Im surprised theres not a thread for this already!

What thickness of picks do you guys use and why do you prefer that thickness? What brand of picks do you use and why? Discuss anything that has to do with picks!



I currently use Dog Brain Picks, I saw them on the Internet, they came in a tin of 12 and they were on sale, so I thought why not? I searched for 1mm sizes because that thickness that im used to helps me pull out heavier sounds. I like the grip on these picks I have, its plastic dots that stick out.

Past picks I had in the past with rubber grips sucked! When my hand would slip that rubber would slip easily, these plastic dots that stick out help grip whether my hand is sweaty or not.

I mostly use Dunlop's 0.73 picks. When I was new with the whole electric guitar thing i used very small, but hard picks. But now I have a whole sack of Jim Dunlop picks, most of them are 0.73's, although you can find a couple of 0.88's there.

I like anything between 0.75 and 1mm. Although maybe the 0.88 are the best for me... I dont care much about the manufacturer, logo wears of in time anyway hahah And yeaah, I use the standard shape, dont know how its called, but I dont like other shapes....

i use opicks of 0.88mm i think... but a good trixck i got off my friend to increase grip is to colour the pick in with texta, its surprisinly works really well but your fingers will get a bit dirty but what wouldnt u do for grip...

Written by Stalker on 19.12.2007 at 23:35

I use the standard shape, dont know how its called, but I dont like other shapes....

I know what you mean. Small picks are called jazz picks I think, people say they give out sweet sounds, but I dont see how. The big ones are just annoying for me to play.

Yeah, small picks are jazz picks. But they are also often used for very fast guitar shredding.

I normally use something that falls somewhere between light and medium picks. I can't stand picks that are too thick, because they're too damn solid and don't glide easily enough. I can't stand picks that are too thin because they make too much noise and wear out on you quickly. So normally, I go for something with a midground.

As far as brands go, well, that doesn't really matter to me. As long as I like the feel and the thickness of the pick, I'm good.

Written by Arian Totalis on 21.12.2007 at 04:16

I normally use something that falls somewhere between light and medium picks. I can't stand picks that are too thick, because they're too damn solid and don't glide easily enough. I can't stand picks that are too thin because they make too much noise and wear out on you quickly. So normally, I go for something with a midground.

As far as brands go, well, that doesn't really matter to me. As long as I like the feel and the thickness of the pick, I'm good.

What kind of styles do you play?

Written by Lord TJ on 11.01.2008 at 20:51

Written by Arian Totalis on 21.12.2007 at 04:16

I normally use something that falls somewhere between light and medium picks. I can't stand picks that are too thick, because they're too damn solid and don't glide easily enough. I can't stand picks that are too thin because they make too much noise and wear out on you quickly. So normally, I go for something with a midground.

As far as brands go, well, that doesn't really matter to me. As long as I like the feel and the thickness of the pick, I'm good.

What kind of styles do you play?

My root influence is mainly thrash, so I play really fast palm muted kind of rhythm progressions, and I also do the speed solo type of thing. But I really am alot more varied beyond that, I have my own style, you know what I mean? Like, I also encorperate some progressive elements to my music (like with dynamics and time changes) and I love adding harmonies to my leadlines. so...yeah, there ya go lol.

I do prefer the Hard picks, I usually use an Ernie Ball H...

I tend to shift from my super heavy Star Picks to Planetwave's standard pick. Whenever I play something which involves alot of fast, continuous picking I'll grab my Starpick. But when it comes to slower, compex picking I go for the PlanetWaves. Overall their both good picks which I find seem to last for a significant amount of time. But I've yet to find a pick which is versatile enough for both style's and has the durability to withstand whatever I want to play. I just might have to make a pick one day to fit my needs , but these will do for now.

i use jim dunlops "Jazz 3" picks! i don't know how thick they are but they are pretty thick and they are also small! i play progressive metal and death metal!

