What picks are y'all using?

[Bruce Campbell]

Apologies for the bad photo, but I found it easier to use Photo Booth quick since I'm on a computer.

A friend who works at Martin Guitar sent me two of these over the pandemic, as part of having fun corresponding through mail and sending friends stuff etc. I believe they are ebony, but I'm not sure. He beveled the edges really well so they glide through the strings. It's nice to play but stiffer and thicker than I prefer on a regular basis. If anyone is interested in these, I can ask him if he is open to sales/commissions.

 

[mrpinter]

I hear what you're saying, @Strat Avenger. It IS nice to have a pick that doesn't need grip options to stay secure in the finger when playing. I've found acrylic to be good in that regard - it's counterintuitive because it looks so slick, but it has a natural "tacky-ness" that increases as the pick warms up in the hand when playing. Kirinite, which is a hardened acrylic, is like that too. Casein and Peek Plastic also seem to have some of this property.

 

[teleme01]

My wife gave me these wooden picks came in a wooden box, 1 padouk, 1 Rosewood and unsure of the light wood. I just bought a 40 pack of the blue one, and lastly is the little red one that I have used since the 70s or 80s. The red one is my goto.

 

[wormbot]

Dava jazz grip for me. Got used to them and now I can't use anything else. They are awesome for dynamics control.

https://www.davapick.com/buy/p/jazz-grip-delrin

I tried the Dunlop tortex flow 1.5mm and its way too thick.

 

[mrpinter]

More changes in my pick preferences. I've seemingly become as much a collector of Honey-Picks as a player. Here are two new ones:

Kirinite Medium size Honeybee shape, 3mm, in Tortoise. I confess I bought this one mostly for how it looks :


and PEEK plastic Medium size Hornet shape, 3mm in natural finish:

PEEK is a space age thermoplastic that is used for making bearings and piston parts, and is a great pick material. This is my new #1 pick.

I also have a new #1 acoustic pick. Going back to Gravity, I've settled on their Colored Gold series, Classic shape .75mm. Here are a couple I'm using on my acoustics. They are the same material as used in Honey-Picks' PEEK plastic picks, and have great properties for the acoustic in this thickness - a little, but not too much flex, clear and warm tone, and a naturally slightly tacky grip:

 

[WarmothRules]

Dunlop jazz III ultex. What ever ultex is it sounds better than the black and red jazz III’s

 

[AleForce1]

Blackmountain Asteroid pick

 

[Hodgo]

So last year I decided to find myself, so to speak, in terms of pick preference:



That’s 280 picks across 52 labeled bags that I ordered from Strings By Mail

Result of that journey?

I found it really isn’t a big deal to me. There are some standout shapes and some materials that just do not jive with me, but I found picks anywhere from .88 to 3mm enjoyable to play, albeit all exclusively in some sort of teardrop shape and with texture or indentations for my fingers.

And I learned I don’t like felt picks, triangle picks, shark fin picks, picks with speed holes, perfectly smooth picks, or anything larger than a Fender med or smaller than a Jazz III.

 

[mrpinter]

The Pick Fairy visited again! Honey-Picks has a new pick material, and of course I had to get one in it. It's synthetic opal. I don't know much about its properties, but it makes a very nice guitar pick. It's actually a little "richer" sounding, and a bit louder on the strings (as coming through the amp) than my current #1 pick - PEEK plastic. It has my usual specs: Hornet shape, 3mm thick, standard bevel, medium size. I usually get grip holes but this one is so pretty I ordered it without a grip aid - and I find that it has a natural "tacky-ness" that resists turning in your fingers, like acrylic. But now that I know I love the material I will probably order one with their multiple holes.

Here is what it looks like - it's difficult to photograph because it constantly changes its appearance in different lights or even different angles.

 

[musicispeace]

This will not be popular but its really working for me. Gravity Picks Classic Pointed in XL size and 3mm thickness.

 

[u.9]

There's no better way to say this, but I'm not terribly picky about my picks, so long as I can hold onto them. My current pick is an old plastic Carvin medium circa 1994 with the gloss sanded off. I've got a can of picks covering about 33 years, quite a few homemade or modified for grip. My favorite bass pick is the tip of a tooled leather belt from my childhood. Explored exotic picks in my earlier years but I almost always flip-flop between standard shaped mediums and thins depending on guitar and what I feel like playing (usually mediums because I run heavier gauge strings on all my axes). Some of my older picks I still use often, sometimes resharpening the point on the carpet, sometimes just making use of the blunted point. Most often though, I just use my index fingertip and nail. Picks seem to find me, I only bought a few of the many I have.

 

[Heavy Rock]

For riffs and simple leads I use Ibanez rubber grip mediums. I love the response but they wear out super fast. For fast leads, I use my fingers. I'm in the process of developing my pick leads speed but I can't quite match the fingerstyle speed.

 

[cuthbert]

 

[Don O]

Fender Jumbos !

 

[Don O]

And, in a pinch, I can stamp out some Carl’s Jr mediums.

 

[mrpinter]

Fender Jumbos !
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Ha! My wife gave me a "Fender pick" like that except it was celluloid and bigger than a dinner plate. I haven't seen it for a few years, I think it got thrown out when we moved and had to get rid of a lot of accumulated stuff there was no room for in the condo we bought.

I had a high school friend who used those plastic clips that come with bread bags - he would have loved to have that pick punch you show above.

