Picks and Picking

Tagged: picks

This topic contains 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by Rick Stone 9 years, 1 month ago.

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February 15, 2016 at 4:48 pm #3173

Steven
Participant

Rick,
One of the most frustrating topics I have dealt with in playing guitar is the pick. I have used and tried many types of picks, from very expensive to cheap. Using a small teardrop pick or a larger one. I opted for the smaller one. I can pick easier with a thicker pick (88mm) but much faster with a thin pick (73 mm). while many people think picking is subjective, some of the fundamental techniques are very similar. Let me give a brief example. If I want to play scales for learning, it is much easier to use a thicker pick, as the sound is cleaner, especially going between all the strings and where fast picking is not always a factor. On a gig, where you are playing a myriad of tunes, changing picking speed constantly, chording, arpeggios etc., I found the thin pick to work better.
From your experience, what is the best approach you have found, and what do you recommend?

Thanks,

Steven C. Henry
February 15, 2016 at 8:44 pm #3174

Rick Stone
Keymaster

Steven,

I think as you’ve already mentioned, it is largely subjective. Yes, I could definitely pick faster with smaller picks (though not necessarily thinner). I used the Dunlop Jazz IIIs for many years and could get a lot of speed that way. But at some point I started opting sacrifice some speed for a better sound and for the last 20 (or more) years, I’ve been using the VERY heavy and contoured picks made by Dugain. I started out with the wooden ones, but in the last few years have gone over to using those made of acetate because they don’t wear down as quickly (I was constantly filing and sanding the wood ones to maintain the shape of the tip). I’ll also mention that I don’t particularly like playing the Dugains on round-wound or lighter gauge strings (my usual setup consists of flatwounds going from a .0135 down to a .052) I like a really dark sound (as you can probably tell from the sound I get on the videos).

I think the best approach is to find the sound that you like, and then work your technique out around that (at least that’s what’s worked for me). After I switched to the Dugains, I did modify my right-hand technique for efficiency (to makeup for some of the speed I lost by going to such a thick pick). But I found that the improvement in sound helped me to not be in such a hurry to always play so many notes. It was almost like a basic dissatisfaction with my tone was causing me to constantly hurry.

I did work on things like tremolo to train my right-hand to keep the pick closer to the strings, and would work out specific fingerings and picking for bebop heads, licks and phrases so that I was keeping my pick motion to a minimum, and I do believe that helped a lot.

Hope this helps.

Musically Yours,
~ Rick Stone
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