Fat pick Thin pick.?????

Subject: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST,Stringman.
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 05:00 AM

Tell me if it realy matters. Or could you use anything on the day.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: mooman
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 05:05 AM

For some reason, I can only use a thin pick effectively on any of my instruments, .60 mm or less. We've discussed this before on this forum and most people, however, seem to favour a heavier pick.

Best regards,

mooman

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Ned Ludd
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 06:05 AM

Medium!

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: DonMeixner
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 07:22 AM

Very heavy to flat pick my banjo. White Tortex pointed picks seem best. Very fast. Thin to thin mediums for strummimg guitar. Very heavy to flat pik fiddle tunes.

Don

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: DonMeixner
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 07:22 AM

Very heavy to flat pick my banjo. White Tortex pointed picks seem best. Very fast. Thin to thin mediums for strummimg guitar. Very heavy to flat pik fiddle tunes.

Don

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: RichM
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 08:06 AM

For acoustic guitar, I find a thin pick too sloppy--that is it springs back and forth more that you can control..

I use picks like Jim Dunlop .88mm and 1mm. I like to be able to control which strings I hit when I strum--I tend to incorporate some runs and partial chords within the particular chord I am holding. And a heavier pick is needed for this.

And flatpicking melodies don't work with skinnypicks.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST,Stringman
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 08:10 AM

I like the Jim Dunlop Thank you guys. You have steer me to stay with the Fat pick. must keep up practice. Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From:
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 08:35 AM

FWIW, I bought three *fat* *thick* picks made of bovine horn at a bluegrass festival. I love one of them because I like the sound it gets out of the strings. It also seems to get just slightly tacky as my fingers sweat, so it doesn't slide around or try to escape into the soundhole. Of the other two, the one that is polished gets too slippery. The other has the matte finish of my favorite, but has sort of curved over time, so it isn't easy to use any more. If you can find these picks, try them out; they seem to be fairly rare, as I don't find them often. Be aware, though, that they (like any natural object) vary widely from specimen to specimen. I do prefer a fat pick to a thin one though, and it took me about two years to figure that out. The thin ones are just too floppy.

V

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Grab
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 09:28 AM

The one that works for me is fairly thick but has a groove halfway down it. So although you still get the sound and feel of a hard pick, it doesn't jar loose from your fingers, bcos it flexes at the groove instead of all the way along and so leaves you with a good grip on it.

I think this is a Jim Dunlop one, I'm not sure. I'll have a look and report back.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 09:34 AM

Most of the mando playrers I know use super-thin, like cut out of a plastic milk jug. Guitarists tend to stay with meduim, and my mountian dulcimer likes a Fender thin.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 11:03 AM

Jim Dunlop .73mm

only...

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 11:49 AM

Well after early talking/writing to you guys. I whent out and brought a( Pro plec 1.5 Andrea) and I could not belive how it change the sound, I was playing, with a thin Pick, and the sound was very,tiny, but this one and sound was very! rounder like fullness practising was\is more worthwhile. And you don't lose in the soundhole.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Jimmy C
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 04:00 PM

Jim Dunlop, no thinner than .50mm for my banjo, a little thinner for mandolin and I use a collar bone from dress shirts for the lap dulcimer.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: harpmaker
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 04:40 PM

Jim Dunlop .73 for me too, you can play fast with this plec'.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 05:02 PM

I tend to use thinnish picks, and the gauge is very critical - I lost my favourite one, which was a 53, and I've found that even a 55 feels wrong. That's when I'm not going to the other extreme and using a Strummer multipick instead. (It looks a vicious beast, but certain situations it's really handy. You can play single strings and be heard in a noisy session, because you can really hit the strings as hard as you like with it, but never break them.)

With a thinnish plectrum you can bend it a little when you want to firm it up, and I think that's why I prefer using one.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Anahootz
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 05:40 PM

If any of you folks wish to purchase Horn Picks, I am currently making 5 styles: large triangle (Clayton 346)
slightly smaller rounded triangle (D'andrea)
Rounded-off semi-triangle (Golden gate, "dawg")
"Standard" (fender 351)
Small teardrop (clayton)

Horn pick are great because they stick to your fingers when playing...they do warp occasionally, but if you dunk them in hot water and sandwich them in saranwrap in the pages of a heavy book, they generally straighten out again.

