Pick-a-palooza

Speaking of the elders knowing...

I had such a good result from my crazy guitar sampling experiment, I decided to apply the same logic to (GASP!) my little collection of flat picks. LOL.

Some people out there right now are sayin' "Told ya so!" I still prefer playing with my fingers, but what if Norman prefer being played with a pick??? I have to be ready. And I only have 7 more days to go.

I took all the picks, dumped them into a big pile on my desk, and one by one strummed the guitar up and down, tried to pick individual strings, picking up and picking down. Strumming loud, strumming softly. I ran through the same routine with every pick and then sorted them into two piles:

The "Absolutely NEVER, NFW, You're Outta Here" pile
and

The "Maybe? Yeah, all right. You can stay" pile

Turns out there were a few that made it into the Yeah, all right You can stay" pile.

Here are the rejects, and why:
Black Mountain thumb picks red and gray - Too thick/stiff, got caught up in the strings on the up stroke. Probably more suited for bluegrass style picking than basic cowboy chord strumming.

Martin 1.21, purple pick. Felt more like an ice pick than a guitar pick. It has no give at all.

A dozen or so "no name" picks that came for free with the cheap capo I got off Amazon. They are blank or say Wingo .71mm. They are pretty but very noisy against the strings. I hear the plastic on the strings when I strum, which drives me crazy!

In the "Keeper" pile:

One of the Wingo .71 mm picks made it but it's a little more flexible than the others, so maybe labeled wrong?

Some no name/generic picks that are very thin, very bendy. One even just says "Thin" on it.

Tortex .5 Flow in red - these are okay too

Some freebies from Guitar Center, don't know what they really are but they feel ok

A "Dava" pick that's a bit small. I was told it's a Jazz style pick, but it's made from something a little rubbery and it's nice and quiet

A Dunlop .88 that has a little texture to the surface and feels kind of grippy

A Dunlop Ultex in 1.14, traditional shape - thicker but not noisy

A Dunlop Ultex .73, larger size, more of a triangle than a teardrop. Also not noisy.

I think my pick experimenting is just beginning. There are millions of different types of guitar picks, almost as many pick styles as guitar styles and types. It will be interesting to see what develops here.

Watch this space.