Bad pick, No donut

spantini

spantini

COO of me, inc.
I've got this one pick I'm using for bass and electric guitar, and on guitar, after several strums, it begins to rotate so the long edge presents itself to the strings. Next thing, I'm strumming air. Arrrgh!

None of my other picks do this and it doesn't happen when playing bass.
 
You use a pick on a bass? The horror! (Just kidding, I use one when I want that sound - or speed).
I use an older worn pick on bass, one where the point is already worn down. There's all sorts of methods used to make picks stay stable in your fingers - sticky gum stuff, drilling holes in the pick, textured picks, etc.
 
gecko zzed said:
Lol. I always play a pick sideways, with the long edge against the strings instead of the pointy end.
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I can't even imagine playing that way. Does your health insurance cover that? :p



mjbphotos said:
You use a pick on a bass? The horror! (Just kidding, I use one when I want that sound - or speed).
I use an older worn pick on bass, one where the point is already worn down. There's all sorts of methods used to make picks stay stable in your fingers - sticky gum stuff, drilling holes in the pick, textured picks, etc.
Click to expand...
I'm about 70/30 using pick/fingers. I used to rub my fingers and pick on my jeans to make them non-slip at gigs and practice. My thin picks never get worn down on bass, they just fatigue and break off.
 
I picked up some Dunlops and Fenders that are triangular... I have the numbness from carpal tunnel so I can't keep the pick from spinning. With triangles I have an increased chance of hitting the strings!
 
I'm not understanding how/why the pick would keep spinning on you guys...?...it must be how you are holding it.
I guess if you just pinch it between your forefinger and thumb, it's going to spin...but I've never held a pick that way going back to my fist lessons as a kid.

I hold it between those fingers, but also with my middle-finger...so it's kinda cradled between my forefinger and middle finger, with the thumb pushing down in-between them.
It never spins, and I find that it provides much better control for a variety of picking dynamics. I also don't "flat pick" the strings, but with the hold I use, I'm actually picking the string with the pick at a slight angle, so the edge at the tip of the pick is what comes into initial contact, not the flat part of the tip.

If you just hold between forefinger and thumb, with the other three fingers kinda fanned out...it's not going to give you much control, and it's a lighter kind of pick action with more pick flap.

The way I hold it...it also allows me to keep the pick between my middle finger and thumb, and then I can extend my forefinger and just pick the finger, which is a different tone altogether.
 
Just superglue it to your fingertips. When done, just use some nail polish remover to get it off ;)
:)

Ps. Think my post is ridiculous??? No more ridiculous than a whole thread about pic problems.

Ahhhh, the joy of first world problems:)
 
mjbphotos said:
You use a pick?
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TIFIFY. ;)

My first thought is also that you must be holding the thing wrong. That thing about a poor craftsman blaming whatever...

But if it’s really just this one pick, then first don’t use that pick, but second what’s different about it? Is it more slippery? Is it more rigid? Bigger or smaller?
 
I have had this same problem crop up on me! Fairly recent, say the last year or so. I have no idea why it's happening but I can be right in the middle of a nice solo (well, nice for me) and suddenly I'm missing the strings completely and the pick has turned sideways in my hand. It actually happened to me on stage many years ago, come to think of it. But more so these days. I find if I clean the oils from my skin off of the pick it helps but doesn't eliminate the problem completely. Someone else that I know told me not long ago that he has the same problem. I think it comes from China...
 
I have trouble because the outside edge of my first finger was nipped off many years ago. The tip is flat and the skin stays dry so the pick slips around. I found Cool Picks some years ago with a sandpaper type of coating that keeps it from spinning. I like the sound of the pick as well. They also have a style that has a rubbery surface.

PKAG-M_400x.jpg
 
I was tracking bass yesterday and the Fender Thin was playing nice.. BUT!... my fingers on both hands were sweating like crazy. I look over to my fretting hand and I see sweat droplets all over my fingers, then at my picking hand and see the same.. and the pick was barely hanging on. I was toweling off like a tennis player after each run through - me and the pick.

The sweat on my fretting hand was actually helping as I'm playing very fat La Bella flats and they were sliding nicely.
 
spantini said:
I was tracking bass yesterday and the Fender Thin was playing nice.. BUT!... my fingers on both hands were sweating like crazy. I look over to my fretting hand and I see sweat droplets all over my fingers, then at my picking hand and see the same.. and the pick was barely hanging on. I was toweling off like a tennis player after each run through - me and the pick.

The sweat on my fretting hand was actually helping as I'm playing very fat La Bella flats and they were sliding nicely.
Click to expand...
Odd, I think back to last summer's outdoor gigs, me dripping sweat but not so much the hands, or at least pic problems.
Then again not 'Florida wet' here but.. :>)
 
Something that would probably help is that fingertip moisturizer used by cashiers and bank tellers. It sounds counterintuitive, but it can offer a better grip. Some dry to a tacky residue.
 
I have tried and tried , but I cannot use the pointy end of a pick. Always used the rounded side and it Never moves. I'm going to work on the Cosmic Cowboy method.. ms
 
A long time ago, I was bored and put a match to my pick. It was instant pfffft! with some cool sparklies and bubbles... Where did it go!? It was like the magician's burning paper trick. After that, I saved all my broken picks for one big pfffft! show. Then, for psychedelic reasons, I progressed to tying large plastic trash bags into a string of knots, hanging them from a wire coat hanger over the bathtub filled with water, lighting the bottom tail, turning the lights off and.. little drops of flaming lava would drip slowly making a zipping noise on the way down to the water. The light show wasn't bad either.
 
spantini , we used to call the tied up bag a "Zilch" We got raided one night having a huge party in the woods and one officer made a guy untie all the knots searching for drugs. ms
 
A "Zilch"! Alright.. cool name. We kept all our shows indoors. I'll bet untying all the knots was another show in itself :p
 
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