Gruffchris Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 Hey, My most common pic that I use is a 46 nylon jim dunlop , they're the see through ones. When I move up to a 60 nylon(pink one) or 50 plastic (red one), then some tone is taken out of the guitar replaces by volume and a little muddiness, If I go up to a blue, it just doesn't sound right to my ears. If I am playing any king of lead or picking then I will move up to the 50 or 60, but sometime i stay with the 46 and just move my fingers closer to the edge. I taught myself how to play the guitar, so I know I play it wrong. I naturally hold the pic with 2 fingers and a thumb. With thumb and fingers pointing at the guitar. I have been on the forum for a few months and notice a lot of people use the heavy pics and I just wondered how you get a good tone, and why you don't use the thin ones? Or why do i think the thin ones give the best sound, but the majority don't? Edit = I've found this to be the case since I first started to play, not just with the guitars I have now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 Yep...it's called personal preference. Crispy tones or smooth, swapping back and forth between picks is just another fun way to delay doing other things while stretching out playing time. I'll be late to work again today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfpick Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 After a player switches to a stiffer pick, you rarely see them give it up to go back to using a floppy pick. Along with a feeling of increased precision, because your tip never moves, there are also considerable differences in tone and volume. It takes a little while to get used to the feeling of the strings becoming the object that moves, instead of the pick bending. Instead of just pivoting your wrist to strum your guitar, it's more a feeling of moving the pick through the strings with your whole forearm. Whether picking or strumming, you definitely get a greater dynamic range where you can play whisper quiet or really dig in and set a string humming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 Son, you gotta get yourself Wegan 3mm fat boy, then you can call yourself a real flatpicker ....... and lose all tone. Ive been debating on the AGF with the ol' Martin boys forever about virutes of thick pickness. Personally I find these thick picks absolute tone killers, they just make the guitar sound harsh and bright when strummed. Only really half decent for fast flatpicking in my humble opinion .... Im sure some will disagree. Ive played for a long time the Torex .60mm pick as I like the good amount of flex for strumming. The .46 for me was just too flexy and I couldnt dig in enough when doing some harder strumming. When I was making to my annual pilgrimage to Mecca, sorry, I mean Thomann the head of acoustics took me aside to let me play a whole bunch of Gibsons (I already bought two from them) and gave me Gibson medium pick to try. This actually changed my strumming life forever, love that pick, and it around .75mm I think, which for me is ideal as it has enough flex for a good strumming tone and but also thick enough for some good tone when doing lead work. It also really brings out the clarity of the guitar and projection campability. Anway, I forgot what your question was now Chris, ahm, but thats what I use and that was my journey. btw: you use two fingers and thumb to hold the pick. I just tried it, with two fingers and must say it feels really stronge for me. A bit like trying to wear high heels .... but thats a different story .. ;-) EA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojorule Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 This question interests me from the other direction. I learned to play the acoustic fingerstyle on a classical, and picks only became an issue when I learned electric (though I also practised leccy with a pick on the classical). With the exception of my very first Ernie Ball, I've always had a so-called heavy equilateral pick (Peavey, then Gibson). They gave me exactly the control that Surfpick mentions, and I've never understood how anybody could play with a more flexible thing. Learned to do **** Dale and Lou Reed impersonations with a heavy, and to me those players are the epitome of flatpicking on electric (sorry metal shredders, but you're a bit too controlled). Never had a tonal issue on electric. On acoustic, I never really used my best picks, just a load of Dunlop/Martin delrin type smaller picks, plus one plexi-like stubee type thing. They were all thicker than my electric pick, didn't feel the best, and didn't do much for the tone (not crisp enough for me). But I was playing in a jazz band, volume was needed, and they did the job without breaking. Fast-forward to the Woody, and I have not felt able to use my usual acoustic picks because they seem brutal for the shorter scale instrument and its lower tension. So I've started using the old Gibson triangle for the first time on acoustic. Feels great, and my last sample got nice reviews from the likes of EA, but I have to say it does sound a touch trebly to my ears. In one extreme case, it made the recorded sound of the Woody sound like a banjo. While agreeing with Surfpick that lots of experienced players use heavier picks and refuse to go back to more flexible friends, I have also noticed that a lot of pros claim to use the sort of picks that EA uses. So my first question is how do people go back to using thinner picks? How do you cope with the fact that it's the pick that bends first and not the string? Second question is what pick I should be using to get the feel of a heavy Gibson pick (so very firm and stiff, but not really thick) without sounding overly crisp? I don't really like the feel of delrin, and I like the feel of Dunlop tortex even less. Recommendations, please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 . True that the thickness of the pick can