FEATURE > HOW TO PICK YOUR PICK
tone, and simply lack the heft necessary to
bring out a well-rounded tone on single-note leads. For that, you’ll at least need to
step up to a medium-gauge pick—which
is generally in the range of . 60 to . 80 mm.
Mediums remain the most popular pick
thickness, and with good reason: While
they’re not ideal for zingy strumming,
they’re the perfect combination of stiffness and flexibility for rock rhythm work
and full-bodied acoustic accompaniment
(especially in solo situations), and they’ve
got enough heft to produce powerful tones
on leads and hook figures as well. Tonally,
they tend to help produce a good blend of
high-end bite and lower mid-range thump,
without being too shrill or boomy.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with
a little boom. For a heavier sound, you’ll
naturally want to gravitate to a heavier
pick—basically anything past . 80 mm. At
the lower end of this range, you’ll still have
enough flexibility for crunchy rhythms,
but you’ll also have the firmness you need
for full-bodied chord arpeggios and fat
lead lines. In fact, it’s noteworthy just how
much one’s tone changes in switching from
a medium to a thick pick. Solos suddenly
sound more dynamically even—almost compressed—with fewer transients and spikes.
And you may even find that your leads seem
to clean up a bit, as there’s likely to be less
pick noise and less slop in your playing.
At the thicker end of this range, over
1. 5 mm, you’ll find the ideal weights for
bebop and other big-body jazz guitar playing—sounds that become increasingly mellow and warm, and lines that sound even
cleaner and more burnished. But the biggies
aren’t just for jazz cats: Metal dudes who
favor a bottom-heavy, scooped-mid sound
will also want to experiment with picks in
the 1. 5 mm to 3 mm range.
Shapes of
Things
The shape of your pick
is another place to
consider experiment-
ing. While you may be
attached to a certain shape, as your play-
ing develops, you may find that a different
shape becomes more desirable. Generally,
electric players who want more precision,
control, and articulation of single-note
124 PREMIER GUITAR JUNE 2012
lines (including shred kings like Dream Theater’s John Petrucci, who uses teardrop-shaped 2.0 mm Dunlop Ultex Jazz III picks) will gravitate toward smaller, heavier picks
with pointier tips, which is why virtually all
jazz-oriented picks are shaped this way.
As Jimmy Dunlop puts it, “If you make
the conversion to a Jazz III pick, you’re not
coming back. If you suddenly were to go
back to a standard-size pick after that, it
would be like putting on a pair of clown
shoes and trying to run the 40-yard dash.
You simply develop a more articulate style
with a pick like that.”
Those teardrop and small, triangular
shapes, says Ernie Ball’s Derek Brooks,
“were really made popular by the jazz guys,
and I’ve also noticed that a lot of the pro-
gressive, highly technical shred players also
prefer those. Arguably, there’s less drag on a
smaller pick like that.” Apart from the stan-
dard, teardrop and jazz shapes, other essen-
tial shapes include the equilateral triangle
and the fin shape, which offers more than
one style of contact surface, including a
multi-point edge, as well as a more standard
rounded point.
But it’s not just the shape you should
consider, either—it’s which part of said
shape you use. Some players use the rounded rear portion of the standard pick shape
to get a sound that’s a little more full and,
well, rounded.
Though it’s
probably one of
the most over-
looked aspects
of picks from a
tonal perspec-
tive, believe
it or not, the
texture of your
plectrum’s sur-
face can also be
a big deal. Many pick designs—including
Dunlop’s traditional Nylon picks (as well
as their Max-Grip cousins) and D’Andrea’s
Brain picks—feature raised lettering and/
Tap into
Textures
or other patterns intended to help you
maintain a better hold under sweaty conditions. But a lot of players like these raised
surfaces even more for the impact they have
on tone. Famous players who reportedly
flip these picks around so that the textured
grip surface comes in contact with the
strings include country
star Keith Urban and
U2’s the Edge (who
uses nylon Herdim
picks with raised-dot grippage). Try
it out—grab a pick
with raised dots or
lettering, and dig how
it imparts a more biting
texture to your sound.
A Question
of Style
Ultimately, the pick you
choose will have everything
to do with what style of music you play
and the unique attributes you bring to that
style. Still, it’s equally fascinating that it
also works the other way around: The pick
you use can have a determining effect on
How to Pull off a
Rockin’ Pick Slide
A dramatic pick slide is either the coolest pick trick, or the dorkiest, depending
on how well you pull it off. If you sound
like Eddie Van Halen on the intro to
1979’s “D.O.A.,” you’ve got it mastered.
If your cat shrieks—keep practicing. A
Dunlop Tortex Heavy has the perfect
mix of grainy, powdery texture and
weight for pick slides, while most cellulose and nylon picks don’t.
Here’s the key: The pick should be
held flat against the low E string, so that
the gripping surface—not the edge—is
what contacts the string. (That’s why
they don’t call it a “pick scrape.” No
one said a glory move like this would
be easy.) Start with the pick back by
the bridge, and drag it rapidly along
the length of the string, all the way to
the nut. You’ll want to have a decent
amount of gain for this—and it doesn’t
hurt to have a phaser and some delay
to help create that jet-swoosh sound
while making the whole slide that much
bigger and broader. —JR
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