Acoustic guitar picks

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Monkey Allen

Monkey Allen

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What is the most common type of pick for good acoustic guitar strumming do you reckon?

I have always used a fairly meaty pick...maybe 1mm...but a lot of people seem to use thin bendy picks.

What do you use for strumming and why? And does anyone know what type of picks (thick/thin) The Beatles or Bob Dylan used for their strumming?

thanks
 
I use a triangular medium pick for acoustic, and a small teardrop medium for electric.
 
I like Dunlop Nylon .88mm. There is less pick noise than with thicker picks, but it seems to be just thick enough for playability. Any thinner and single notes are impossible to get right.
 
I play electric with extremely thick picks, but I play acoustic with thin to medium picks. I just think it sounds smoother and plays better that way. Now for something picky on an acoustic I would probably grab at least a medium pick or something heavier.
 
I have one surviving Dunlop Tortex Sharp. It's the yellow one, the print has been gone for so long that I can't even tell you what thickness it is. The combination of a medium thickness and that sharp point produce such a great crisp attack on an acoustic guitar, that I fear the day when I finally lose track of my favorite pick.
 
I like heavy picks for electric, but alternate between heavy and very light for acoustic, depending on the sound I'm after. Very thin picks give me that light and airy sound, with minimal pick clunk, that I sometimes prefer for atmospheric backing guitars.

J.
 
remember, it's not just the thickness that determines the sound of a pick, it's the material it's made out of.

try different brands, as well as different thicknesses.

(i personally like the Dunlop tortoises, blue, whatever thickness that is)
 
Whichever one you like.


I know guys who use really fat picks, I know guys who like really thin picks. It is all a matter of taste. Just try a bunch, and see which ones you like. It is sort of like strings. There is a triumverate that exists between the guitar, the player, and the strings. Not one of those things is me, except for when I am the player. It's the same with picks. It is between you and the pick.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Check out tortoise or ivory if you can find them. Tortoise are running about $40/each out here. Made from old comb sets and handbags and stuff from the 20's and earlier.

You can also find old ivory cueballs if you look around long enough. Some ivory vanity sets might be good pick material too. I've got an old one here that belonged to my Mom, it's a hand-held mirror out of a solid piece of ivory. Stunning piece really. If it ever breaks though it's gonna become pick and nut/saddle stock. :D

Those are the original materials that flatpicks were first made from. I haven't used ivory but everyone I've talked to about it agrees that the ivory pick kinda sticks to your fingers after a while. Like natural Gorilla Snot or something.

I haven't been able to justify spending $40 on a pick so I use $5 bull horn picks. I like the ones with a bit of a "cup" to them. They fit nicely in the ball of my thumb. ;)
 
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I've been playing guitar for about 15 years and have always liked the medium picks for both electric and acoustic. Just seems in the place I record in now (my room that has concrete floors and therefore insane reverb) my acoustic is too boomy with a medium pick...but then when I use a light pick I feel like I'm not getting the attack I want or maybe that I'm used to.

I also can't seem to hold the pick regulation style...as in between the thumb and index finger. I have to have my middle finger in there to stabilize the pick. If I try to play with just thumb and index the pick always slips out and I drop it! But, I know there is no real wrong or right for the grip...that's a preference thing.
 
punkin said:
Dunlop Big Stubby :D
Click to expand...

I really like the 1mm big stubby for acoustic (& electric).

Also, check out the dunlop ultex picks. The thinnest they make is a .60mm which works great for acoustic strumming. nice attack, but not the floppy/clicky shit you get from most thinner picks.

my tendency is to keep as many different types of picks around so that i can choose the one that sounds best for the part i'm recording. sometimes thin or medium picks win out. other times, i like the thickness. kind of like with women. :D
 
smtcharlie said:
I like Dunlop Nylon .88mm. There is less pick noise than with thicker picks, but it seems to be just thick enough for playability. Any thinner and single notes are impossible to get right.
Click to expand...
Exact type and thickness that I use!

Of all the picks in all the world? :D they're pretty common I guess.

Most of the stuff I play is a mixture of strumming and picking single notes and I find .88 is a good middle ground for doing both.
 
I play primarily acoustic guitar these days and like most of the replys before, I'd say it's really a mater of taste. I use Fender mediums exclusively these days (.71mm), but tend to play with a light touch in a style similar to Norman Blake in a Carter Family style. In my experience this thickness pick works well for a variety of styles (if you havea light touch) but if you are doing a lot of bluegrass style flatpicking or have a heavy attack, you'll need to go with a heavier pick. As said above tortoise shell is great but it does take some getting used to (NO flex).

One thing I've noticed, for strumming parts, the thinner the pick, the brighter the strumming sound; thicker picks don't have as sharp an attack sound wise. Depending on what you are looking for in your music try out lots of options and see what works best for you.

When you find the perfect pick, buy a gross of them! :D
 
I found thick picks = boominess generally and light picks = a thinner sound that is definitely not boomy
 
Like everyone else, I agree that it is mainly a matter of preferance. Personally I use Clayton nylon in various thicknesses. Mainly I like the shape, somewhat of a rounded triangle, my hands tend to sweat so I have a problem with picks turning, with the three points I can always find one. BTW I recently tried a Rosebud (multi layer) pick, it felt really weird to me and would take me quite a while to get used to it but it does produce a rather interesting sound.
 
I've settled on Dunlop 0.60mm picks. In case anyone has been wondering for the last 3 years ;)
 
And I finally found and purchased a dozen of my favorite yellow Dunlop Tortex Sharp picks, if anybody has been wondering about THAT for the last 3 years as well :)
 
Monkey Allen said:
I've settled on Dunlop 0.60mm picks. In case anyone has been wondering for the last 3 years ;)
Click to expand...


Thank God for that. I haven't been able to sleep since '05 wondering...

I haven't bought a pick in about 15 years. Back in the day, I bought about a dozen yellow and a dozen orange (think they're 0.60 and 0.55 respectively)
Fender picks - when I run out I turn the couch upside down and find them all again. I use both for both electric and acoustic. I've still got 4 orange and 2 yellows from that original batch.

Don't know what I'm going to do when I lose them. I may have to stop playing...
 
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