Pick Thickness, Shape, and Materials - Your Favorites

Gear
#1

Hello Everyone,

What are we putting between our fingers nowadays?
Do you use only one kind or switch and why?
What are your own pick choice’s advantages and disadvantages?
Has your choice changed over time?

I love my green tortex .88s, but recently I have also been liking as thin as .6. I also tried 1.0 Ultex Jazz XL and enjoyed thoses.

I know Yngwie goes thick wiht 2.0 and EVH loved thin picks while Tosin Abasi signature is .73 and John Petrucci versions are all quite thick. I also see people using fancy stones on social media.

Please share what you are using and why.

Thanks

#2

I have a Pickboy endorsement and use their Polyacetal 1mm picks.

They’re very similar to Tortex, but they have a bit of a point rather than a standard Fender 351 rounded tip, so its sorta like a large jazz pick.

The Polyacetal produces the least amount of “chirp” and the 1mm thickness gets a good bite on the low strings for metal riffing while still being heavy enough to not really flex much at all.

#3

.73mm Dunlop Flow for guitar, 3mm Dunlop stubby for bass.

I like the attack of the Ultex material for guitar (pretty sure that’s what Flow is made of), but I find Tortex is easier for me to play with. For bass it works, since it smooths out the attack to my ears compared to Tortex (which I used to use). I suppose I could just use Tortex for my lead playing more, but I’m trying to “desensitize” myself to Ultex.

I’ve grown to dislike nylon for guitar. It doesn’t wear the way I like, and I can feel the roughness when I play harder lines. It doesn’t bother me at all on bass.

Thin picks with a point also have the attack I like for guitar (Ultex keeps them from being floppy), but if I just wanted more speed / control, I would switch to my 1.5mm Jazz Tortex that’s worn in, or maybe even the “traditional” non-pointed Ultex (but keep this one thin, since rounded + thick feels sluggish to me).

I experiment all the time. I find that if my technique is feeling off, changing picks feels like a “refresh” on the session. If I want something totally different, I’ll play reverse grip Shawn Lane style and use an Ultex Jazz (but come to think of it, I should try out my 1.5mm Tortex Jazz). Only consideration is to keep the picks separate, since reverse grip wears them in the opposite direction.

Also, I generally have a rotation of the same model pick on my desk with different wear amounts. There’s a noticeable difference in feel when playing harder lines with a pick that is worn in (smoother), versus a brand new one (can feel a bit jarring).

1 Like
#4

I have randomly chosen 2.0mm Dunlop Flow picks in Ultex. That said, I have them in numerous other Flow sizes and materials, but don’t play those (except every now and then out of curiosity). I will certainly buy the nylon variants when they come out… but not play them much, either.

I’m of the current opinion that having nearly any pick is reasonable, but one should stick with it and not change. I randomly chose something pointy because I felt that it would make me better aware of just where the string is—and it does that. I got it 2.0mm thick because a lot of people that I admired seemed to get really thick picks, but I’m unsure why; it is certainly the case that much thinner Ultex picks are already rigid, so I have no idea why 2.0mm. It does seem to be the case that at 2.0mm the point of the pick is gently rounded, and that seems beneficial.

I assume that a rigid pick is useful only to help be sure that one knows just where the string is. The “unique” thing about the Flow is that the angle around the point is really wide, so it seems more forgiving for mistakes about placing the pick too deep. The Ultex plastic sounds terrible and chirps like crazy, but I don’t care and still use it, it’s analogous to how I drink Diet Coke, Red Bull, and coffee, despite them all being disgusting flavors :laughing:.

The most impressive pick that I’ve seen to date is likely the Pickboy carbon fiber nylon pick with the marijuana leaf on it, a mere 0.7mm or so and yet totally rigid with a great tip; however, I chose the Flow because it looked like it would be popular and come in a great variety of choices, and I guessed right in that case. So, Flow for life!

#5

As a mostly acoustic player, I settled on the rounded triangle 346 shape in heavy gauge. I like the feel/grip of the larger pick, and I like the acoustic guitar tone it produces.

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As I have been trying to learn to pick faster, I have experimented with other picks. I tried various Jazz III style picks based on the Troy Grady videos, and my favorite is the Jazz III XL 1.35mm. So for electric playing I have been using this one a lot.

dunlop

For mandolin, I like an even thicker and more rounded shape, like the D’Andrea Pro Plec 1.5mm, because of the warmer, woodier tone it produces.

proplec