If anyone is interested in picks, please email me at [e-mail] and include the word "Picks" in the subject line.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: 53
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 07:35 PM

I like the Jim Dunlop .88mm and the 1.0mm for my acoustic work, and I like an even heavier pick for my electric work.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Grab
Date: 14 Apr 02 - 05:40 PM

Just checked in my case - the pick I mentioned is the "Dava Control". Don't know what gauge though, but thickish.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST,\\\mark Ross on the road
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 12:23 PM

I have been using the heaviest I can find, which seems to be the purple Tortex. When they get a little beveled at the tip, they seem to sound the best.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST,jonesey
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 12:36 PM

Fender mediums for guitar and heavies for the mandolin. Or the equivalent 'music store' brand as I prefer to help out the proprietor rather than the big corp. For plectrum banjo I find the thinner the better as the strings don't supply enough resistance for anything heavier.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Ian Darby
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 07:28 PM

I use the rounded triangular Gibson or Antoria 'thins', for lead guitar. The Gibsons are very brittle, but if they break while you're playing you can at least change corners.

Its funny how you can become dependent on a particular kind of pick.

Thanks for the thread, this could stand some looking into....

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: 53
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 09:49 PM

Do you use the same pick until it wears down, or do you change picks every time you play? I usually use the same one. Even though I have over 500 picks.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 07:11 PM

i can use any kind of pick but i choose thinner, for strumming
i fingerpick when i do a picking line. i think its just a matter of what type of music you want to play

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 14 Sep 04 - 04:45 AM

Dawg for mandolin, very heavy but once you get used to them you won't change. 73mm Dunlop for tenor banjo.

eric

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 Sep 04 - 04:57 AM

Thin pick for strumming.

Thick pick for something like church picking where you play a lead bass note and then sort of flop the pick across the three teble strings and back. A difficult style to do well. A guy called Dil Davies used to play this style beautifully on the English scene. Anybody heard of his whereabouts? Rambling Jack Eliot - didn't he do this sort of thing? I know he was Dil's hero.

Brian May used to use an old sixpence to play his leads. That is to say very thick.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Eric the Streetsinger
Date: 14 Sep 04 - 01:17 PM

The great thing about DAVA control picks is that you get the best of both worlds. Theres a division in the middle of the pick, and if you grip above it, you have a heavy pick, if you grip beneath it you have a medium/light pick. When I'm flatpicking I use nothing else. fingerpicking though requires a good heavy fender thumbpick. I use nails and fingertips for the others.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Grab
Date: 14 Sep 04 - 01:34 PM

I've gone off Davas, after all that. The benefit was that they were easy to hold onto. I now use Fender "wedge" picks, which have twice the surface area of any normal pick and so are easier to grip (or, vice versa, more difficult to drop :-). 1mm seems to work best for me.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST,bluegrassguitarist
Date: 15 Sep 04 - 04:03 PM

My self i use a very thick pick for bluegrass rythem (big stubby 2mm) and I use a thinner pick for songs I have a lead in usually a Jim Dunlop Ultex 1.14 mm. I think the 1.14mm sounds much better for the lead licks.

                                           I Hope this has been usefull

                                                 Bluegrassguitarist

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Once Famous
Date: 15 Sep 04 - 04:12 PM

I use only a heavy standard looking pick for guitar whether it is for flat-picking or strumming guitar. The Martin's are excellent and the finely heat-stamped logo enables a good grip.

A thin pick to me is like using a queen of hearts out of a deck of cards.

Finger picking for guitar our banjo, in order to be heard and have fine intonation I feel requires a wide plastic Dunlop thumbpick with heavy metal fingerpicks, one on the index and middle finger.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: mandotim
Date: 15 Sep 04 - 07:23 PM

I always use Wegen picks for mandolin. Made by Michel Wegen in Holland out of aircraft-grade plastic. Pre-bevelled (you have to specify left or right-hand!)last roughly forever. Lots of gauges, but I use either the 1.5mm or 2mm picks for mandolin. He also makes an asymetric triangle called the Dipper, with round, semi-round and pointed corners; a different tone is available from each corner. You can get them from http://www.hotclub.co.uk/shop/acatalog/index.html
No financial interest, just great picks.
Tim

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Mooh
Date: 15 Sep 04 - 08:28 PM

I agree that Wegen picks are superb, but damnably expensive in Canada, about $18 for 2! I love 'em for mandolin, but paranoid about losing them. I still prefer the thinner ones (1mm is thin for a Wegen).

As much as I'm hip to try new picks, I always end up returning to a medium weight of something (.73mm), usually Dunlops and usually Ultex. There are more and better choices than ever before, a sort of golden age of picks if you will.

