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What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 7:47 pm
by marqueemoon
I’ve been loyal to the Dunlop nylon 73s for a while, but lately I’ve felt like experimenting. I picked up some gold Herco Flex 50s. Today i found some Dunlop Delrin 71s which look pretty promising.

Anyway, I like a little give and a knife edge. I can play with a stiffer pick if I have to, but I don’t really like it, particularly with acoustic. Picks with a little flex can be bent while playing to stiffen them up.

Also, nylon-type picks tend to have texture which helps me hang onto them. I need all the help I can get there.

I tend to practice/play at home sans pick. Electric without a pick can be really expressive, but in my 3 piece band it just works better to bash it out. Often I’ll write things fingerstyle and learn to play them with a pick later.

Bass is a different story. I play bass with a healthy amount of compression, so pretty much any pick will work and balance ok with the songs I play with fingers (most of them).

What about y’all? What are your favorites and why?

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 8:21 pm
by timtam
I tried every pick there was when I first started playing. I didn't like any of the common sizes and shapes - I had to concentrate too much on holding the pick instead of just playing. Then I found Fender's big 355 heavies. They're stiff but not thick, and sit easily and securely in the knuckles of my fingers without much thought, and give me good control over the tip. They work equally well for precise picking and heavy strumming. I've drilled lots of tiny holes in a few to create some texture for when grip is an issue. They also come in medium and thin.
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Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 9:12 pm
by Tehz_
I find myself trying new things every few years but I’ve been very devoted to your plain ol’ Fender 351 medium celluloid picks lately. I used Dunlop Jazz III picks for a long time but found that they made certain things - like almost any kind of rythym playing - a lot more difficult than necessary for me.

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 10:29 pm
by marqueemoon
I tried those baby jazz picks for a while and had the same impression. Sometimes I want to wallop the guitar a bit and those are not right for that.

My bandmate in the band I play bass in has converted to the bigass Fender triangles. No more searching for the business end is nice I guess.

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 11:24 pm
by PorkyPrimeCut
.73mm nylon Dunlop.

I bought a pack of 30 years ago and haven't needed to change since.
Nice & sharp, just the right amount of flex and grippy, thanks to the textured sides.

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 11:49 pm
by Futuron
Those big Dunlop triangles, they have 3 times the longevity, haha. Yellow ones (73) mostly, but sometimes the orange ones (next size down). I have a bunch of thicker ones too but never use them. I play bass without picks now, but if things got bad (soreness) I could resort to those thick ones. Purple I think.

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Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 12:10 am
by Trout
Jim Dunlop .38

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 1:11 am
by thenewromance
I used to use regular yellow Tortex plecs for guitar, but I switched to the ones I used for bass and I'm quite happy: Gator Grip 1.14.
I once read or heard that Billy Gibbons recommends light strings and a heavy pick for a fat sound, rather than the intuitive vice-versa that many people go for. I like it that way.

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 1:52 am
by Steadyriot.
I used to be a big fan of the Dunlop 1mm Tortex:
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But after trying the Ibanez Heavy Grip Pick's I was sold:
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Slightly snappier, smaller and a lot pointier than the Tortex ones; they fit my playing style better. Plus the grip is great!

These became hard to come by though, so in my search I came by the Dunlop John Petrucci pick's:
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WAY heavier than the Ibanez ones, but they work really well for me lately, pointy, snappy and precise. I like them. I've switched to lead position and these forced me to be more precise and now I'm completely used to them. Plus they last me AGES whilst the Ibanez ones lost their shape pretty fast.

[edit:]
On acoustics I sometimes like the Dunlop Ultex pick's too; way snappier and bright than the regular Tortex ones:
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Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 3:05 am
by øøøøøøø
I've gone through so many things. The first pick I ever had was a celluloid Fender Medium.

Then I decided I wanted to be "jazz guitar player" in high school, and switched to a Dunlop Stubby (the little purple ones)
Then I discovered the Dunlop 207, and I was in love throughout most of my early college years.

But a restless child I was. So I tried various things, all in search of something...

I tried those acrylic "V-picks" that are absurdly thick and hilarious. I tried stone. I tried bison horn(!). I tried coconut shell(!) I tried all sorts of things. This was all brought about because I tried a 50 year-old real turtle shell pick that a friend found in an ancient guitar case and loved it (but cannot, in good conscience, use those and add to the demand... endangered animal and all).

Then I discovered Red Bear picks, which are a synthetically-grown protein that approximates real turtle shell. No ethical dilemma, and was maybe 70% of the way toward what I liked about real shell. Used those for a few years... but the company could just not keep up with demand in any reasonable way, and it became an untenable course for me. Waiting 3 months for a single pick (and then having it get delayed further) was a total non-starter.

I tried the expensive Blue Chip picks as a recourse. These were also not worlds apart from real shell, but they were also not worlds apart from celluloid (to me), and were too easy to lose given the price.

In the end, I finally settled on what works best for me.

A celluloid Fender Medium.

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 3:25 am
by MechaBulletBill
blue tortex or ultex 1mm. i have some fender tort heavies too, nice for rhythm and acoustic playing. I use the round corner of the plec instead of the pointy bit so anything with a grip or texture over that area is no good for me.

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 3:38 am
by higgsblossom
Dunlop Max Grip Jazz III are my favorite.

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 3:39 am
by jthomas
1 mm (heavy) or .8 mm (medium) Cool picks. These have a grip on the blunt end. One gets older and you lose the oil and moisture in your skin that helps you to grip a pick. Ibanez once make a pick like this but they were d/c'ed as far as I was able to tell.

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 4:00 am
by leokula
I'll take anything that's heavy and glossy / sticky.

Re: What’s your plectrum of choice?

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 4:06 am
by countertext
My pick choice has been astonishingly stable for the last thirty years, now that I think about it: Fender heavy for guitar, purple Tortex 1.14mm for bass. I’ll admit that I have gotten more comfortable with whatever I can borrow at the last second over the last decade or so, but if I’m buying picks, it’s Fender heavies or purple Tortex.