Guitar Picks
When people want to change the way their guitar sounds they have a tendency to fiddle with the amp, buy new strings, or even go so far as to replace the pickups. But, sometimes the thing that can really make all the difference is the smallest part of your guitar playing arsenal; the plectrum!
Its not that changing strings, tube, etc. won’t change your sound. It will. But, is it really necessary? One of the chief advantages that the guitar has over the piano is the ability to change your sound at the point of attack. With a guitar you have so much control over tone at you picking hand. Palm mutes, rakes, digging in, lifting up on the strings, etc. All of these things have an effect on your sound and the pick is at the forefront.
Picks come in all shapes, sizes, and materials. I’ve tried plastic, metal and even wooden picks. Ironically, each material sounds about like you would expect it to. The metal is bright, the plastic is versatile, and the wood is warm sounding. Then the actual strinking surface is a part of the overall sound as well. A pointy-tipped pick sounds very articulate, and a rounded one sounds….well, round!
So, before you go switching the pots in your guitar, and buying ten sets of different gauge strings, try finding a variety of different picks and see if this doesn’t give you a much cheaper way of altering your tone.
By the way, my experience has been that almost every beginner favors the large triangular picks, particularly the light picks. Yet nearly every advanced guitarist that I know (that plays with a pick anyway) tends to favor small heavy picks. The closer you are to the strings the more control and speed you have. And with a heavy pick you can always relax your grip for soft playing, but you still have the backbone that is necessary for digging in when you need it.
For a treatise on picking technique check out Tuck Andress’ website.
Filed under: Guitar, Musical Gear
I play with a pick so thin it only has one side. If I try to play with anything heaver, I sound like an idiot…I don’t mean to bust your theory, but for 20 years I’ve played with a big thin pick. Maybe I haven’t matured yet.
Didn’t you also tell me that you are left handed but play a right handed guitar? I don’t think you’ve busted the theory I just think that you are the exception. My experience is that most advanced guitar players use small heavy picks. But obviously not all. The good think about playing with those thin picks is if you lose one you can simply cut a new one from construction paper! j/k!
Yes, I’m left handed, and when I play “Air” guitar,I play left handed… when I play terrestrial guitar, I play right handed, go figure…now where did I put that construction paper
LOL! It obviously works for you. As a (former) guitar instructor I wouldn’t reccomend it to my students, but I certainly don’t think that there is only one way to play guitar.
Given recent developments I might end up teaching guitar again!
Where you pick makes a huge difference. Some players simply anchor their picking hand to the bridge and keep it there. Experiment with picking in different places along the length of the strings.
That’s the same reason why pickup positions make a tonal difference.
Watch Jeff Beck using his fingers!
Good Point Strat-O!
I’ve watched so many guitarists struggle because of using the wrong picks. I’ve always recommended for beginners and acoustic rhythm players to use light picks…when they make contact with the string, if the pick is too hard or the wrong texture even, there is too much resistance. I used to play with two plectrums in my hand at a time for some songs, I’d swap to a slightly heavier one when playing single lines and for rhythm use lighter dunlop nylon picks. It might sound silly but, the wrong picks annoy me. I find it a little annoying when pick companies ‘discontinue’ a product or have them made in a different factory. Maybe I’m too fussy.
For jazz, I’d always play my chords fingerstyle, this way I could get nicer voicings and not have that fraction of a time delay between notes and dead strings in the middle. And when I took a ‘break’ I’d nearly always use a plectrum.
Because I play both fingerstyle and plectrum guitar, I got caught out one day. I went on stage and it wasn’t until I’d played half of a song hat I realized that I had only ever used a pick for that song.
If i use the wrong pick, i really can’t play at all. Lately people keep on telling me i should use heavier pics… i use light strings and really thin pics (dunlop standard 0.46mm)
when i started to play 3 years ago i used a 1mm one which quickly felt too thick… to i went down to 0.88, then 0.7, then 0.6 and now i’m using really thin ones. I play mostly metal, high notes really quickly and the thin ones just feel right to me. i guess it’s just everyone’s preference what feels best to them. if i use a thicker pic, i just sounds and feels awful!