Your Favorite Pick?

[Buc McMaster]

Picks are one of those things like strings........most have a favorite. Until today, my favorite rotated between a Blue Chip TP and a TPR (both 50s) or a Red Bear Mondo. The BC picks are some space age synthetic that they say costs a billion dollars for a small, solid block of the stuff. The 50 (think heavy) I like is totally inflexible and relatively thin as hard picks go. Both the TP and the TPR are the same size, with the "R" having more rounded corners, and both feel very solid on the strings. The RB Mondo is a very round-edged pick made of some kind of animal protein, giving it a very natural feel between the thumb and finger (very much like real tortoise). Two or three of these survived my ukulele days buried away in a junk box and I was happy to find them when I bought a guitar. These picks are quick to change shape from the heat and moister of being gripped. On some of the videos I've posted you might see me roll the pick in my fingers to turn the cup shape it takes on over. I actually like this aspect of the Red Bear pick.

 

All round-edged picks attenuate high (treble) frequencies and produce a very warm tone, which some players don't like. Sometimes I like the sharper, more jangly sound from a more pointed pick, like the BC TP. But today I received what has become an instant favorite - a Red Bear Big Picker H (for heavy). This one has some size to it and fits my grip better than any of the others. It also has a good compromise tip.......not too round, not too pointed. So far, so good with this one...........what's your pick of choice?

 

[Jalex]

I recently purchased a Charmedlifepick a sponsor on AGF http://www.charmedlifepicks.com/ . Never thought I'd spend $25 on a pick but there you go. It's made of the same stuff as the Blue Chip and I like it for picking single not stuff. Call me boring but I'm happy strumming with a black Gibson medium pick, the one that comes in the case when you buy a new Gibby

 

Here's the Charmedlifepick:

[Salfromchatham]

I use Cool Picks Pure Cell...

 

They come in .75 and 1.00. I like 1.00 better. Less than a buck at my music store...

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-SIX-COOL-PICKS-Pure-Cell-Guitar-Picks-1-00mm-Celluloid-Rubberized-grip-/281857532234

[kwalker201]

I had someone give me a BC TAD40 that i like, I also have been using a Wegen TF 140

[Joe M]

I haven't found a pick I like any better than a good old Fender medium. Tried just about every pick available, in fact, there was a traveling pick package over on the Martin forum a few years ago so I was being literal when I say I've tried just about every pick. Of course, just about any medium pick will do, I've just got more of the Fender's laying around. In fact, every time I visit GC, I pick up a pick or two they always have laying around. Seem pretty much like Fender mediums to me. I can't remember the last time I actually bought a pick. I've got such a stash of picks I'll never use them all.

[Dave F]

I've tried a lot of them (and have a drawer full) but keep coming back to the 355 Heavy. A carryover from my youth.

 

 

 

 

[SC_Wannabe]

I've tried Blue Chip, Wegen, and JP Fast Turtle picks, but really didn't care for any of them. Maybe it's my playing style, I don't know.

 

On the J50 I've went through several "favorites" -- Dunlop Ultex, Cool Pics like Sal described above, and others I can't remember. Right now my favorite is a good old Dunlop Tortex .73 mm (yellow) (or maybe the green .88 m version on a rare occasion).

[Buc McMaster]

Maybe it's my playing style.......

 

Perzackly. A players' style moves with him/her, from one instrument to another, but the pick moves too, as part of that style.

[mz-s]

I'm liking the pick that came with my new J-15 - celluloid medium, I guess. First time I've ever used a celluloid medium pick - before I've always used delrin or nylon. Might switch to celluloid as my standard here on out.

[Jesse_Dylan]

I really like my Bluechip pick. I had to look (I guess I forgot); it's a TAD 40. I tried a billion different Bluechips and settled on that one. I have a TAD 50 as well, but I find I just use the 40. In fact, I wouldn't mind getting a couple more TAD 40s. At first it was cool only having one pick, but now I'm tired of having to go to different rooms to fetch it.

 

In addition to trying practically everything Bluechip makes, I tried a ton of different makers. I used to use really flimsy Dunlop nylon picks, but I just like the Bluechip so much more. Why? I don't know. Maybe I have been swindled. It does seem to play well, sound good, and not make any undesirable noises. In fact, it's so quiet I sometimes miss the click I used to get with the Dunlops. Sometimes.

 

I thought I maybe had another Bluechip somewhere, but I guess I gave it away when I decided the TAD40 was my one and only. I can't even remember how the TAD differs from the TP. Maybe the TAD is a little bigger.

[slimt]

Old Buffalo Horn picks.. Those work for me well..

[58 Relic]

Normally a Fred Kelly Speed Pick or very very rarely a George Dennis Sharpe Pick the red one . I used these in my days of playing the music of the Shadows ( the same type that is used by Hank Marvin ) I tend to use thumb pick and fingers these acoustic days though

[EuroAussie]

Gibson Medium for me. I like a bit of flex for strumming.

Did the whole pick exerimentation a few years ago and just always return to the Gibson mids.

