One pick to rule them all, or different picks for different instruments?

[Wade Hampton]

Simple question: how many of you use the same type of pick on all of your instruments, and how many of you vary the pick depending on which instrument you happen to be playing?

Please explain, and tell us about your pick choices, whether you use only one or many.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Rudy4]

None of the categories match my pick use, so I abstain.

I use a Primetone 346 large triangle 1.4mm pick and it works well on my guitars as well as all my mando family instruments. Octave mandolin, mandola, and mandolin all feel fine when using the large triangle 1.4mm Primetone.

It takes a while to get comfortable with whatever you end up preferring as a flat pick, so I much prefer to sacrifice whatever I might gain in tone or volume to have the comfort of using the same pick on those instruments.

Bass (upright or electric) gets bare fingers, as well as Charango and usually banjo. When I played more bluegrass style I was using thumb and finger picks, obviously.

Thumb and finger picks are also used on lap steel and lap-style resonator guitar.

Yikes, too many instruments! I'm kinda happy I decided to sell off my fiddle.

[Shuksan]

My picks fall into two classes: The ones I use on guitars and the ones I use on mandolins. For guitars, I'm not super picky. Most any heavy pick will do for both acoustic and electric guitars, but I tend to use the ubiquitous Fender heavy pick. For mandolins, I only use Wegen picks after having tried many types of picks made of a wide range of materials and with a wide range of shapes. They are the picks that work the best for me on mandolin, but I definitely don't like them for guitar and, conversely, the Fender heavies are not so great for mando.

[aeisen93]

I use the same pick on every guitar. Fender 351 Celluloid Extra Heavy.

[Bushleague]

Sometimes for recording I may deviate, as well as occasionally to compensate for strings that sound either too bright or too dead, but for the most part I use Nylon .60's for absolutely everything.

[Wade Hampton]

For me it’s the D’Andrea .84mm medium heavy picks. D’Andrea makes Fender picks, and it was as Fender medium heavies that I was introduced to these. (Fender stopped carrying the medium heavies in their pick lineup years ago, DECADES ago, so now they’re much more difficult to find. I buy them on Amazon…)

I like them because they’ve got just enough flex to play good rhythm parts, but enough stiffness to get good tone for lead lines.

I use them for all of my instruments: not just guitars, but mountain dulcimers and mandolins as well. I turn them around and use the rounded edges for mandolin, which gives me double the lifespan as well as a better tone for that instrument.

In recent years I’ve also been using Blue Chip TD-35’s, which have a very similar (but not identical) flex as the D’Andrea medium heavy. I use the Blue Chips mostly on mandolin and on my baritone guitar.

So two different picks, but both essentially medium heavies.


Wade Hampton Miller

[YeOldRocker]

The survey didn't quite have my actual answer, but I voted same pick/gauge on all guitars, because - mostly - that's true. I can, and do, grab whatever's on hand and use it, but I do tend to use certain picks on different guitars. That said, all my picks are considered heavy, if you go with the basic Fender idea of heavy, and in the regular shape they come in. I use Dunlop picks most often on my acoustics, the .88 mm, in the same shape as the Fender picks. Picks noticeably fatter than that, and I feel like I lose a bit of picking articulation and rhythms feel duller and muddier (to me). I use a Dunlop heavy for my archtop, too, but that's a smaller jazz pick with some grip added (although I don't need it - it just has it). On mandolin, I use a heavy pick, pretty much whatever's lying around. But it's always a heavy.

[rule18]

Hi Wade.. Up until recently, I was exclusively a Dunlop Tortex .73 user, across all my guitars (varied shapes and woods). I've recently been experimenting with a Blue Chip TD35 and found a fuller, richer new sound coming from a couple of my guitars. The less percussive result has been a pleasant change on my SCGC OM, as well as my Dove Custom. On the Dove, the Blue Chip helps to replace the bit of bass which all that maple lacks.

[Brent Hahn]

If I'm recording acoustic or electric guitar it's either a Dunlop Tortex .73, .88 or 1.0. For recording picked electric bass (rare), the Tortex 1.0 or a Fender Extra Heavy. For gigs on acoustic, either the .73 or the .88. The .73's are easier to find when you drop them.

[Wade Hampton]

It’s interesting to see how many people like the Dunlop nylon picks. They seem to be a real forum favorite.


whm

[jaymarsch]

I favor casein and vespel picks. I have them in different shapes and gauges. I like the ones with more rounded points for a warmer tone and slightly sharper points for a brighter tone. These days I am doing more strumming than single note runs but I like having the variety depending on the song I’m playing and the guitar that I’m playing it on.
Best,
Jayne

[Jobe]

I'm a medium kind of person. With picks it is much like water skis and hockey sticks. I like a little flex but not too much. I have experimented with light and heavy. Light is too flimsy for me and heavy makes me feel like I am attacking the guitar. Medium is my Goldilocks. Yes, I am a Libra. There is a medium range that I will continue to explore. It is fun. I have been a fan of Dunlop for a long time. Fender mediums feel like home to me. I am not fancy with picks but sometimes a song asks for a slightly more forgiving attack and that is why it is nice to have variety in the medium range. A good blues riff might ask for a little more meat. But not too much.

[icuker]

I try different picks all the time, but tend to prefer thick picks for most everything (except my ukulele, I use a thin fender white pick that I modified the point to make a more round).

[jdto]

I use my Blue Chip TD45 for pretty much everything, but occasionally will use other picks. For jams with adult beverages and potential for lost picks, for example, I use Fender Tortuga extra heavies.

[brencat]

Hi Wade. Every single guitar case of mine has a BlueChip TD-45 for bluegrass flatpicking, and a Dava Control Pick (green) for pure strumming duty.

Very early in my playing career (about 10 yrs now), I settled on the Dava Control pick for strumming after trying a wide variety of different picks in various thicknesses. This one gave a consistently great tone no matter the guitar or the music.

For flatpicking, my first BlueChip was a TD-35, and after I adjusted to the feel, quickly realized I wanted something even stiffer to “thicken” up the tone and fatten the notes. I went to a TD-40, then a TD-50. I enjoyed the added control that the stiffer picks provided, but with the 50 I started to lose some articulation and it was especially noticeable on my mahogany guitars. Paul (Haasome) suggested I drop back down a notch and that’s when BlueChip started offering the TD-45 as a regular item on their website. THAT was the sweet spot, and I’ve been there ever since.