Best thick picks (for older players who would play fast)

I’m 66. My grip is not what it used to be. I prefer holding thicker picks.
HOWEVER, I don’t like the click / chirp so many of them make.
These are some that I am currently trying.
Does anyone here use thick picks that don’t click???

Have you ever tried a BlueChip TAD100? Nothing smoother than their speed bevels and The TAD100 is 2.5mm. I have a TAD50 and I’m planning on getting a TAD60 soon, only downside is the cost but they don’t wear at all :slight_smile:

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Unfortunately chirp seems to be largely dependent on mass. So anything big, or anything dense, even if it’s small, is usually worse. If it’s easier to hold a larger pick, then you can try a 1mm Planet Waves celluloid. This is the pick Frank Gambale uses, and it’s one of least chirpy larger picks:

Also the 351 shape Dunlop nylon picks are low chirp because they’re not very massive. They’re not thick picks and not heavy gauge, but they at least are a regular size 351 and they have a textured finish which is easy to hold on to.

Edit: I replied before seeing the photo you attached. That lineup is a greatest hits of chirpy picks! If you don’t like chirp, those are some of the most chirpy picks available. Anything thick with molded finger grips is going to be very chirpy.

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I have a half-baked theory about pick chirp, where these are analogous:

  • Smashing a string into a fret (a hard, curved surface) via HO
  • Smashing a hard curved surface into a string (the round edge of plastic like Ultem)

I also suspect that if one skims the string the chirp goes down a lot, and the extreme chirp case is a hit high up the pick where the string slides all the way down the edge and then breaks free. (No proof here, just physical intuition.) I also suspect some metal or ceramic picks would have the most extreme chirp, far beyond the plastics.

Can you just put some sticky foam on both sides of a thin pick that you like and have a great grip and whatever thickness you want? I’m not familiar with such a product but it must surely exist.

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I’m experimenting with silicone grips. (They stick on to the pick.) Some are way too thin (IMHO) while others seem just about right. They help.

I like the thickness of these: Amazon.com: Epic Accessories 20-Pack Grips for Guitar Picks Stop Dropping your Guitar Picks while Playing Non-sticky Stays in your Hand Epic Accessories (comes with grips only) : Sports & Outdoors

Thanks, Troy.
I’m working now with Ibanez Paul Gilbert picks. I mm. Like a 351 shape but with a sharper point and a bit wider.

The only Blue Chip pick I’ve tried is a Jazz 40. Great pick but not quite right for me just now.

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The V-Picks are super-chirpers! I was using them while working through the Volcano and Cascade seminars (DWPS) and found that sweep/economy picking felt more controlled using something like Psycho or Mummy (love the names). I think it might have had something to do with the extreme width making the contact distance to the next lower string on a down-down smaller and less “free floaty”. This could have been my imagination. Anyway it seemed to help as a “transition pick” but after a while I chirped myself out, went to the Dunlop Stubby and finally the Jazz III XL which seems to be fairly popular with many CtC folks. It was the pick of destiny. :slight_smile:

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Yeah, they chirp.
Hate that chirp.
Here is today’s set up: a Paul Gilbert pick (1 mm) with a silcone grip attached. It’s also on the other side, making this very thick, easy to grip (and comfy to hold) while allowing the tip to be a non-clicky thickness.
This particular grip (and most others like it that I have seen) was designed for a 351 style pick. This Gilbert is slightly different (-it’s like the spawn of a 351 and a Jazz III, though it is celluloid, not nylon). Because of that, a bit of work of an Xacto knife may be required.
(Since I use the grips on both sides of the pick, there is no concern about a bit of override at the top and edges because it’s on both sides of the pick.)
IMG_9151

This is my theory/understanding too - once a pick is thick/stiff enough to “fret” the string a little as it strikes it, it’s going to produce some chirp. The harder the material, the more pronounced, but it’s been hard to use anything that’s much more than 1mm or so, in my experience, before you start to get SOME chirp.

I don’t know how thick you’re looking for here, but the Dunlop Tortex Flow picks are a decent compromise - you have options between 1.0-1.5mm, andthe tortex is a little softer than ultex so it isn’t quite as prone to chirp.

Myself, these days I’ve mostly been using a 1.0 Ultex Flow, which is acceptibly not-chirpy, at least up through moderately saturated gain levels.