[fortyearspickn]

Always looking at new possibilities - I thought I'd found 'the one' with the Dunlop Tortex. yellow .73, but then found the Dunlop Ultex seemed a bit better - closer to tortoise. So I bought a lifetime supply on Amazon when I realized buying in bulk cut the price per pick in half. And, then of course, I found another 'the one" with the Graph Tech Tusq PQP. Thinner material gives a stiffer pick, better 'sound off the string. Plus a better grip with the raised branding on both sides. And, at only $1 a pop, I think my search has ended.

[mountainpicker]

Blue Chip TAD-40's for me. Just tried a D'Andrea Pro Plec and took the time to bevel it well but..nyet. And it's beginning to cup already after only two weeks of sitting around (like every Red Bear pick I ever owned). I find the Blue Chips play thicker than their size so I ended up a little thinner in the end than I thought I would. Once I got use to a Blue Chip's transparency (no pick click on the strings), smoothness of the release off the string and the inherent tackiness of the material, so it doesn't slip, I was hooked. The closest thing I've found to the BC, tone-wise, is the Cool Pick in 1.0mm that ThemisSal mentions.

[SC_Wannabe]

I guess I'm not hearing things the same as others when it comes to Blue Chip picks. I've tried them in 35, 40, and 50 thicknesses, and the thing that bothers me the most about them is how much much they click on the strings.

[Buc McMaster]

Pick click can be minimized with a firm grip and a flat angle of attack.

 

(iP+Fg)+Fa = Npn

(inflexible Pick + Firm grip)+Flat attack = No pick noise

 

But of course this method does not suit all playing styles. The pick is intimately tied to a players' style.

[Lars68]

I use a Blue Chip TAD 40 (the elongated triangular style) and love it. I like how it reduces string clicks and that it gets slightly sticky when warm between the fingers. I'm a little odd in that I always play with one of the upper, rounded corners. Don't think this particular pick is designed to be played like that, but I find holding the pick on the side gives me more length of pick to hold on to, also by using the shorter distance of the rounded corner, it brings my hand/palm closer to the strings. I like the palm muted tone, and holding the pick this way helps me. I also like the somewhat less trebly tone I get from the rounded corners.

 

Lars

 

By the way, I found this little "metal wallet" thingy with a picture of Townes van Zandt on ebay recently. It's perfect for storing my picks, Dunlop capo, truss rod wrench, and string action gauge (not that I use the last two very often). It reminds me of an artist whose work I admire and what level of performance/songwriting to aspire to every time I reach for a pick.

[blindboygrunt]

As buc well knows I have some blue chip picks

I use them regularly , and love them dearly . I have given two away to people I know who love them

I don't have it as my go to pick

If I didn't know the guy and someone said to me 'I want to buy buc McMaster a pick which one should I get him?' I'd say a blue chip

 

Watch bucs videos and see how his attack on the string is not the average guys norm

 

I can totally see why the bluegrass fast pickin crowd would love them .

They totally don't fall out of your hand . They do click if they're not held tight .

They're very fast picks no doubt , but they won't make you a fast picker !

 

It's horses for courses and trying to find out what pick you need buy reading a guitar forum is like askImg a stranger in the street what colour you should paint your living room

 

Jimi Hendrix never had a blue chip pick and he did alright ya know

[kidblast]

When I use em, (mostly for electric which I play about half the time, acoustic, when it's required..)

 

I like these medium yellow (D'Andrea) picks.. I get a dozen for $3.99.. I can get a half a gross for like 39 bucks.. Optionally, the fender tear drops (the bottom one) picks have a different texture, but.. I prefer the others.

 

 

honestly, I have to say.. I start scratching my head when I hear about yous guys dropping 45/50+ bucks on a pick... I've never tried one,, so.... enlighten me..

[gfa]

I recently purchased a Charmedlifepick a sponsor on AGF http://www.charmedlifepicks.com/ . Never thought I'd spend $25 on a pick but there you go. It's made of the same stuff as the Blue Chip and I like it for picking single not stuff. Call me boring but I'm happy strumming with a black Gibson medium pick, the one that comes in the case when you buy a new Gibby

 

Here's the Charmedlifepick:

 

I've been loving my Blue Chip TP-40 for some years now. The material is smooth, but somehow sticky on the fingers, and the pick noise is much reduced compared to other picks. I recently got a Charmed Life pick, similar to Jalex's picture. I haven't played with the CL enough to post a review of it (although I can review their customer service, which is outstanding!). Initial impression is that the CL "tortoise" series pick is warmer sounding than the BC picks. BTW Jalex, the pick in your pic is not the same material as the Blue Chips. CL makes two series of picks, one of which is the same material as the BCs and the other of which they call "tortoise," but it's made from some sort of animal protein. And stuff.

[SC_Wannabe]

Pick click can be minimized with a firm grip and a flat angle of attack.

 

(iP+Fg)+Fa = Npn

(inflexible Pick + Firm grip)+Flat attack = No pick noise

 

But of course this method does not suit all playing styles. The pick is intimately tied to a players' style.

OK then. I'll try manning up on my pick grip and give the BCs another try. B) I do like the way the feel in the hand.