One concept in motor learning science seems to be that variety can be good when you are trying to conquer unfamiliar motions.
So my layman extrapolation from that is the following:
I have a dish full of picks of different shapes, sizes and materials and I swap between them regularly. Flow, Stubby, Delrin, Ultex, you name it. My go-to pick is a .88mm Tortex but I like to switch it up.
Ideally, I want to develop a technique with enough room for error that I don’t have to rely on a specific set of gear to achieve the results I want.
Normally Dunlop tortex 1mm, however I have ordered some Dunlop flow picks recently as I seen someone recommend them. I’ve ordered the .88mm as that was the one that was recommended. No idea what it will be like. If I find I like them, I’ll post here.
So I have been sticking to Dunlop Flow 2.0mm picks because I concluded that I need to reduce variation in my life, but I noticed that they now have a variation of the 2.0mm Flow, so I ordered some of those, although I probably shouldn’t have done that! 
I guess that one can teach with them, as they seem to be red…
I’d be interested to hear what they are like!
My Dunlop flow .88mm picks arrived today and I just had a practice with them. So far, I prefer them over the Dunlop tortex 1mm I was using. They are ever so slightly smaller and get through the strings a little easier, hence the name I guess!
So the 2.0mm Gloss version of the Flow seems totally different than what I’m used to (the stock 2.0mm). Gloss feels much thinner than 2.0mm, and it doesn’t have the same grip: Instead, it has a thumb/finger indentation, and this makes it difficult to choke up on the pick, etc. Right now I definitely prefer stock, but then I’ve only been eating that one flavor of dog food for a while, so I’ll try a Gloss off-and-on and see if I come to any other conclusion.
Which size do you use? I have a variety pack and kind of jump around with the sizes, can’t decide what feels the best. They’re pretty cool.
I bought tons of them to see what I like best. I think I have at least one of everything that they offered on the site lol! I definitely don’t like the ones with the rounded tip. So it’s between these different sizes that I am digging most:
The smallest is the same size as the jazz iii and oddly my least favorite of the ones in the image above. I think I like the largest one the best overall. It’s like the same size as a “regular” guitar pick, but pointy and 1.10 mm.
My grip is slowly changing since my time with CtC. My whole life I’d always done a side pad grip, and sort of tightly held. It is looser and a little closer to a trigger grip now though. The swiss picks seem to feel better with this setup. I’m not sure if this is a result of the overall technique changes I’ve learned since finding the site, or the swiss picks or maybe a little of both? Either way, change and variety is good 
I’d done the same thing for probably 25 years. No surprise that I hit a plateau and couldn’t break it.
Yeah sure give them a go for a while and see if it suits.
I just started using the flow .88mm. That’s usually a lot thinner than I go, but it doesn’t flop. So far I’m finding the flow’s much easier to control than the Tortex I had been using. Unfortunately, I just bought a bag of 72 Tortex’s which I may not need now!
So all these mentions of Dunlop Flow got me interested and I got a variety pack. I like these a lot! Everything from .88mm to 1.5mm feels and sounds really good. Any thicker and the notes start sounding dull to my ears. Sort of reminding me of “Stubby” picks, which I used yyyeeeaarrss ago, before switching to jazz iii (then as mentioned, Swiss picks).
Interesting topic!!!
All I have ever used is Red Tortoise Fender Mediums…i just like how they look. I’m a very ham fisted player and lack finesse.
When I tried thicker picks, I started breaking strings mid-performance. With Mediums, I break picks but not strings…
Looks as if you´re breaking fingers also. Hybrid picker?
Tom
That photo was taken after two, back-to-back, three hour live sets (50 minutes on, 10 minute break, and 45 minute break between sets) and it was after that performance that I discovered I drag the nail of my index finger along the strings when playing heavy rhythms.
I’ve tried to consciously change this bad habit, but it remains.
I did a similar thing when I started gigging. I didn’t do that when sitting and playing and eventually i stopped doing it. And yes I had a bloody finger at the end of my first two gigs LOL
I had been trying the Dunlop flow picks, but, I found that with some things I do, chord arpeggiation in particular, I have a sort of positive pick point. For whatever reason, this changes the tone quite a bit with this pick. So I went back to Dunlop Tortex, and the positive pick point doesn’t affect the tone much at all.
The Flow is great for a lot of things though, so I may still use them for recording certain parts.
I think it was in the Brendon Smalls interview, where he says his fingernail gets shredded when doing heavy rhythms too. I think he said it was because he chokes up on the pick quite a bit for the fast downstroke stuff.
About five years ago I bought my favourite ever pick, a 2mm Gravity picks Sunrise. I ended up losing it back then, but I also kind of stopped taking guitar seriously and only noodled on an unplugged electric for about five minutes per day. Recently started taking it seriously again and finally got another one of those picks. I love the bright attack and the rigidity, as well as the way it sticks to my fingers while not being sticky on the strings.
I also used to like the JP Jazz III, but I found the matte logo “grip” to be slippery. No idea how Petrucci could play with one of those live, but for a pick you can just buy at a guitar store it’s almost perfect. You could probably stick something on it to make it less slippery, so I would still recommend people try it if you like jazz or pointy style picks and feel that the nylon ones get “caught” on strings (best way I can describe how the nylon felt to me at the time).
I have tried hundreds of different picks over the years. (This selection, kept in a handy Atomic Fireball container, ain’t the half of it.) Some were cheap, some were expensive, all kinds of materials in all the main shapes (teadrop, 351, triangle, shark fin, shark tooth, the list goes on).
Nowadays, I use the Kirk Hammett Jazz III. I like the notch in the top of it. I prefer the green one to the purple one, though the purple is fine. (They feel a bit different though.)
I tried the KH Jazz III’s a while back. I didn’t like the notch.
I agree that green and purple felt surprisingly different!
