Acoustic / Electric Plectrum Preference?

Red Solo Cup

Red Solo Cup

Inspired
Which type of plectrums do you prefer? For electric, I like heavy Tortex or Ultex Jazz, mainly the III for soloing and precision. For acoustic, I prefer heavy Tortex or Ultex in teardrop or standard shape and usually do more strumming/rhythm playing.
 
I had used the same pick (Tortex yellow 0.73) for about 30 years. A Berklee instructor pointed out that tone comes from fingers and pick and that sent me on an exploration of various different picks. You can order "sampler" packs from most of the makers and try various ones.

I finally settled on Dunlop 0.50 Wedges after a lesson with Paul Gilbert. I was saying I felt "stuck" in terms of the speed I could play. He saw my 0.73 and handed me his 0.5 and said "try this". Barrier removed - I guess I was struggling against the stiffness of the thicker pick.

Not saying that is your answer, but I encourage you to explore different options and see how they feel.

BTW - Paul says he chooses the 0.5s not because of their flexibility for speed, but he says he gets the greatest pick scratches from that thickness. I tend to agree :)
 
I used to prefer thin Fender picks and gravitated towards heavy as time passed. I have a couple of sample packs also and switch out on occasion just for variety.
 
Dunlop Ultex Jazz III XL's 1.38mm on electrics. Great tone and they last a good long time. They have a nice hard ping to then when dropped on a hard surface. My only beef with them is the translucent amber color makes them pretty much disappear when dropped.

Fender Classic Cellulose Mediums or Dunlop Ultex Standard 0.60 mm for my acoustic for a bit more flex when strumming.
 
I like Dunlop Tortex Flex Triangle .60mm. That said, I am NOT a shredder and play primarily rhythm parts. I have tried thicker and thinner but the .6mm is what works for me. I also like the larger grip area that the Flex Triangles has compared to standard size plectrums!
 
Red Solo Cup said:
I used to prefer thin Fender picks and gravitated towards heavy as time passed. I have a couple of sample packs also and switch out on occasion just for variety.
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I also gravitated to heavier. I used to use those triangular Fender picks because I hated the pick spinning and with those at least it didn't matter so much. I find the Jazz III gives me greater precision and the pick doesn't spin at all because of the thickness and also the raised logo enhances the grip.
 
fractalz said:
How often do you get your nails done? I remember an entire class session devoted to which acrylics were the best.
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I'm not as obsessive as I used to be. Every 3 days or so I'll give them the once over with the emery. I mostly feel it's time for attention when I'm playing because I'll notice the difference.
 
mr_fender said:
Dunlop Ultex Jazz III XL's 1.38mm on electrics. Great tone and they last a good long time. They have a nice hard ping to then when dropped on a hard surface. My only beef with them is the translucent amber color makes them pretty much disappear when dropped.

Fender Classic Cellulose Mediums or Dunlop Ultex Standard 0.60 mm for my acoustic for a bit more flex when strumming.
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I gave up on picks lasting any duration a long time ago. I'm very particular, almost "picky" about the pick surface. I calculated about a 5-pick per show average playing American Idiot. Oh the carnage!

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Electric - Chicken Picks Badazz 3.2mm and Shredder 3.5mm. I like the point on the Badazz but the Shredder is more comfortable for me. I also use Dunlop Flow 3.0mm picks if I'm having any issues with gripping the pick.

Acoustic - Clayton Frost-Byte .56mm and .80mm. I like nylon picks on acoustic, provides the rhythmic strumming sound I prefer. I also like to feel the pick give while strumming an acoustic.
 
Red Bear!!!

Reso player pal Ben Powell turned me onto them. I use an extra heavy Tritip 2 & a Guthrie big jazzer, mostly with an Anderson s n collings dreadnought respectively.

Guitar tech sent me on the pick quest, haha.

Fender mediums were in the house as a kid before I tried and definitely still keep a bunch of different things for recording, but kept swapping in heavier things for gigging and was sick of buying clams of plastic stuff that sounded n felt torn up too quickly or didn’t feel/ sound like I was hoping. I realized a lot of players I liked used substantial picks, and I was concurrently trying heavier gauge strings and bigger frets. The jazz’s folks love just always felt awkwardly small and pointed sounding to me no matter how many times I tried to love them. I was also curious about the mythical tortoise shell quality without the animal involved. Just having a few killer red bear picks and tuning up the bevels instead of churning through thinner clackier things is great!

I still love thin fender teardrops for recording strummy almost shaker-like acoustic parts. I also have a few Carol Kaye picks a bass player friend gave me I like when flatpicking on my National style O is the thing for a part. The chicken picks mentioned above are cool too, I got a promo variety pack years back and enjoy the heavier ones for moonlighting on hard rock bass! I’ve got a fat, rounded v pick that’s cool playing cocktail hour. I also appreciate my 4yr old’s heart shaped purple sparkle Kirk Hammetts if they’re closest at hand when I need to figure something out right before work n everything’s already packed!
 
I haven't bought a pick in years since I switched to BlueChip. I've used the same IBJ55 (oversized jazz) for electric and the same CT55 (big triangle) for acoustic for several years. They really do last forever, and are definitely worth their price. They're also easier to hold onto than normal picks, glide through the strings easier, and sound awesome.
 
I'm still struggling, or wanting to find an ideal pick for me and stay with that...

For electric, I mostly use the shape Steve Lukather uses. It's a good compromise for soloing and strumming, although not ideal for strumming in my hands. For more strumming kind of work on electric, I'd go with a regular medium pick of some brand.

There are smaller picks/tips that make soloing/speed easier, but I would loose them when strumming...

For single note lines on an unamplified electric/folk, I enjoy Jim Dunlop Big Stubby 3.0mm. It's hard to go back to another pick after that, but the BS is not my choice for anything else... Although you can pick pretty fast with it too, I'm also afraid I'm creating two different habits, instead of one great one.

For folk guitar strumming, something like a Fender medium at max. — usually something in the range between light and medium. I've also been noticing how picks that you would expect to sound the same, can sound "very" different.

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I lost my right index finger years ago, so I use those big fat V-Picks on electrics to keep from constantly dropping them. For acoustic it's fingers only and no fingernails. Just don't like the sound of a pick on acoustic strings. Of course my finger picking isn't like it was before losing my finger.
 
Lets just say I've spent a fair amount on pics, In the small bag there are Red Bears(from back when you could actually custom order them), Hawk, BlueChip,BHL pretty much all of the boutique makers, There are a ton of dunlops all gauges and shapes. Ive been finding myself as of late gravitating towards lighter gauges I'm at .60mm Flows right now, I've used 1.5MM to 2MM picks for years and i feel like I've been held back because there too stiff. Not sure where ill end up in the end but one thing I'm not running out anytime soon LOL
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