Pointy picks... a theory of why some people use them

Playing Technique
#1

I first started to play many years ago (well before CtC), and I never gave much thought to just how/where the pick smashes into a string. In recent years, however, I would think on-and-off about a Rusty Cooly quote where he hits the top half of the string (and doesn’t go deeper). Eventually, I concluded that with a reasonably pointy pick like a Dunlop Flow 2.0mm (the random size that I chose), one can start to feel details of the pick impact on the string; I was ignoring this before. However, when I try smoother tips (like the classic Fender shape), it seems harder—but not impossible—to get an idea of depth. I note a rigid pick makes measurement easier.

Therefore, a hypothesis: Some people use picks with a point (Jazz III, etc.) because they want to feel the pick/string interaction and thereby control the depth of the pick’s impact. I’m still relatively new to this (a few weeks?), but it seems really eye-opening, I would regularly hit with too much pick. This also reminded me of an old product,

https://www.styluspick.com/

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#2

Interesting hypothesis; in the pick-slanting primer section of the website, Troy discusses this in great detail. If you haven’t checked it out, it’s fascinating.

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#3

I suspect that’s a reason. I personally pick pretty parallel to the string, so a point makes sense.

#4

I’m struggling to understand what that means. The top of the string from what perspective? Besides that, we’re talking about tiny measurements here. A high e string is like .25 mm thick. He’s inhuman (or close to it) but I can’t imagine anyone having the precision to make their pick never go deeper than .125 mm…then be able to dial that in with the correct ratio as the strings get thicker.

Just curious if it’s some red herring or if he really means he has shallow pick depth. For example, this could even be how someone perceives DSX playing. If I look straight down at my strings while I play and all my pickstrokes escape upward…I could see how that could be described as playing just the top half of the string. Just like USX could be playing the bottom half.

Not trying to troll or anything, just wondering the context of that quote. It’s hurting my brain lol! I’m probably reading too much into this, and it’s possible my math is off too.

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#5

Yeah I believe he means if you were to cut the string perfectly length-wise, he only hits the half that’s closest to you (so yeah like half of .25 mm for the high E).

I think the sentiment that’s getting lost here is “aim small, miss small.” I’m sure he knows that he’s not perfectly hitting only the top half of the string, but if he is focusing on doing that, the likelihood of him picking too deep is pretty much a non-issue.

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#6

Cool. Context was totally lost to me before.

That makes sense :+1:

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#7

It also may make certain things like knocking unwanted strings or swiping less pronounced than they might otherwise be. We are really just talking about different methods of adjusting pick depth.

#8

Apparently his mental model is that the pick barely scrapes the string, it would be fascinating to ask him. Does this happen in reality? I’m not sure, but I bet that he is very shallow. It would be fascinating to see on a Magnet, as he is a monster! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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#9

Well there is some footage of that! I never heard what happened to the whole interview. I can’t find it anywhere on here. I know there is a link that says it is archived or legacy or something.

For small clips, you can just google “rusty cooley cracking the code” but here’s a couple I love

The second one has a good view of his depth, and it does look pretty shallow. He doesn’t have much pick exposure in these clips either.

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#10

I was recently looking for that interview also… not sure what happened to it. Always keen to see what he’s doing up close!

#11

Yeah don’t look too closely though, it could damage your retinas with all that FIRE!!! :fire: :fire: :fire:

That guy is a freaking machine!

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#12

I think he has a normal amount of pick exposure honestly, holding it about where a lot of people do but if you look:

1: he isn’t digging in far into the body side part of the string plane

2: look at the range of motion of each stroke. He is being pretty careful not to go any higher than he needs to above and below the string he just hits. Stopping relatively half way between them Before reversing course for his next stroke. Hmmmmmm…. Where have I heard that before?

#13

Hey, I’m a personal friend of RC, (former student before he moved), I’ll ask him tomorrow about the pick depth and see if he can explain further. Rusty is seriously a freak of nature - his talent and knowledge is insane. I’ll get some info and follow up.

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#14

So just got this from RC - the tip of the pick should only go in as “deep” as the width of the string, so it never goes below the level of the string. Hope that helps.

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#15

Guessing you’re also from Houston?

#16

Actually I met Rusty when we were both in Atlanta. I was working with him until he moved to Houston. We stay in touch, and I’ve sent a couple friends to him for lessons.

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#17

Absolutely! He’s a beast! :love_you_gesture:

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#18

Sorry, it might be more normal in rock. I was talking about exposure more generally, as per the CtC definition of pick exposure:

Compared to most of the players Troy has interviewed, Troy classifies this as a small amount of exposure. He says this directly about MAB and shows this image:

image

To my eye, that’s even more than what Rusty has:

image
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Classed as using a “a little bit more” is Steve Morse:

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And Troy himself:

image

So based on that context (CtC platform) I’d still say Rusty has not much exposure. I don’t think it could get too much smaller without constant pinch harmonics happening.

That all may or may not have anything to do with his picking depth though. In that vein, I’m not sure why I even brought it up lol! Troy talks about that in the above video too. You can use a lot of exposure and still get pretty shallow depth.

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#19

It doesn’t have much. The distance you keep your hands from the strings does in reality. About the only thing it does is put a limit on how much depth you possibly can use before you hit your flesh, or where you feel more comfortable grabbing it. For some though it may help to have that guard rail.

The size of the the thumb and pick will skew that visual as well. For example Paul Gilbert grabs it where I would consider “normal”. Yet the sheer size of his thumb makes it look like he’s grabbing pretty close to the tip. To me it’s just a visual observation that doesn’t really make much difference. All the pictures above can only serve as some relative cue. Each is using a different size of pick, and is hitting strings at different angles if it. The more extreme downward pick slant of troys playing position will make it look like more of the pick is exposed as well.

#20

This is exactly why I use a pointy pick. I need more definition in the pick stroke to help register with my brain that an action has occurred.

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