Light, Medium or Heavy picks- which do you prefer?

[bho]

Do you prefer light, medium, or heavy picks?

[tommunch]

Just depends on what I'm playing and on what instrument for what situation. I generally prefer heavy picks for their control and tone, Wegens if I have the choice, but I like mediums or lights if I'm playing mostly rhythm with a band or in the studio for the nice click on the strings. Playing an instrument with lighter strings I'll opt for a lighter pick too sometimes.

Does that help?

[Xray]

My favorite picks are ones I make myself out of credit type cards, which can have different thickness.

Dunlop USA Nylon .88

[tommunch]

Originally Posted by Xray

My favorite picks are ones I make myself out of credit type cards, which can have different thickness.

Plus one on the credit card picks. They sound great!

[kydave]

Originally Posted by bho

Do you prefer light, medium, or heavy picks?

You should have put gauges in.

"Light, medium, or heavy" is totally relative, since old school picks that come stamped that way (as in old Fender celluloid picks for instance) are mis-labeled according to most guitar players I know.

"Heavy" is about 1.0 mm, which is pretty light in the guitar player world I inhabit.

"Light" in stamped picks is ridiculous, on par with cutting a pick out of a plastic milk jug.

So, while I put "heavy" in case you're referring to pre-stamped picks, I use a fairly light pick of about .05" or 1.27mm.

[kydave]

Revisiting the OP -

What do you mean by "light, medium or heavy"?



BTW, the lightest pick I have here is the BC 35 (.035" or .88mm) and I rarely use it other than for electric. Even on that now I'm usually using the BC 45 (.045" or 1.14mm).

[ManyMartinMan]

Depends........but never light. However I use several different picks, for their sound difference, depending on what guitar/song I am playing. I prefer something in the 1.1 range. But there's more than thickness. Material may matter as much or more. I prefer a Martin 73mm pick over many high-dollar thicker picks. However (because of material) two Martin 73mm picks glued together have a fantastic tone and flex to me. Gravity also does a good job with different materials and thicknesses.

[Glennwillow]

I used to use picks at about 0.88mm thick but have since changed to heavier picks -- Wegen Bluegrass at 1.4mm is where I started, and lately I have been using Charmed Life Picks at anywhere from 1.0mm to 1.47mm.

But there are "heavy" picks that are thicker than what I have been using.

In this thread in the Show & Tell section, I am using a CLP 1.0mm teardrop shaped faux tortoise pick. This performance might give you some idea of what a 1.0mm CLP sounds like on a pretty standard dreadnought.

- Glenn

[HHP]

Been using a 4.0mm lately so I guess that would be about humongous gauge.

Control, strong tone, and volume you can't believe would be the reasons.

[Silly Moustache]

Please define light , medium and heavy?

My definitions would be
Light - anything 1 m/m and under.
Medium - 1.25 to 2 m/m
Heavy - 2 - 4 m/m

As already mentioned, material and shape should also come into consideration.

Every time Dave publishes his pic of pics - I'll publish this one :



Oh, BTW - M<y preferences? Mediums - BC TAD50s (1.25 m/m) for all dreads, BC TAD40 (1 m/m) for 000, Wegen TF140 for Jumbo (Roy Smeck) and Martin D12-20.
Really dull D'andrea Pro-Plec 1.5 for my Waterloo WL12.

All 346 large triangles - which, in my opinion equate to 351 teardrops .25 m/m thicker.

[Captain Jim]

My comfort zone seems to be in the .88 to 1.25 range. The material it is made from makes a difference, as well as which guitar I am playing.

[DanR]

Originally Posted by Willie Voltaire

Dunlop USA Nylon .88

My pick of choice, also. I'm not sure where that falls in the poll. To me, it's a bit more than medium but definitely not heavy.

[kydave]

Definitely time, before we go too far along, for the OP to clarify how he defines the terms or the poll is meaningless, other than the actual comments.

BHO - Come back & tell us!!!!

[Charmed Life Picks]

As someone stated above, material matters more than thickness.

Case in point: The two materials we use are radically different as regards thickness and flex. Without going into a sales pitch, the casein ("tortoise') material Glenn mentioned above is extremely rigid, almost like bone, even down to thicknesses of .75 mm. Conversely, the brown material is incredibly strong and almost impossible to break, while still retaining a great deal of flex above 1.0 mm and beyond.

As a player, it is much easier to "make" a thick pick sound thin than to make a thin pick sound thick. Not impossible, but difficult. And as someone noted above, terms of thin, medium and thick vary from person to person and from manufacturer to manufacturer and are therefore relative. Much better to talk in specific numbers. Fender, in my view, has done themselves a great disservice in the age of the boutique pick by clinging to these general classifications of thickness while Dunlop, on the other hand, has stolen their market share and eaten their lunch by giving players specific information on thickness and material, etc., empowering their customers to make informed decision.

my take,
scott memmer