[ibaraki_gaijin]

I've been a Jazz iii person for about a decade now. Best lead pick by miles.

Here's the thing.
I can play fast with them. The Eric Johnson/Bonamassa style pickslanted pentatonic flurries are do-able with the extra control these give.

The larger regular picks just feel odd. Suitable for campfire renditions of Wonderwall and little else.

But I've always struggled with something.
That Paul Gilbert style really aggressive fast picking attack. I always figured it was because I'm not Gilbert and he's not human. That's part of it sure. But after years of metronome training I'm still missing something. Is the pick a factor?

I saw a vid with Gilbert where he said he likes a thin pick for doing pick-scrapes as a thick pick doesn't get into the string grooves. So does he use a really thin pick?

Interesting thing. A really thin pick, twisted slightly off perpendicular by the bridge pick-up makes a really noisy pick attack when alternate picking. I can't do it fast... Too floppy. Need my Jazz iii... But it is that extra pick noise the missing part of the sound I was struggling to get?

Anyone else been experimenting with this?

 

[Formerly Given To Fly]

Paul Gilbert does not have the cleanest pick attack which is what allows you to hear when he is picking versus slurring notes. He talks about it, I think in an Andertons video, but I'm not really sure. He plays with almost no tension and he has big, strong hands. I have never gotten the impression the guitar was particularly difficult for him either. When you combine those traits into one person, yes, they have an advantage. (Ironically, they usually quit and go to law school.)

If you want a pick recommendation, the V-Pick Tremolo Pointed Mandolin Pick is 1.0mm thick with almost no flex: https://v-picks.com/shop/tremolo-pointed/
It is somewhat counterintuitive to buy a mandolin pick but tremolo, or alternate picking, is one thing mandolinists do extremely well. I can not make any guarantees you will like it, but if you've played Jazz III's for 10 years, this will definitely feel different but be in the ballpark of what you are used to. You may want to look at the Switchblade and Venom as well.