Jazz 3's are the way to go, lightweight, great articulation, and smoother pluck of the string.

yeh indeed Dunlop Jazz 3 are the best the small one's as well as the big one's

Written by Guest on 21.01.2008 at 23:22

yeh indeed Dunlop Jazz 3 are the best the small one's as well as the big one's

The small ones, I hear that if used in a certain way you can get a distinct sound, do you know of it?

what pick is best for playing black metal?!?! all of my dunlop picks destroy after two days

1mm in black.

Before that I was using Stubby, and although it got a heavy sound and was durable, I found that it gave off alot of feedback when playing tremelo.

I started using Fender Heavy picks, but it didn't take long for them to become rounded and lose the tip. And on rare occasion I'll use a thing flexible pick, which is very quiet and more ideal for acoustic.

mostly i use jim dunlop 0.88 and 0.73 ... in some cases i use the white ones, they're something around 0.50

I use heavy picks, exclusively. For 99.9% of the time I use either The Purple Turtle (Dunlop 2.0mm, polished surface) or The Grey Gator (Dunlop 2.0mm, rough surface), depending on what kind of tone I want/need.
I cannot abide the sloppiness I feel when playing with a lighter pick: when I play fast stuff, a light pick doesn't provide the control that a heavy pick does as the lighter pick gives a bigger re-bound and "bends" against the string - which makes it much harder to play fast and accurate.

Also, to Bitter Dawn: to me it sounds like you're picking in a pretty severe angle against the strings, am I right? The pick not being parallel to the strings, I mean. This type of picking wears down picks very fast, and certainly gives off a lot of feedback when picking fast.
I don't know if that's your picking style, but if it is you can try changing the angle of your pick against the strings.
Sorry if I'm picking (pun intended) on you for no reason :/

Written by cadenz on 24.02.2008 at 22:55

I cannot abide the sloppiness I feel when playing with a lighter pick: when I play fast stuff, a light pick doesn't provide the control that a heavy pick does as the lighter pick gives a bigger re-bound and "bends" against the string - which makes it much harder to play fast and accurate.

So very true. Kids that play punk rock always have these light picks, I assume they are good for chords on electric, but in my case everything is better for me with heavy picks. Perhaps its just mainly because im so used to them.

I use Dunlop Jazz IIIs
They're pretty thick. They're small and sharp too.
Very ergonomic.

Written by Hangar XVIII on 26.02.2008 at 00:59

I use Dunlop Jazz IIIs
They're pretty thick. They're small and sharp too.
Very ergonomic.

I use them too, but as a noob they are a bit hard to master...

Pickboy Jazz 1.50 mm!

I can't play with anything else.

I use dunlops nylon 0.33 picks

Never really understood why people have like 100 picks for 100 different ways of playing. i have 4 atm, it's 2 thinner picks(0.5 or something) and 2 thicker picks(1.00 and 1.20), thin ones for clean and acoustic work and the thick ones for badass heavy metal. it's simple really, no need to have one pick for every song you play...

I use Jim Dunlop .73's....it gets the job done.

I don't really know if this fits within the topic, but I play Death Metal and Classical, both using only my thumb nail. Could never use a pick.

Written by Haightredy on 30.01.2009 at 02:10

I don't really know if this fits within the topic, but I play Death Metal and Classical, both using only my thumb nail. Could never use a pick.

I suppose you could say that fits with the topic. I mean, personal technique should be taken into account. Is it just that you can't play with a pick because of your natural inclination? Or is it more so merely a subjective preference?

Written by Arian Totalis on 31.01.2009 at 11:15

Written by Haightredy on 30.01.2009 at 02:10

I don't really know if this fits within the topic, but I play Death Metal and Classical, both using only my thumb nail. Could never use a pick.

I suppose you could say that fits with the topic. I mean, personal technique should be taken into account. Is it just that you can't play with a pick because of your natural inclination? Or is it more so merely a subjective preference?

Well, I could probably learn to use a pick if I took the time, but I can play fine with my nail, so I really have no reason to.

I use only 1.5 mm picks ....once u get the hang of it.....it's fast! :-P