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.

TAD 60 user for years now.
Tried a lot, but still the Blue Chip is my favorite pick.
They also chirp but every thicker pick made of harder material does.
They are actualy cheap because they do no wear at all.

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I’m pretty sure picks can be made with an outer casing that is soft and and inner that is hard, I’ve never seen such a thing, but I know its possible to make, There is a niche there for anyone with money to explore.

The outer would be soft n flexible and the inner hard and stiff. A small coating. Very easy to make, very little profits to make too, probally…

You could try this yourself wrapping around materials over basic picks. Use your imagination to bring it into a solid pick. There is a niche there.

It will stop chirping, but so will hardcore perpendicular angling. And using digital amps.

I’d be worried about wear, at that point - something soft enough to really make a material dent in chirping would also presumably wear very fast, and would probably have to have some perceptible give to it to limit the degree to which the pick “frets” the string.

Neither perpendicular angling or digital amps would stop chirping, though - perpendicular angling might help a tiny bit at the margins, but the root of the problem is thicker picks are inflexible enoguh that they essentially “fret” the string a little as they strike the string, creating quasi-fretted overtones. Try moving a very thick pick up and down the neck and listen to how the overtones change.

It’s too bad, I picked up one of the Dunlop Petrucci Flows I still have lying loose in a little tray of picks I leave in fornt of my recording computer today, and to my surprise actually kind of liked it, after mostly using 1.0mm Flows the last year or so. At lower gain levels or on the neck pickup the chirping isn’t even obtrusive, but as the gain comes up…

I became really annoyed by chirp too… Inspired by Troy’s video, I tried a number of picks.

I settled on the Dunlop 1.25mm nylon, which is a 351 shape. It has a decent thickness with no annoying chirp that I can detect.

It fits better than the others I tried in my Chris Broderick PickClip. I started using that because at the time, I was trying to work more tapping into my playing, and you get all four RH fingers instantly available by just opening up your hand. The pick stays attached to your thumb.

Just thought it might be one way to solve your grip problem. I’ve also found that it solves any pick flop issues. Rather than being sandwiched between the soft flesh of your thumb and forefinger, you are instead gently pushing your forefinger against some metal of the pick holder, so the pick is secured quite firmly and there isn’t really any wiggle room, and there also isn’t any tension required in your grip. In my tests, this has resulted in a good solid tone and consistent volume when picking.

Just another perspective in case it’s of interest.
Cheers!

Regarding the issue of holding a pick, I find that a larger pick is easier for me to hold. I’ve always liked the heavy gauge 346 shape (rounded triangle). I find them easy to hold, you can grab it and use any corner of the pick, and I like their tone on acoustic guitars.

Ignoring all posts just so I can wonder, chirp is caused by rebound, energy bouncing and causing a vibration, multible small bounces.

There are hammers that have sand in them to stop this, dead weight/ blow hammers.
I wonder if you could make a pick with weighted sand or whatever in them to smooth out the impact.

Picks might be too small lol, idk. Perhaps a long extention to the pick would serve the same thing :stuck_out_tongue:

here is the chirp in glass.

https://youtube.com/shorts/pgGOrMudgmY