I made a very nice cattle bone pick this past summer and promptly misplaced it, so I might try it again. I wouldn't strum with it, but as a special purpose pick for a particular sound it was nice.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST,moocowpoowhohasn'tloggedinyet
Date: 15 Sep 04 - 10:47 PM

I Once destroyed an old credit card, it was a satisfactory mandolin pick (In a pinch). I've heard mando players swear that the only way to go is, with a thick pick. It totally depends on the style you play, different picks lend themselves to different styles (I haven't read all the posts, I'm sure I'm just reiterating other posts).
Bluegrass players tend to use thick picks, I play Irish and Finnish and a medium does the job, without sounding boxy when it comes to chords. A thick pick does bring a unique sound from the mando but, it really doesn't work with bouzouki(I haven't tried with guitar). I like to experiment with new picks, I like a lot of the different feels and sounds they can produce
It all hinges on your instrument, technique, and/or other preferences.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST,tim
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 03:42 AM

i perfer 88.mm to 1mm because of the nice bold louder sound they produce

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST,cmt49
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 07:01 AM

Until a few years ago, being a fingerpicker, I had hardly used plectrums, and found them awkward. I began with a Dunlop 0.73, and gradually, as I learned to stop dropping the bloody thing, changed to stiffer types. The one I use now is too worn to have the size left on it, but it is about 0.90, and I am starting to find even that a little bendy. The stiffer plecs seem to give me more accuracy, and more power on the bass strings.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: mandotim
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 07:07 AM

Personally? Fat for mandolin, medium for guitar, thin for tenor banjo. Changing the angle of attack of the pick has a big effect on tone as well.
Tim

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 09:16 AM

I agree with Mandotim { except fr the tenor banjo. Fat for mandolin, medium for guitar.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 09:37 AM

Like Mandotim says, except I like fattish -- about 1 mm -- for the tenor banjo, too. Nylon and fake tortoise-shell ones are particularly nice.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Mr Happy
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 09:51 AM

........then the ever present prob of them flying out of your fingers, I've seen an enterprising tenor banjoist using a pick secured to his thumb with a tiny cable strap with holes drilled in the plec to keep it secure

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Jim Lad
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 11:01 AM

Jim Dunlop 0.60mm. I used to punch holes in them for better grip. I don't any more but it does stop them from flying away.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Scoville
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 02:08 PM

Large, thin pick on dulcimer (and not one of those shark-toothed shaped Herdim monstrosities. Pick noise central!). Normal-sized medium on guitar.

I just use the plain old Fender, I think they are, picks. The pretty pearly ones that come in a packet at the guitar shop. I'm not picky. No pun intended.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 10:22 PM

It is like the question at the American supermarket, "plastic or paper?"

You cannot imagine what I have seen picks from:

Clorox Bottles (thick white 1970's)

Pretend "chop stixs" sliced and taped together.

Shards of oak, bamboo, pine, poplar, cedar?/cypress (cypress is best - I think it is the oil)

Tuna Bone from behind the head and beneath the eye.

Plastic soda bottles (use the bottom ridge, warm and curl)

Cut section from dental floss container.

Anything in the free "fish bowl" of a music store.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: leeneia
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 09:52 AM

1. First, a warning. Once I got a library book written by an MD about repetition stress injuries. He specifically mentioned using a guitar pick as a cause of damage to the hand. I think it's fine to use a pick, but don't use it all the time, and don't use it for hours.

2. When I play fretted dulcimer, I use a thumbpick on my right hand. I use different picks for different styles. Some sound classical, some sound like bluegrass.

Why confine yourself to one sound?

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Scoville
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 10:24 AM

Once I got a library book written by an MD about repetition stress injuries. He specifically mentioned using a guitar pick as a cause of damage to the hand. I think it's fine to use a pick, but don't use it all the time, and don't use it for hours.

What, and the FRETTING part doesn't cause repetitive stress injuries? It's my left hand/wrist that gives me more trouble than my right.

What exactly did he say about it: Gripping the pick too tightly? The hand motion associated with flatpicking? Poor positioning? Something else? I would think that fingerpicking, which is also repetitive motion, would have the potential to cause problems, as well.

From what I've heard, playing music, period, can be hard on your hands. It seems to be the harpists and pianists I know that complain the most, but others have admitted to it.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: John Hardly
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 10:52 AM

Children who clothespin playing cards to the fork of their bicycles so that they will flap against the spokes and sound "motorcycle-like", grow up to like thin picks.

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Stringsinger
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 04:10 PM

It depends on the venue and the instrument.

Tenor banjo, the yellow .73 with a rounded edge for chords. Big hall, go thicker.

Rhythm guitar in a band, the big stubby with the point for cleanness.

My small Tacoma guitar, .73 yellow pick with the sharp edge.

12 string, back to the big stubby.

I tried using the Tortex but I like the big stubbies better.

For recording, the .73 on guitar for chords and the big stubby gets a good bass note.

For electric, small thin seems to be best. Let the electricity play rather than the force of the hand to create the sound. Sometimes for jazz (ala Christian) the small hard Gibsons work well.

Different picks for different tricks.

Also, different picks for different songs.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Fat pick Thin pick.?????
From: Jim Lad
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 05:31 PM

Stringsinger: "For recording, the .73 on guitar for chords" ....Does that get rid of the "Pick" noise or would my technique be the problem?