I use very stiff picks.
at the moment purple Dunlop picks 2mm. and I´ve drilled quite a few holes and scratched the surface (where I hold the pick) for better grip.
I also like Pick Boy Hard 1.00 ; the white ones with "Lego surface" at the grip but they´re sometimes difficult to get hold of where I live.
might just visit that brooklyngear.com homepage and buy a hefty bag full of them... :lol:
I use the Dunlop .88mm all the time. I only started using them because Metallica use them. But overtime I have grown to love them, and cant use any other pick really. I have loads of them now.
I use the yellow Dunlop Tortex. i think they're 0.71mm, but they might be 0.73... or are the green ones the 0.73? Anyway I use the yellow.
How did you guys arrive at your choice of picks? For a few years as a beginner, I just sort of randomly picked a "medium" gauge (much like the green Dunlop tortex), but one day I decided to be a bit more conscious about it, and I bought a dozen each of the white, yellow and green dunlop picks (I'd already decided that I didn't like the super thick stubby ones nor the really thin ones by trying them a few times.)
Then I played with the white ones for two weeks, then the yellow ones for a couple weeks, then the green ones for a couple weeks. (The green ones were pretty much what I had been using from the start, and what I thought I would prefer. But, turns out I actually liked the yellow ones the best.
I just mention it because I thought I knew what I liked, but when I actually tried a bunch consciously trying to see which one I liked without deciding in advance, I got surprised.
Edit: Hehe. I just looked at the poll results. Not what I was expecting to see, man you guys use monstrous picks.
Black Jazz III's for electric & red Jazz III's & Fender Mediums for acoustic.
I used to use Fender extra heavy picks for electric. I watched JP's REH vid & found out he uses the Dunlop Jazz III's, so I bought one out of curiosity just to try it out. Needless to say the extra heavys are gone. Every time I use an extra heavy on an electric it feels like I'm playing with an ice cream container lid.
I use Fender mediums & red Jazz III's for acoustic playing because I prefer their feel on the acoustic. They're not too stiff, so you're able to get very nice dynamics with them & they have some wicked pearloid colors too (the Fender's).
One Day the 3 little vais went into town. At the same little Red Jesse hood was walking throught the forest... looking for a place to rest. He came across the Vais house and knocked at the door.... there was No responce so little red Jesse hood walked in any ways. at this point he wanted to play guitar pretty bad, so he picked up a PRS but quickly put it back down..." no! the neck is MUCH to think!" the he moved on and just about touched a Tom Delounge strat..." ...NAH!..." then He saw a jem7vwh sitting in the corner.." just right" but now he needed a pick. There was a 0.21 gauge pick that just happened to be floating by..." too light". then he tried to pick up a 1.22 gauge pick... but it was too heavey to pick up off the floor. then he saw one stuck to the headstock..." Just right" so he continued jamming till the vais came home... then they ate him.
Dunlop Jazz III's here too. The red ones, almost the same size as a normal pick but sharp on the end. I've searched for years for the right combination of type, thickness and shape and the Jazz III's are the closest I've found to the perfect pick. So comfy ....
For fast shreddy stuff, I used to love using really light guage nylon picks. You can pick really fast with them. Haven't used them in a while though, because they tear easily and don't really take a lot of abuse. For right now, I'm using pink jemsite.com picks, which are about 1mm I think.
They're awesome for sweeping although i'm still dubious whether it's easier to pick fast with (My previous favorite) a 1.mm pick.
I've been practising Scarified by Racer X for ages now and for the main riff it sounds better/is easier to play with a heavy 1.mm pick, although the sweeping and fast picking sections are easier to play with the .46mm pick :S
I used to use those big ass thick Fender triangle picks, couldn't strum worth crap with it, and broke many strings playing lead. On Strats no less. Around the time I got my first Ibanez in '89 I found a Dunlop nylon .88mm, it had the flex I liked for strumming, yet was stiff enough for pinched harmonics. Tried the Dunlop 1mm, too thick for strumming, but great for leads.
I use a small stubby 3.0mm, for shredding, and for stuff like the deftones, fear factory, etc. i use a 1.14mm dunlop ultex or sumthing similar.
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