Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?

Subject: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: steve t
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 12:50 AM

Thumbpicks: those GoldenGate picks about 2mm thick. 'cause they fit my thumb best and last forever.

Flatpicks: toss-up

Thin Sharkfins by Landstrom (I've kept one for 8 years).
.54 mm large triangle immitation tortoise shell by Steve Clayton.

I hear that one thing Nancy Griffiths does is cut the end off a National thumb pick and then glue a thin flat pick in place. Might try that myself sometime...but with a GoldenGate.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From:
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 02:04 AM

I like da BIG ONES!

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Rockaday Johnny
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 02:18 AM

I'm into picks with colors I can Find on the floor! Actually I like the John Pearse Studio Mediums as well as a few old Tortoise shell picks I found in an old Martin Case!

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From:
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 02:20 AM

I hear Dan Keding has a collection of repulsive color thumb picks that would make any picker jealous!

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: dwditty
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 05:46 AM

Fingers

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Jon W.
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 10:13 AM

I agree with dwditty. Can't stand picks of any kind, can't play with them either.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Earl
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 11:24 AM

I like the clear plastic Dobro thumb picks but when you drop one it's gone forever.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 12:42 PM

I started out buying "Fig Picks" which have a top dipped in that stuff that tool handles are dipped into. They don't slip, and they come in colorful colors. Made somewhere in Connecticut but hard to find.

Then I found you can buy the dip by the can from Janet Davis mail-order. A can lasts about 100 years. So now I dip my own flat picks.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 01:22 PM

I'm with dwditty and Jon W. After having tried and modified every sort of pick (finger, flat, thumb, metal, plastic, wood, felt, ad nauseum) I've ever gotten my hands on, I find my fingers are the only things that really work for me. Besides, they never fly off into the air like tiddlywinks on dexedrine and they're always on hand when I need'em.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From:
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 03:00 PM

If you can't dazzle them with your picking then do it with your picks. Golden Gates in multi hued glory. The brighter, the more colorful the less likely to lose and find their way into another pickers pocket. Brass medium gauge finger picks or the fingers themselves. Alien flat picks because "they are everywhere".

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Frank in the swamps
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 03:49 PM

Tiddlywinks on dexedrine! Love it. Some classical guitarists cut up ping pong balls and superglue them to their fingernails. Not kidding! I use my own fingernails on nylon strings, but have to use a pick on steels. I generally use the thinnest picks I can find. If they're smooth, I bite them to put little teeth marks on 'em, gives a little better grip.

Frank i.t.s.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Bert
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 04:29 PM

FolkLore coming up....

When I was in Bahrain I bought an Oud (never did learn to play it) and was told that the preferred pick was an eagle's quill. Now, however, they just cut a strip from a plastic bottle. Such is the price of progress.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Zorro
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 08:46 PM

Fender, thin, large triangle. Good for flat picking and chording.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Dave T
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 09:59 PM

I've tried lots of combinations: fingers, thumb pick and finger nails, thumb pick and fingerpicks. I've settled on a flat pick held with my thumb and index finger and use my middle and ring fingers to fingerpick. That way I can switch between chords, fingerpicking and flatpicking. I use Dunlop Tortex 0.88 mm (the green ones) for flat picks.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Big Mick
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 10:57 PM

I use "Zookies" thumbpicks and fingers for finger style.

Usually Fender or Alien flatpicks, although I have been using the DAVA Control picks by Dave Story lately and have really taken a shine to them. The heel and the tip are fairly rigid, with the middle of the pick is thin. By moving where you hold the pick, you can literally change from hard to medium to soft. The grip area is ridged so a heavy sweater like meself has no problem holding on.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Sep 98 - 11:51 PM

I play autoharp only...but my great fear is that I'll lose or break this big tortise shell guitar thumb-pick...wonder where I got it? Never see them any more...