affect the tone and the ease of the strum, but there are ways to manipulate your grip and attack angle to alter the tone and crispness of the sound, as well as the ease of the strum. By the attack angle I'm meaning the angle at which you strum/pluck the pick into the strings - from flush, to turning toward the edge of the pick, to the pick edge being perpendicular to the string (an extreme to get my meaning across). I use Tortex .73mm, the large triangles. Grip: two fingers and thumb - which necessitates the large triangles to fit my chubby fingers. Tone: Two things - the tightness of the grip (lose=warmer tone, firm=harder tone & more crisp), and the angle of attack (more angle=softer, more flush=harder tone & more crisp). As you increase the attack angle, you can divert some of the energy of the strum/pluck to sliding the edge over the string a bit. The more energy you divert, the softer/less-crisp the sound. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruffchris Posted July 20, 2012 Author Share Posted July 20, 2012 Hey you guys, So I'm the only one, lol? About the Gibson mediums, yes I own one and it is a good pic. It fell down the back of the couch a month or so ago and is now lost in the abyss. If I play lead I will hold the pic correctly, or if I'm playing something which requires individual strings to be hit, like the opening to angie, then my hand automatically grips the pic in the proper manner, also I will use the .5 or .6 or gibson medium(they are all about the sameish). But if i'm strumming I want to hold it with 2 fingers and a thumb. I know that if i squeeze my grip tighter it makes the thin plec go quite hard, because of the bend between thumb and fingers. If i try to hold the thin .46 plec normal(the correct way) then it sounds tinny. And i can not do the bendy thing with a thicker pick. I need to buy the stuff to enable me to upload stuff, I aint a very good player, but at least someone could here both, and decide which sounds best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texastrummer Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 As someone mentioned the pic is the easiest way to change the way your guitar sounds. Of course what sounds "good" is a matter of pesonal preference. Me being a techno-nerd I went down to guitar center one day and bought about 20 different pics. A variety of materials and thicknesses. Then I played them and kept notes. Yeah I know that's pretty nerdy. But! After some time the field narrowed to .73 Ultex for most things. If there is a lot of picking I might move up to the 1.0. As ws also pointed out previously there are variables in how tightly the pic is held and the angle of attack. Bottom line like just about everything it boils down to preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 I have found the thickness of the proper pick to be directly proportional to the string gauge. Light strings = thin pick, Heavy strings = thick pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruffchris Posted July 21, 2012 Author Share Posted July 21, 2012 Well, this may sound strange but I'm gonna put down the superthin pick and play with the gibson medium for the next week, then I'll go back and see if the thin pic then sounds week. @Larry, I have 12's on my guitar. @Texas, Yeah I did the same, well I have about 8-10 pics, but nothing over a blue 1.0, I'll have to buy a 3.0 and see what the crack is, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Cool ... let us know how you go. I know for me it was impossible to go to the thinner pick after some time with the Gibson medium. btw: glad you managed to find it in the sofa abyss .. Well, this may sound strange but I'm gonna put down the superthin pick and play with the gibson medium for the next week, then I'll go back and see if the thin pic then sounds week. @Larry, I have 12's on my guitar. @Texas, Yeah I did the same, well I have about 8-10 pics, but nothing over a blue 1.0, I'll have to buy a 3.0 and see what the crack is, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfpick Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Personally I find these thick picks absolute tone killers, they just make the guitar sound harsh and bright when strummed. The material used plays a big part in creating tone. I am biased but I can't abide using a piece of plastic as the link between a player & a beautiful instrument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merseybeat1963 Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Acoustics - Fender Thin Picks on .053-.012 Light (Elixer Phos.Bronze)...When really playing they give up every couple of hours ArchTop - Fender Heavy Picks on .049-.011 (Gibson L5 Strings..Pure Nickle wound) Electrics - Fender Heavy Picks on .036-.009 (Gibson Ex.Ex. Light Nickle Plated Steel) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jannusguy2 Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 I don't always use a pick but when I do it's Dunlop .46mm. Stay picky my friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarrr Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 For rhythm type strums a thin pick brings out more chorous voice and for note playing a stiffer pick. Blue Chip TD35 is the most stiff I use and a Dunlop gator .71mm for most anything else. Stiff/heavy picks loose a lot of clarity on acoustic, but they are great for elec.... imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerohead Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Yep...it's called personal preference. Crispy tones or smooth, swapping back and forth between picks is just another fun way to delay doing other things while stretching out playing time. I'll be late to work again today. Hahahaaa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 This one does it for me -A bit soft, but I like the little percussive splash with my notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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