How Thick a Pick?

cdkrugjr

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I'm playing some of pdfMinstrel's plectrum tunes.

How thick a pick should I be starting out with?

Flatpick guitar sites seem to all say "Over 1mm"

What I'm using now is called "Medium" and is 0.85mm

I'm playing plectrum on a Bari.
 
I use a dunlop .88mm. Sometimes I like the thick ones with a sort of soft feel to them. Not sure on the brand for the fatties.
 
I use Jim Dunlop's nylon picks for melody work on my ukuleles, 0.73mm on the baritone down to 0.46mm on the soprano. Personally I find anything thicker just a little like overkill on a ukulele, though I appreciate tastes vary.

FWIW I use an 0.88mm on my nylon-strung 3/4 size guitar, but as yet I've not found use for the 1.0mm nylon pick I bought. Also, FWIW, I found my mandolin eats nylon picks, so I save them for nylon-strung instruments now ;)

Plectrums are cheap and can make as much difference to the sound you get from an instrument as a different set of strings ... this coming from someone who's fingerpicked a guitar since the mid '60's and only bought a plectrum a couple of years ago 'cos it's difficult to play a mandolin without one ... I've got a potful of them now ;)
 
I just started using them on one of my Banjoleles, tuned CGDA, which I'm using as a tenor banjo. I have one very thin (.38 mm Dunlop) that I like a lot. I also cut some out of very thin plastic that I found in the garage--cheap!

Does anyone use one of those "flipper" ones that fit on one's thumb? Looks like a good idea too me. :eek:ld:
 
A concept I hadn't considered ... thank you :)


Can't find a reference to a "flipper" pick :confused: Do you mean a normal thumb pick?

No, I saw it on Aaron Keim's video about different types of picks. It's a thumb pick, but the blade is flexible. He says it's good because it's a pick that one can't drop.

It looked like a good idea to me. :eek:ld:
 
Thick picks sound thick. Thin picks sound thin. Tone wise. All depends on what sound you want.
 
No, I saw it on Aaron Keim's video about different types of picks. It's a thumb pick, but the blade is flexible. He says it's good because it's a pick that one can't drop.

It looked like a good idea to me. :eek:ld:

Checked that out ... thanks :)

Aaron shows the one by Herco ... not a brand I've seen locally and at the price on Amazon I'll probably pass. The basic idea of a "non-droppable" pick seems a good one, maybe better than a more conventional thumb pick, but having gone from "can't hold a pick so I don't use one" to "need one for the mandolin so I learnt to hold it properly" I know it's possible ... and standard picks are a lot cheaper!!
 
For me, depends on the strings. I use Aquila strings more than others, and the NylGut (wound and unwound) and Reds (all unwound) both have a different feel to them. With the Reds, a thin (<.50mm) seems to work fine, while on the NylGuts a thicker pick feels better.

Have tried thumbpicks and can take them or leave them. They are handy enough to leave one in the case.
 
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