 

[Waraxe]

I rotate between these for the most part. The Honey-Picks Bumblebee V2 shape on the left is made of Kirinite - a hardened acrylic. It's bright, and great for rock, power pop, fusion, etc. The Pickboy Modrez in the middle is made of resin and is warmer/darker than the other two picks. It's good for jazz and ballads, stuff like that. The Gravity Gold series pick on the right is made of a kind of space age thermoplastic that is impervious to wear. I've had some and played them exclusively for a good 5 or 6 years, and they show no visible wear. They have almost a neutral tone and brightness - sounds good for for just about everything. I just wish they came a half millimeter thicker, because they feel thin to me (my favored thickness for electric guitar is 3mm). Those are mine, let's see or hear about yours.

View attachment 60266

I use heavy picks (for me that means over 2mm thick, and 3mm is my preference) because they give me more control. That's almost impossible to quantify, but even if they just gave me the feeling of having more control, that would give me more confidence in my playing - which couldn't do anything but help me to play better, right?

For me at least I find them easier to hold on to, that's a nice thing on a stage. If you really thrash the strings with a heavy pick like you can with a very light and flexible one you're likely to break strings, so you're almost forced to play with a lighter touch - which, IMO, helps with control (there's that word again) and playing dynamics. So that's my case for heavy picks - you should give them a shot, after the initial unfamiliarity you might just like them.

You sir, have almost the same exact tastes in picks as I do! Just more experimenting done.

All those honeybee picks are grabbing my attention, lol.

Man, my pick game is all over the place. My default is Dunlop's dark green Gator Grip (1.5mm) or black (2mm) in the standard teardrop shape. Pretty much always have one in my pocket. Lately I've been fooling around with the Maxgrip Jazz III Stiffo. And then there's my chunky little digits - I play fingerstyle or hybrid a fair amount of the time.

Gator 2mm was my goto for at least a decade. Great cheap, long lasting picks. I love the way they glide over the strings. I like them better than 2mm primitives in the same shape.

I've been a Dunlop "rounded triangle" guy for probably the past 25 (?) years. Damn, I guess I'm getting old ...

I always felt like I was getting a 3 for 1 deal when buying them. You don't have to pay attention to direction. Just "pick" it up and play.

I started with the .88 Tortex. Then, after some years, moved to the Ultex version ...

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I have a big, long, fat, thumb that lays perfectly over the top section.

I have recently discovered the Dunlop Primetone version and can't see a reason to use any other. When using a pick, that is ... half of the time it's thumb and fingertips.

View attachment 60282

A fellow tightwad! Lol. J/k. It's a logic thing for me. They last 3x as long

This is my shape preference too. I use gravity 3mm standard size pointirles. They round out a bit into their rounded shape before long.

Dunlop Tortex Jazz III 1.14mm. I've used them for years and haven't thought about picks since getting into them. It's always satisfying when you can stop thinking about certain gear and just think about practice. The same thing happened when I got my Axe Fx III. I haven't thought about amps in years, or pickups for that matter. I don't even remember what pickups are in my last 4 partcasters.

I have these in black and white. They are different from eachother, both sound and feelwise. Theyre the only picks I use that are under 2mm.

i love the stiffness and precision, but they just dont sound as full bodied as a fatter pick does.

These are my favorites at the moment. The Honey Picks Honeybee Ultex 2mm and the Ernie Ball Prodigy Derlin 2mm.
I'm was originally a fan (and still really like) the Dunlop Ultex Jazz III, and these are some very nice derivatives. Both 2mm Jazz-type shapes, I find the Honey to be "glassier" and fatter sounding and the EB to be a little "smoother" and has beveled edges making it play like a slightly thinner pick.

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I agree. I tried the prodigies and felt them very warm and almost like they gripped the string a bit as the went over it. They felt slower to me than my other picks.
My daughter likes them though.

My small picks (Honey-PIcks smalls are 26mm tall) gave me a lot of control, but my knuckles getting scuffed against the strings every time I strummed a chord got to be more and more of an irritation. So I've now migrated to medium sized picks (29mm tall). That eliminates the problem, and I find that I haven't lost any control. And that means, of course, buying some new picks! I needed an excuse for my gratuitous purchases from Honey-Picks anyway - I kind of collect them now, they're so pretty they're like little art objects. Here are a couple new ones I'm currently using:

Casein/Galalith, Medium, 3mm, H-P's Hornet shape, with the Multiple Hole grip option, in Jade. Casein is said to be the closest of synthetic pick materials to actual tortoise shell in feel and tone. It is bright and warm toned, and has a really nice feel - with a very smooth attack and release off the strings:
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Kirinite (a hardened acrylic), Medium, 3mm, Honeybee shape, Multi Hole grip, in Black Ice. This is my favorite shape right now. Kirinite is about as bright as Casein, but maybe a little less warm. Bright, neutral colored tone.
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Has anyone else made any changes in their pick usage?

Not yet, but I am going to try some of honeybees wares. Thank you so much for your reviews

That's cool, but why even go to that unnecessary trouble? I've never understood why, in the 21st century, people are drilling holes in guitar picks, sanding, etching, gluing sandpaper, etc. for a better grip on slippery materials when they could just use a non-slippery material such as that of the "Gator Grip" picks. It kind'a defies logic.

Different plastics and materials flex and sound very different. They also interact with your fingers differently (getting grippy/slippery with heat).

They also get fatter sounding as they get thicker. Some materials are only available is certain thicknesses too.

I used to have my picks move all over the place when I started to play. Now, I have a lighter grip, and they don't move around at all......with any pick I use. I don't get it. Back in the day, I used a gorilla grip on my picks. Why they were rotating is beyond me.

I try picks before any other mod. A pickup that is to bright/dark/wooley/etc can be somewhat tamed by the right pick

 

[Tipperman]

Really depends on what I am playing; for metal, thicker picks work better for me. But for Funk and Jazz stuff, I prefer thinner picks with less audible popping.

 

[ScottDR]

Dunlop Gators .58.

 

[Joepro182]

Dunlop Tortex .60