Jazz Guitar Pick

[jazzimprov]

....opening up a can of picks with this topic, but...

Gravity//Dugain// JPearse// are nice

Gravity has a great grip and feel and is acrylic -and is full sounding.
Dugain is acetate (what I use and has a great clean but full sound to it)
JPearse fast turtle mimics the tortoise shell and has a dark deep sound to it

I use all 4mm picks

(22% off Gravity till the 28th- email Gravity to get discount code)

[Flyin' Brian]

I use a couple of different V-Picks. The current one I like is the size and shape of a Jazz III but is 4mm thick.

[edh]

Hey everyone,

I want to try something new, I mainly use D'Andrea Pro Plecs.I like their sound a lot, but sometimes they can get slippery when sweaty.
Occasionally I use Fender extra heavies and Dunlop jazztone 207s.

What you guys play or recommend?

Thank you,
Mike

If you really like the Pro Plecs and that's all that's stopping you from continuing to use them, try this product. I had the same problem with my picks. I have used this product and can tell you it works! The usual disclaimer applie.

Guitar PICKS, GRIPS and accessories

[Gabe]

I really like sharktooth picks. I use the 1.5mm model, they're a little brighter than pro plecs which I like and they're similar in size although a little larger than jazz IIIs. The pickboy Jazz picks are nice too, especially the posigrip models.



SharkTooth & Kodiak Custom Flat Picks

[Klatu]

When I find a pick I like, I tend to buy up stock and use it for years. I feel more comfortable changing my guitar than changing my pick. Strange, I know.

[ptuner]

Lately ,for best tone..... I use a stone pick.

good assortment here.
Solid Rock Products - The ultimate gemstone guitar picks, thousands of years in the making - NEW

and i don't work for this company.

[Klatu]

I've never used a stone pick, but I imagine they would be extremely bright. Which tonal qualities do you seek out in a pick?

[goldenwave77]

Jim Dunlop 38mm,nylon picks, as recommended by Robert Conti. They are a little more expensive than I'd like (I paid $7.50 for 15 of them....as they wear down after about a month....take some fine sandpaper to them, and smooth the raggedy edges....they'll go for a good while longer.)

Nice bright tone...more treble to the tone than thicker picks. The pick snaps as you play quickly...., and you can feel it really respond differently when you "dig in", whereas thicker, stiffer picks feel pretty much the same with different strength strokes...and can also "snag" at high speed. You'll develop a lighter touch with the thin pick...I find it helps my speed as well. I also like the embossed logo in the middle...with the "give" of the pick, I can't imagine worrying about dropping a pick.

I never used a pick this light before, but for now I can't imagine playing with my older picks (Fender mediums, heavies, or Clayton or D'Andrea Pro Plecs). They really do feel like "2 by fours" after the lighter pick. For acoustic-y kind of stuff, or heavy strumming, these are a little "click-y" but most of the time we play amplified instruments.

The thin-ness has an added benefit, you can easily wedge them into the space between the neck pu and the body, for fingers-only work....I know guys do the pick palming trick, and Conti demonstrates this as well...but for now I'd rather worry about other stuff.

To be clear, Conti says "Try this...it's worked for me... and this is why....it is surely possible to play well/fast with a heavier pick but you have to get REALLY light with your feel/touch to keep them from snagging at a high speed..."

I'm well aware the gypsy guys use really heavy picks...and I'm not trying to become the "Pick Czar"...

...."All I am say---ing, Is give pick a chance."


And btw, let's not start a flame war....that would be ridiculously picayune.

[pkirk]

When I find a pick I like, I tend to buy up stock and use it for years. I feel more comfortable changing my guitar than changing my pick. Strange, I know.

me too, I've gone through three picks in 35 years: first small fender heavy for 10 years, then the small pink tortex for 10 years, and now the (standard size) pro-plek for the last 15 years. I try others occasionally, and after 5 minutes go back to the pro-plek

[goldenwave77]

When I find a pick I like, I tend to buy up stock and use it for years. I feel more comfortable changing my guitar than changing my pick. Strange, I know.

This is not strange....this is SMART.

It's like sports equipt. I'm back into playing golf...a guy I met today was trying to sell me on buying new super-duper clubs....I already play with pro level equipt., bought 2nd hand years ago for 30 cents on the original dollar: When I make a good swing, and proper body movements, I get a good result....and the implement I am holding in my hands does not matter. A couple of years ago, my back started bothering me...so yes, I switched to shafts that were 1/2" longer than normal, and heavier than the normal recreational wt. shaft....a heavier shaft promotes more even swing velocity and smoothness---less wrenching on the back, instead of overswinging and ending up looking like Fred Flintstone.

It's worth trying different stuff, just to gauge different feels, but IMO you have to stick with something for some time period to develop any real feel, or nuance in your playing.