(I use a Sitar plectrum ..called a 'Mizrab'-- on my middle finger for playing melody...(made of bent wires)..allows me to strum in either direction as fast as I want...[also made a similar one out of brass, ala Kilby Snow, but it is much heavier])

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Jon W.
Date: 24 Sep 98 - 04:37 PM

Bill D, I've been wondering about using a Misrab for picking banjo - my style is to pick up on individual strings with a finger, but pick down on multiple strings. I pick down on the 5th and any other string I want to with my thumb. My question is, does the mizrab allow you to feel the strings? That's the problem I have with picks of any kind - I just get lost too easy 'cause I can't feel the strings.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: lingolucky
Date: 24 Sep 98 - 07:05 PM

The best pick I ever had wasfrom a fish scale sold in a sea shell novelties store as a nail buffer. But fingers are better. I asked Roy Bookbinder, the authority on Negro blues players, what those great old pickers used and he said naked fingers. ane Goldsmith

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: ketida
Date: 25 Sep 98 - 06:07 AM

I'm with ' Dave T. ' I use the Dunlop picks,but prefer the grey 88mm.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Nor
Date: 25 Sep 98 - 03:35 PM

I just aquired 6 old picks found in an old case by a pawn shop. One is very well warn so must have been the favorite. I tried themm all and now I find the warn out one is now my favorit as well. I noticed a lack of pick noise on my D-28.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Sep 98 - 03:51 PM

Jon.W...the mizrab,being so light, does allow you a 'bit' more feel, but since the autoharp is just a matter of hitting in the general area, it is not that much of an issue with me; banjo is an entirely different motion...also, the mizrab is pretty tight...takes a lot of adjustment to be snug and yet not cut off circulation...I like it for what I do, but you'd have to just experiment... my general guess is that it would not improve your situation a lot...but, who knows?

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Roger Himler
Date: 25 Sep 98 - 07:27 PM

I like the Dunlop's for chording and flat-picking. For finger picking, I, too, use my bare-naked fingers and thumb. However, I invariably chew my nails, so I can't get much volume.

I have hated most fingerpicks I have tried. However, in the last year or so, I have been using Finger-Tone picks by ProPik. They are metal picks that at first remind you of the Nationals. However, most of the pick area is covered by a hole that allows much of your finger tip to be exposed to the string. They also have split the part that wraps around the finger so it is more flexible and easier to adjust. They give me volume, feel, confidence, and comfort. Unfortunately, they are not cheap, but I feel they are worth the money because nothing else works for me.

I don't like their thumb pick, so I use a Herco Heavy or Medium gauge.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Big Mick
Date: 25 Sep 98 - 09:55 PM

Hey Roger,

That's why I started this thread. I will have to give the finger tones a try. I use a thumb pick, but have a difficult time with finger picks because I can't feel the strings on my 12 string. I have tried the "Alaska" pics, they fit over the finger and under the finger nail, with varying success. They work alright, but have a tendency to slip out from under the nail.

Thanks for the suggestion,

Mick

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Jon W.
Date: 26 Sep 98 - 01:48 AM

I shelled out the bucks for the ProPiks after trying them for a few minutes in the store. When I got home I could never get used to them. Low volume with bare fingers? That's what microphones and amplifiers are for.

Seriously, I've been trying to let my fingernails grow a bit longer and I think I could eventually get used to playing with them.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Frank in the swamps
Date: 26 Sep 98 - 07:11 AM

Jon W. If you're playing on steel strings with your fingernails, and your nails keep getting torn up (mine do) you can try clear nail polish on the edges and undersides. Doesn't show so much that people look at you funny. I tried nail hardeners also, but they never did me any good.

Frank i.t.s.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Dan Keding
Date: 27 Sep 98 - 01:16 AM

I like the feel and tone of my bare nails/fingers. I do use a thumb pick. I like the ones with the bridge on them. Golden Gates? I'm not sure but I know they fit. The more colorful the better. Hard to lose, easy to find when lost. I have a great collection of bizarre picks. One flat pick has the chord patterns for C, F, and G on it, just in case you forget. Any medium flat pick will do, they're all about the same to me.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: BSeed
Date: 27 Sep 98 - 01:38 AM

Martin flat picks (I don't know if they are related to the guitars) have a built-in, textured grip, and are exceptionally easy to hold. The light and medium picks are a bit fragile if you're a hard picker, but they last me quite a while. The heavies are more or less indestructible. They are hard to find, but worth looking for. I've recently found them again, at Larry White's Thin Man String Co. in Alameda (California). --seed

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From:
Date: 10 Oct 98 - 10:20 PM

I too like the green Dunlop 0.88's when flatpicking, followed by a Fender medium or heavy.

