Guitar picks, what's the deal?

Cafe Society
21

As spartacist said, when playing on stage you can lose alot of picks especially if there are alot of lights. It gets mighty hot under lights and sweaty hands = lost picks.

Since everyone else seems to be putting in slight hijacks about pick choices here is mine. My friend Bry turned me onto a really cool idea. I think Bry got the idea from Craig Small who put out a CD with the band 9.0 on Shrapnel. (#1)

The idea is to take a standard heavy nylon pick and shave the edges down. The idea is to get rid of the curve near the pointy edge of the pick (is there a technical term for the pointy end?). The best way I found to do it is to start with an emory board you use for your nails. Once you get the edges pretty straight except for the tip you move on to paper to smooth out the rough edges left by the emory. In the end you have a pick that is thin where the pick hits the string but fat where you hold it. I found that there is a noticeable difference. The modified pick allows for easier pick harmonics and you get a cleaner tone when running fast lines. The only down side is I have to shave all my picks now or I don’t like them.

Slee

#1. I lived with Bry for a while in a small two bedroom house. One day I doing the dishes listening to 9.0. The stereo was cranked up. Suddenly the stereo got turned off. I walked out of the kitchen and standing there was Bry and Craig Small. It was quite a shock for both Craig and I. Craig was suprised that I was blasting his CD and I was suprised to find Criag in my living room.

22

I keep extra picks for almost every reason mentioned here…but I also have a nasty habit of dropping my pick in the hole when I’m not playing. It usually happens because I have a strange habit of adjusting the micorphone after the strum in a song while holding the chord. Man, does that sound horrible. Happens at least once a show (people think I try to do it).

Also, believe it or not, I play a few songs where I use a pick for part and finger-pick the rest. Occasionally, I fumble and drop my first try.

And, finally, I use three different kinds of picks. The soft floppy ones give a soft quality while the medium ones give me better control over dynamics (I can hit the strings harder without the sound of the pick dragging and flopping against the strings). I use those little jazz picks for songs that require more accuracy in string plucking (songs with a lot of walking and numerous 2-3 string chords).