very thin pick and turned 90 degrees out and hitting with the rounded edge. When I asked what pick that was, he responed with "Oh, I got these picks from a naked lady that used to teach cheerleading back in the '50." I rolled my eyes and laughed then we went on to play until everyone was wore out. Ya just never know what some folks are gonna say.

But I mainly use a thin pick as turned the same direction often now as it gets great harmonics and is real fast for me being so close to the strings. So from a goofy gag line, I learned a great picking style. Was worth the drive from Texas those years it was going on....

Wade

 

[TomTomGPS]

We need a pick chewer's thread.

Now that that's out of the way, fender heavy. I have a special one, too. I think it was a factory mistake, but I found one in a pack that was both confetti, the style pick of the pack, and perloid. It has perloid around the shorter rim, the rest was confetti. Very special.

 

[Alex_SG]

We need a pick chewer's thread.

What about a psilocybic (magic) mushroom chewers thread to go with it? Or a meth users thread... Or a... Never mind - you get the picture!.

 

[Heket]

Here's a little pick story I thought I'd add.

Unbelievably I found a guitar pick on the floor at work! I work in a doctor's surgery, so it's not exactly an expected thing. It's a standard Dunlop pick, the really thin pink one though so I can't really use it (0.46mm). I keep it on my desk now as a lucky token :)

 

[smitty_p]

I haven't really started using it, yet. But, this is a glass pick I just made.

I made it from the bottom of a pickle jar. The slightly offset upper right side is nothing special...its just a small mistake. Too much glass chipped off that side when I was rough-forming the pick.

It took a lot of polishing on the edges. I wet sanded, gradually getting finer and finer. I finished off with 2000 grit.

I generally polish with one grit for about one period of a hockey game. Then I pause for intermission to let my hand rest, then go to a finer grit for the next hockey period. It takes a few hockey games to finish a pick.

I still have a little more polishing to do on the left side. I should be done by the end of the Capitals/Senators game tonight.

 

[TomTomGPS]

What about a psilocybic (magic) mushroom chewers thread to go with it? Or a meth users thread... Or a... Never mind - you get the picture!.

I can go to MLP if I wanna get that crazy. I don't do drugs, crazy I'm fine with.

 

[MonkeyBoy]

I used to always get the Dunlop .71(?) I think they were that were hot pink because I knew no one else in the band would steal them. Now I have so many random picks laying around I typically just grab one when I need it and dont pay a ton of attention to what it is. They all fall in the the medium range so Im good to go.

 

[Dadou]

I generally use 1 mm dunlop tortex, but I like them when the silky patina is worn out, cause it tends to make the pic slip out of my hands; been using 1mm ultex for a while as well. I've also noticed that I like hard, 1mm thick (like I said) and I like them even more when the edges are worn.. makes pinched harmonics easier and helps me reach smooth tones more easily

 

[JohnP]

This weekend I will make a pick like this:

According to Billy Gibbons the Mexican Peso is best because it has that "Mexican tone".

It won’t be easy to find a Mexican 100-peso (?) coin, from the ‘60s – ‘70s something (?), in Stockholm… I guess a Swedish Krona will have to do…or maybe I use an Austrian 10 Shilling from 1974 that I found in my drawer …It perfectly match the radius of a Dunlop Jazz II…
-What sounds will come from an Austrian 10 shilling? ”The Hills Are Alive…..”! Not exactly that Mexican tone perhaps…But there is a cool eagle, like the one on the Mexican Peso, so maybe it’ll work….

 

[smitty_p]

That pick is gonna be MONEY!

 

[JohnP]

Here it is – my 10 schilling coin pick!

I proudly present the Nickel/Brass REPUBLIK Eagle pick.
It has that Austrian tone. :)

Enjoy: The Hills Are Alive_JohnP coin pick by John_P on SoundCloud - Hear the world

 

[AndersA]

Dunlop 2.0 mm..

 

[Blackie]

.. Dunlop Max Grip .. .73 or 1.0

.. got some of these too ..

 

[7904]

Fender heavies. I recently discovered you can buy them by the gross on amazon for wicked cheap. I now have picks for days.

 

[BlackSG91]

The ultimate tone pick.

 

[dbb]

The ultimate tone pick.

/QUOTE]

With those holes it looks like it was made from the tailpiece of some banjo mandolin or something.

 

[BlackSG91]

The ultimate tone pick.

/QUOTE]

With those holes it looks like it was made from the tailpiece of some banjo mandolin or something.

Good call...I like that about a banjo or mandolin tailpiece. I bought this pick way back in 1988 and I still have it today. Maybe those are sweat holes. The upper cut corners are great for those string scrapes along the low-E string and any wound string. I get incredible tone from this pick. It's made from solid brass by the looks of it and this thing is solid.

 

[dbb]

It looks good, although i am not a user of metal picks - I pick brightly enough as it.

 

[BlackSG91]

It looks good, although i am not a user of metal picks - I pick brightly enough as it.

I don't use it all the time because sometimes I like using the regular plectrum for a more slightly softer tone. It's somewhat bright with the brass pick, but it takes awhile to adjust your picking attack and so forth to achieve the right sound when picking. I'd highly recommend a brass pick to add in your collection of picks because it gives you more tone options. As the old saying goes, 99% of your tone is in your pick.

 

[Tobacco Worm]

99% of your tone is in your pick? Oh boy.... that's gonna start another one rolling!

Since that stroke hit me a few months ago, my right hand is still not working with me like it should. I tend to drop picks after a few minutes of playing. Can't seam to hold 'em well anymore. So I've been playing like good old Albert King a lot now. Got that thumb going like a jackhammer and the index and middle finger will work most of the time as well. Maybe my picking days are at an end and the era of the thumb will begin for the old Worm huh? I may even have all my "tone" in my thumb now...

Wade