Fingers are best of all but lately I've been doing amplified and electric work where fingers just aren't always practical. A flatpick brings clarity and presence to amplified situations.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Einnor
Date: 11 Oct 98 - 01:45 AM

I have gone back to Dunlop and use the 1.0 MM and found that once you get used to it , the thicker picks are better.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Steve T
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 11:20 AM

Ooo boy. Lotsa interesting ideas out there. Thanks for the info., folks.

And for those of you who insist that fingernails are best...well, unless you're a mutant with extremely hard fingernails, you might try clear acrylic fingernails. I tried it once -- in a part of town where I hoped nobody would recognize me, I ventured into a nail salon and they put goop on your finger nails, about 1 mm thick -- it hardens quickly and zap! you've got real claws. They are noticeable (mostly because the colour match isn't exact and the tips aren't like real nail tips). They do require filling (every couple of weeks) at the root and filing at the tip. And if you want to take them off (actually, you're not supposed to be able to, but I did), you strip off the top layer of your fingernail at the same time which leaves you with really weak thin fingernails for a couple of months. But the serious fingerpickers I know swear by 'em.

And for those of you who would use unadorned fingernails, may I suggest a thumbpick? It changes the angle that your other fingers attack the strings and thus lets you get away with using shorter fingernails. :-)

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Old Timer
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 11:53 AM

For an interesting thumb pick, check out the following web site. Look for the "Torti-Pick" http://www.acutab.com/Otheracc.html

OT

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: rosebrook
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 10:32 AM

This is as good a place as any to (continuously) flaunt my ignorance...and aquire some learnin' in the process. Most of my current to guitar players is as a rhythm keeper. As a non-string player, my question is: why don't they call those flat picks "strummers" instead of "picks" when the guitar player is strumming and not picking? (This is actually a serious wonder I have had, and would appreciate keeping the ridicule to a minimum....)

Rose

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 04:57 PM

Rosebrook,

If I use my lawnmower to make ice cream, it will probably still be called a lawn mower. Guitar picks are used to pick the strings. A flat pick can also strum the strings, but it is the same flat pick doing a slightly different job. And strumming is just one way to "pick" the guitar. Although it may not seem like it, the English language does try to avoid some confusion; like the confusion of using two names for an object just because it has two functions. English usually sticks with the primary function.

When I was camping in the Boy Scouts, we did not call toilet paper toilet paper. We called it all purpose paper because it served so many purposes (may your imagination roam freely!)

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: BSeed
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 07:07 PM

Right you are, Roger. I'd hardly call what Doc Watson and Tony Rice do with flatpicks "strumming." Or even what I do, most of the time. --seed

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: BSeed
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 07:11 PM

I am absolutely astounded by the longevity of this thread (by the way, I could have mentioned Bill Monroe and David Grissman in the above posting). --seed

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 11:15 PM

I like Dunlop.020 in brass and a med national thumb pick{when I can find them} I like the feel of brass over nickle-steel or whatever they ar

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: BSeed
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 02:36 AM

The thread that refused to die--oh, well, some pick content: My favorite flat pick is Martin medium. The Martins, available in light, medium, and heavy--as are most, have effective built-in textured grips, concave on the thumb side, flat on the finger side. Very easy to control. Usually hard to find--only one of the many stores I regularly haunt carries them--and not too durable. Our hard-picking lead guitar player broke one in an hour, but they rarely break when I use them. When I couldn't find them for several years, I started putting velcro up under the thumb--this serves a double purpose, getting a good grip, of course, and they stick to the velcro patch I put on the back of the peg heads of my guitars. --seed

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: GUEST,Ankit Dhanjee
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 03:07 AM

fingers are definetely da best. All you neeed to do is take care of your nails. Also helps avoid that annoying plastic sound from the plectrum

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Cluin
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 09:30 AM

Well, that's one (albeit myopic) way to look at it. But what do you do to avoid that annoying fingernail sound I've heard some fingerpickers make?

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Mooh
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 10:27 AM

I've always (about 30 years) used a medium weight flatpick for guitar and lately it has been a Dunlop Ultex .73mm. They don't wear or chip easily and can be easily shaped if necessary. I use an Ultex 1.00mm for mandolin. For years I used the Dunlop Gators, but they'll wear and the edge will develop a burr which requires attention...but I like their attack.

