When tremolo picking the lower strings I’ve noticed a kind of chirping or unintentional harmonic noise that rings out right when the pick contacts the string but before the note is actually played. I’m pretty sure this unintentional harmonic noise is coming from the pick contacting the vibrating the string and in essence producing something like a pinch harmonic. Anyone else have problem with this chirping noise that sounds before the note is even picked? Been driving me crazy since it happens with any kind of picking since obviously to pick a string the pick must contact the string first but this produces the noise. Read that the type of pick can influence this a lot due to stiffness and different tips (use a regular jazz iii), I tried using different pick thicknesses and material but nothing seems to minimize the noise. Any thoughts?
It is pretty normal that it happens, but it should dissapear with certain kind of picks.
0.5 tortex or 0.6 nylon dunlop picks has very little/none of that noise. I also can avoid it with 0.8 V-picks, with 1.0 teflon picks…
But it is normal. You can even play melodies using that noise with some picks, just by touching the strings without crossing them.
I think it’s less the creation of a harmonic, as it’s the result of a heavy pick briefly “fretting” the string as it makes contact with the string, but before pulling across the top and releasing it to sound a note.
Thinner picks will make this virtually go away, but you may not like the feeling as much. I’ve found it varies by pick material as well. At the end of the day, unless it’s SO obtrusive that it’s clearly audible - and distracting/unpleasant - in a recording mixed against bass and drums and rhythm guitars, I’d say whatever you’re the most comfortable picking with is the primary consideration, followed by the tone, and you’ll play better with a pick that feels better to you.
I jump around in pick thickness a lot, but lately I’ve been using the Petrucci Flow 2.0s and have been surprised that I’ve really liked them. I also have a few of the 1.0 regular Flow picks and have been going back and forth between them (for ages now my usual pick has been a 1.0 Tortex Pitch Black jazz-sized pick) but I think I may actually prefer the bigger ones. Sure, there’s a little bit of a chirp for trem picked lines, particularly on the bridge pickup, but it’s not too obtrusive, and actually isn’t really unpleasant at all on my Strat, where I kinda like the attack.
In a guitar magazine, Joe explained that he didn’t like that pick chirp sound, so he developed his legato technique to have a more fluid sound.
Joe has little pick chirp despite the very midrangey Fred pickup and guitar sound that he uses.
On the opposite end of the pick chirp spectrum, Michael Angelo Batio, on Nitro, had a lot of pick chirp.
You might try experimenting with more legato and hybrid picking, too.
I like both. Pick chirp is very aggressive. Legato is nice.