Think of this: If Wes. M. had worked the night shift at the Mallory Battery plant in Indianapolis....he probably would have gotten up in the middle of the day, plugged into an amp, picked up a pick....and played....and he probably would have sounded like a million other guys, and we would never have heard of him. But he played at night, with an unamplified guitar that he "muted" with his thumb style, and created a signature sound---instantly recognizable. I cannot imagine him developing this by switching around technique, instruments, etc. every month.

[rio]

I used to only use pro pleks. I switched to a Blue Chip pick, though, and have found "the pick" I had always been hoping to find. They are that good.

[Klatu]

I use a couple of different V-Picks. The current one I like is the size and shape of a Jazz III but is 4mm thick.

I hadn't really looked at the V-Pick range until you posted. What an impressively varied selection it is. I've never seen a pick company offer as wide a selection of shapes, sizes, and thickness. If I weren't already married to the Jazztones, this is where I'd go to find my plectrum.

[jazzimprov]

Stoneworks picks are worth a try -- oddly they are not slippery and they have a rather dark sound to them

[iim7V7IM7]

Ah picks....

Like strings and pickups can change the sound and feel of your guitar.

Over the last decade, I have tried many (see below). They range in price from $0.75 to $75 (Yikes, that's two orders of magnitude!). There are are great picks at many price ranges, sizes, materials and shapes. Picks are a very personal thing and one's preference depends on many factors. I find that after a number of years of playing one, I can go back to the "pick drawer" and find some ones that didn't strike me well years earlier and now I like them.

I prefer some playing an archtops (heavier strings), some with electric solid/semihollow bodies bodies (lighter strings), others with acoustic flat tops others with a gypsy guitars. It is very difficult to recommend "one". Unfortunately, it is a personal journey to find the ones that work for YOU.

Good Luck...

[eccegeorge]

I don't recall seeing many folks mention them, but I tried a bunch of picks and really fell in love with the Ultex version of the Jazz III.



Definitely my favorite tone/feel of the Jazz IIIs. Great picks, and cheap. Which is pretty important, if you ask me.

[Jazz_175]

Gibson standard (just slightly smaller than Fender) XH.
Although Extra-Heavy, they are more or less thick like a Fender Heavy, thus not completely rigid,
and producing a slightly darker sound than Fender Heavy.

[marcwhy]

I'm using the Shark-tooth and Kodiak picks (see above post), but I have several different V-picks models. When I was looking at them one time, my young daughter said, "Buy that one!"



and actually, it's one of my favorites!

[Eddie Lang]

Here are some of my favorites:




I grabbed the caliper tonight and measured those on my short list:



Of these, my #1 favorite is the Blue Chip Jazz (most expensive of the group at $35), followed by the Traynor (made of Derlin) Jazz pick. At about $4 a dozen, the Traynor are the closest thing to the BC in terms of feel and sound, and they don't seem to wear out!

Like Klatu, when I find a pick I like, I buy a few packs (well, not the more expensive ones) in case they stop making them or change the specs.


EDIT to add: The Red Bear N°9 that I have are totally different from those they sell nowadays. The new shape and size measure (W) 27.18 mm X (H) 31.50 mm. Quite a difference! Mine is very much like the Lil' Jazzer, and the new N°9 is almost the size of a Dawg, though not the same shape!

[LtKojak]

You guys pay $35.00 for a pick?

[Eddie Lang]

You guys pay $35.00 for a pick?

Well, while I bought a gross of the Traynor, I only got one BC...

But I would buy another one if I had to.

[Eddie Lang]

Here are some cool picks I got off eBay.

[MaxTwang]

Dunlop Tortex Jazz III XL purple (1.14). The XL has the same tip as the Jazz III but is a bit bigger on the back end.

[m_d]

I decided to change picks not too long ,narrowed down my choice to the Pro Plecs and that special version of the Jazz III XL in the horn color,ordered a bunch of each and much preferred the JIII which is now my go-to pick. I find the shape and size to be ideal. I like the tone out of the material a lot too though I'd like to try that shape in a celluloid kind of material.

[iim7V7IM7]

As follow up to the 20-picks that I shared in my earlier post, I thought I would share 3 of my current favorites for playing archtop jazz (main focus of this forum) across three different price points:

($0.75) Jim Dunlop Jazztone 206: 28.5 x 20.2 x 2.0 mm
($12.50) Wegen GP250: 27.3 x 23.2 x 2.6 mm
($35.00) BlueChip KS60: 24.5 x 25.5 x 1.6 mm

Your preferences and mileage may vary, because pick preferences are very personal. They all produce slightly different feel, tone and string noise. All three of these are excellent choices.

[destinytot]

Could anyone compare the D'Andrea Pro-Plec and the D'Andrea Medium for pick noise, please? I can only get them mail order from the US.