Relationship between Pick Thickness and Left Hand Technique

[bluemusic4us]

As a hybrid picker, I 've searched a lot for a pick that best balances finger/pick tone, and settled on d'andrea pro plecs..

I find that the small 1.5mm pro plecs are best for me when hybrid picking. Couldn't really do it with other, bigger pics.

I used the JD Jazz III and still like them quite a bit, but just keep going back to these pro plecs.

But if I'm playing bluegrass on a flattop, then I need a larger, thinner (1mm) pic. (haven't been doing that much anymore though).

[ecj]

I prefer a heavier pick for the same reasons that others have expressed herein, the larger mass creates a bigger note over a thinner pick just as heavier strings sound fatter than thin strings.

One odd idiosyncrasy of the Benson technique is that heavier picks produce almost no sound whatsoever. I think it's because of the strange angle of attack, but the thinner picks snap across the string creating a bright but round sound. Heavier picks just kind of glide over without the snap, and you end up with a tone that is well nigh inaudible acoustically.

Rodney Jones is the only guy out there who I know of who does the Benson technique with a heavy pick. If you look up the YouTube clip of he and JC Stylles trading blues choruses, you'll hear that Jones' tone is much softer.

A lot of the classic guys that we think of as having the "traditional" jazz tone were using thinner picks, too. I think it's only in the last 3 decades that "heavy pick and heavy strings" became the typical jazz mantra.

I wonder what kind of plectrum somebody like Eddie Lang was using on those old guitars. He's got super heavy strings, and had to project acoustically. I'm guessing something big, like a Wegen, but not sure.

[monk]

Lang and most other players of that era used real tortoise shell picks. Shell picks had the advantage of being extremely stiff and denser so a thin pick was proportionately stiffer than a celluloid pick of the same dimensions.

Celluloid picks were definitely available in the late 30s as can be seen in advertisements in old magazines and songbooks. Interestingly, the Fender 351 pick is the same size and shape as the pick marketed by Nick Lucas.

For years afterward, guitarists would ask for and refer to Nick Lucas picks the way we do Fender picks. When I began playing in the mid-1960s, I remember older players asking for Nick Lucas picks at the music store where I worked.

Django Reinhardt was known to prefer the bone buttons from jackets and trousers as a pick.

[MarkRhodes]

One odd idiosyncrasy of the Benson technique is that heavier picks produce almost no sound whatsoever. I think it's because of the strange angle of attack, but the thinner picks snap across the string creating a bright but round sound. Heavier picks just kind of glide over without the snap, and you end up with a tone that is well nigh inaudible acoustically..

I noticed that too! Just out of curiosity, I dug out some thick old picks, applied the Benson grip (-or my current approach at it) and like you say, it was 'the sound of silence.'

[Philco]

Regardless of the gauge of strings or thickness of picks we choose individually, control and relaxation are the goals that we are striving for. Developing a technique that serves our needs, completely, requires examining the mechanics of picking on a microscopic level when we practice. Personal choice of plectrum and strings will establish the parameters we have to work with individually.

I think that making a firm choice (of plectrum and strings) and sticking with it long term while solving the physical mechanics will yield more consistent results than changing picking and strings every few weeks. Experimentation is good up to a point but it must be realized that the tools don't do the work by themselves.

Best Regards,
Jerome

+1
This is exactly my thinking. Especially "control and relaxation".

[3625]

One odd idiosyncrasy of the Benson technique is that heavier picks produce almost no sound whatsoever. I think it's because of the strange angle of attack, but the thinner picks snap across the string creating a bright but round sound. Heavier picks just kind of glide over without the snap, and you end up with a tone that is well nigh inaudible acoustically.

Rodney Jones is the only guy out there who I know of who does the Benson technique with a heavy pick. If you look up the YouTube clip of he and JC Stylles trading blues choruses, you'll hear that Jones' tone is much softer.

A lot of the classic guys that we think of as having the "traditional" jazz tone were using thinner picks, too. I think it's only in the last 3 decades that "heavy pick and heavy strings" became the typical jazz mantra.

I wonder what kind of plectrum somebody like Eddie Lang was using on those old guitars. He's got super heavy strings, and had to project acoustically. I'm guessing something big, like a Wegen, but not sure.

From what I've read around the place - the swing guys liked thick picks, coming from an acoustic background like Django. The 50's players tended towards medium picks and a lot of the modern players like them around 1.5mm such as Kreisberg, Hekselman, Oberg etc.

I'm of the opinion that flatwounds work best with medium picks - that 50's combination of laminate archtop, flats and medium picks just 'feels right' to me. Whereas it's a more modern thing to use roundwounds with something like a pro-plec. Different strokes.

[Flyin' Brian]

I've been using Pickboy Classic cellulose picks for some time now.

They're thin at 1.0mm but very stiff and last a reasonable amount of time. They're basically a standard 351 shape.

Vintage Pearl