For fingerstyle I use a Fred Kelly speed thumbpick and fingernails. Sometimes I'll use nail hardener, no particular brand.

For bass I'm fingers only with some bare thumb.

Years ago I thought Dunlop nylon picks were the ultimate, and once in a while I'll grab one for old time's sake.

Also in my collection are aluminum, rosewood, bone, and celuloid picks, but they all pale next to Ultex, imho.

Someone will mention Wegen picks, but I can't afford one!

(This is an old thread, isn't it!)

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: mooman
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 10:49 AM

...the one that's just disappeared down the back of the sofa of course!

I use Dunlop grey nylon .60s (very occasionally .73s) for nearly everything requiring a pick.

Peace

moo (I'm sure there are other threads on this topic...?)

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Cluin
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 12:28 PM

I like the Brain Picks with the cat's-tongue grip. Cheap and plentiful. For guitar, the .73 mm. For mando, the 1 mm at the moment. I seem to going thicker as I get older.

With plectrums, I mean.


I think.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 12:47 PM

Standard shape Martin, Fender, or Gibson Heavy tortoise shell colored flat pick.

Thumb pick: Dunlop large white or tortoise shell colored.
Fingerpicks: metal Dunlop

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 01:52 PM

My all-time favorite flatpicks are natural tortoise shell. Of course they are no longer sold in the US so they're much like mooman's favorite—down inside the couch. Natural tortoise shell picks were inconsistant even in the same shape and grade so even in a large city like Chicago you had to spend one day a month or so just combing the city's music stores examining each pick and, with luck, ending the day with two or three new picks. I had a good collection of these that I kept in an old Sucrets box in my guitar case. They were stolen one day while our band was on stage as part of a big country/bluegrass show at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom. I was too pissed off and disheartened to start collecting again and eventually just learned to live with Fender heavy picks. About that same time, the 1973 Endangered Species Act made it unlawful to sell items made in whole or part out of “genuine” hawksbill tortoise shells. I really do want to help protect endangered species but I figure several large marine gastropods died for my D-41 and I sure do miss those tortoise shell picks.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: HuwG
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 02:19 PM

A friend of mine sometimes uses what must be potentially the most expensive pick ever; a Sharkfin shape, cut from a credit card.


Me; a Dunlop .73mm grey nylon for the acoustic. A variety of odd weapons for the SG on its rare outings, preferably a Dunlop 1.14mm, as it has a nice rounded edge which doesn't catch in the strings.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 02:32 PM

Hold on a minute! I may have a new favorite flatpick. I started hunting around the Internet and discovered the new Tortis® Flatpicks. They are somewhat dear but I might order a couple just to have the experience. If they're as close to natural tortoise shell as they claim, they'll be the best sounding picks we can buy.

Has anyone else tried these picks? The Website will lead to dealer sites if you're interested.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: GUEST,Clint Keller
Date: 18 Dec 03 - 02:38 AM

I was in the Army with Gene Loranger, a jazz guitarist, and he   used Ivory picks. He made them from old piano keys, back in the day.

I suppose an ivory pick would be fine enough that it should be called a plectrum.

clint

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: GUEST,Sandy Mc Lean (cookie lost)
Date: 18 Dec 03 - 05:09 AM

I use Dunlop nylon 46's on light guage strings. They last forever and don't break strings, especially the high G on my 12 string.
I like their light feel and sound for chording. I also find that I can bend them between my thumb, index and second finger to make them instantly a lot stiffer for runs or louder chords.

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: GUEST,Frank
Date: 18 Dec 03 - 10:28 AM

My favorite pick so far is the Pro-Plec from D'Andrea. It pulls a good tone out of my Martin. Mel Bay has 'em.

Frank

Subject: RE: Guitar Picks - What's your favourite?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 18 Dec 03 - 02:06 PM

Mark, it isn't only the endangerment of the species that makes the harvesting of natural tortoiseshell an ethical no-no.

The revolting cruelty of the collection process is another factor in the equation.

Personally, I could no more own a tortoiseshell pick than I would install an ivory nut or saddle on my guitar (and I am sceptical of so-called "fossil ivory" as well)