Slippery Pick

Originally Posted by: fretsmithYou can also just lop off a big hunk of nail off ur big toe. Great grip and very organic tone.

Please tell me you've never really done that! :eek: Has anyone tried those glass Lexan picks or whatever they're called? I have one... silky smooth, very nice grip and they never wear out. The only reason I don't use it all the time is I just find it produces too much pick noise. Are their any secrets to not having pick noise? I'm happy with the sound I get from my yellow Dunlop Tortex... but I've seen videos of some guys playing where the pick noise is super prevalent. There was one of the Scorpian's guitarist playing the national anthem, and the pick noise was as loud as the notes he was playing. I was quite surprised. You don't seem to hear pick noise on albums much, unless its intentional.

Hey Slip- No, I've used a few bread clips in a pinch but not a toe nail (yet).

I've never really used a pick that I thot was noisy - but maybe I just didn't notice? My fav pick is the Cactus Black but truthfully I have a little pick dish with several different brands/gauges and I'll play with whatever I grab first. I am "picky", pun inten , but there are several that suit me fine.

Co-related to picks ... I had a nice chat with Lee Wanner (here) and he got me inspired to mindful practicing. A lot of the guitar time time I used to use for mindless noodling - I now dedicate to focused practice in a relaxed, meditative type manner. I have to say it is probably amongst the best advice I have ever gotten. In just a few weeks I can see a definite improvement in timing, accuracy, fluidity, string skipping, almost everything!

Annnywaaay ... somehow in the course of all this practicing I moved the PICK ( I told you this would be pick related :) ) up my thumb so about 1/4 of the pick is past the thumb joint. This is working really well for me. I've never, ever seen an artist hold a pick that way - have you? Try it for me and tell me how it feels for you. ( I have to admit I had a deli slicer incident when I was 15 that left the outside edge/end of my pick-hand thumb pretty much numb and a lot of times I can't feel the pick slipping out of position until it requires a major adjustment. This could be why this new position I'm using is appealing to me?) I also find that, because my index finger is curled under more, my other 3 fingers are more receptive to plucking the other strings so I'm having more success at " chickin' pickin' " than ever before.

Dink around with it for a few minutes and let me know what you think.

T-Care; Ken

I tried it and it feels too weird for me, but using the pick the same way for 50 years it would be a tuff practice to change.

Hi Fretsmith... a few years back I switched my pick grip... there's the "normal" way of gripping it... as if you're trying to catch a fly between your thumb and first finger. That's the way I played for a long time. Then I noticed that almost all of the players I liked held their pick quite differently. Take your hand, stretch it out like you're going to do a karate chop. Keeping your thumb straight, curl your fingers so they make a "half fist", making the middle knuckles of your fingers most forward. Now, clamp the pick between your thumb and first finger. The other fingers also support your first finger, but can be used for hybrid picking as well.

This seems to be the most common grip that advanced players use, but there are still plenty that don't. Eddie Van Halen doesn't use this type of grip. It took a bit to get used to, but I really like it now, and there are some distinct advantages to it.

Sgt Tee, yeah, I find the Lexan weird also. I saw an interview with Steve Vai that made me feel better, because he said the one thing he was really finicky about was his guitar pick... if he didn't have the right one, he just couldn't get used to it. So far, I'm just sticking with the Yellow Dunlops... its got the right feel for me, but like Fretsmith, I have a little dish filled with various picks... (and then a couple of packs of the yellow ones! :) ).

Yeah, I think ur describing kind of what I'm talking about. Where does the center of the pick rest in relation to your thumb joint ? I suspect I may be positioning it a tiny bit closer to the wrist than ur describing. About a 1/3 of the pick is past the thumb joint and the center of the pick is right at the last knuckle/joint of my index finger. I'm liking it. For 40 years I've been holding it in the "normal" way you described

T-Care ( I'm still tinkering with dem evil modes :) )

Originally Posted by: fretsmithAbout a 1/3 of the pick is past the thumb joint and the center of the pick is right at the last knuckle/joint of my index finger. I'm liking it.

You've got it exactly right... I'm holding as you suspected, a little closer to the end of my thumb than you are. Tried moving it back towards the wrist a bit... that's a nice feel too. With that grip, I never drop the pick at all... I don't need a "grippy" surface, its in there, its not going anywhere unless I want it to.

I saw a youtube video where the teacher talked about the pick grip you guys are talking about. I can see a definite advantage if you are trying to play speed runs because you have finer control. The only variation I do with my pick grip is to grip it so less pick is sticking out from my hand when I'm doing 16th note strumming patters. The pick will glide over the strings better.

I'm a huge fan of Tortex picks. I just love the way they feel in my hand. I have a skin condition on my hands that acts up sometimes that make my hands less grippy and I sweat a lot. Even in the face of these two things, I can still hang onto these picks.

Up until a year ago, I was using the yellow ones. I've since moved to the green ones (next step up in stiffness). I may try the purple ones one day too. The green ones feel like I have more control.

Hi all!..

I´ve been playing guitar for over 20 years now.. (15 actively), and I have used Tortex when I started, then just tried different ones from my local guitar store.. I just got 10 different and tried them all, but really never felt that anyone was better than a tortex.

But then!.. I started practicing more lead guitar (this last 2-3 years), and after lots of readings on the internet, I found that many pro / virtuoso guitarists where using the Jazz III (this are not the "dunlop tortex jazz iii", but just dunlop jazz iii), and as I was reading how great they were, and my local guitar store didn't have them.. I just put an order on eBay and got 12 ;)

From day 1 I was!... Hell Yeah!!.. this are the perfect pick!! And I had a smile in my face the entire day! :)


there may be other great picks out there.. so its important to buy different ones!


Nylon Jazz III: Eric Johnson, John Petrucci, Joe Bonamassa
(there are signature models of at least Eric Johnson and Petrucci)

Matt Heafy from Trivium use the "Max Grip" version of Nylon Jazz III
Mick Thomson from Slipknot use the "Carbon Fiber Jazz III"

and Kirk Hammet has his own signature of Jazz III picks.. they are maybe more like the "tortex jazz III" I believe. (haven't tried them)


then Paul Gilbert use Ibanez Cesareo 1mm or his own signature ones based on that model.

Satriani use D'addario picks (planet waves) .. his own signature model.
Vai use Ibanez Signature picks.


All in all.. Im glad with my nylon jazz iii!.. and will get more "original" red ones, and some of the petrucci signature (black ones) when I need new ones..

and will get the purple Paul Gilbert Ibanez + the Steve Vai Ibanez Signature, and the Satriani D'addario/Planet Waves Signature... to test them out.. as I have never tried them.

If you can't play good with one of those.. then it must be your playing is bad!.. not the pick! ;)

Happy shredding y'all!

There are sampler packs available for trying out different picks, these are Dunlops:
http://www.ejeffmusic.com/

I live in the tropics and the humidity in summer is crippling even overnight , so sweaty hands and slippery picks are a real pain . i discovered a pick in a used case I bought at a pawn shop that had a hole about 3/16 dia punched in it , It sat on my desk for about 6 months until one day i couldnt find my usual pick , sweaty hands and no lose of grip . A bit of flesh from the pad of your thumb pushes into the hole and improves the grip , of course wher you put the hole will depend on how you grio the pick