Using pick that makes me play better or train up?

sanXp

New member
Guys. In a dillema now. I'm torn between using a pick that makes me play soso and a pick that makes me play much better. Much better in the sense of cleaner trills and clearer notes when I pick them. Soso in the sense that my playing sounds sloppy. The thing is this pick that plays much better is specially formulated to play super well, kinda like a 'cheat' if you might. Would it be better for me to work on my skill with the pick that I don't play as well with, or just go with the pick that makes me play better?
 
Interesting question...I thought all picks are similar except their thickness....Anyway Working on ur skill to play with the pick u don play well with would be a better option cos if u can play well with a pick u cant play well with u can play well with any picks... 8)
 
i'm find it easier too use thinner and sharp picks. But it somehow didnt give enough power. So i used a thicker one which is not as easy to use but it gives more tone i guess, just have to get used to it.
 
yea man, i used to use thin picks as i felt that they are much easier to use as theres not much resistance when u pick on the strings. but then i felt i was losing out on somthing. so i switched to hard picks. 1mm to 1.2 mm ones. at first had lots of difficulty playing, but now i cant live without em. hee, and now any pick thinner than 1.2mm i am able to play comfortably with.
 
hifi_killer said:
i'm find it easier too use thinner and sharp picks. But it somehow didnt give enough power. So i used a thicker one which is not as easy to use but it gives more tone i guess, just have to get used to it.

I can never use soft and thin picks, don't know why :p

I was crazy one day to try the Jazz 3 pics many people are using and raving about here, because I saw it before, and it's super thick, and very hard. In my head was like.. lets see if this thing can break my strings. And it might be the pick for me. So I got it, and I was amazed at how much control it gave me. Palm muting was a breeze too. But there was one thing I dislike about it. It sounds very dead, because of the material it is made of. And because of that, and probably because my incompetance too, I do sound kinda sloppy, but I've grown to be very comfortable with it. By the way: how I test a resonance of a pick, is that I throw it softly against a hard surface and hear what sound it gives me.

Now. Today, my friend passed to me this pack of awe-in-one profound picks. His friend introduced the awe-in-one picks to him, and he asked me what thickness I liked and I just told him to "get the thickest one for me", being the crazy-about-thick-picks-guy that I am. And so he did, and just so happened that the thickest came from this new profound series. Now. there are 3 picks of different flexibilities in the pack. The 2 softer ones sounded like the Jazz 3 when thrown against the floor. Thwack. The hardest one, was a nice clang. The sound of those see through hard picks. And it's near impossible to bend. Rock solid. It's my dream pick. The downside is that these picks are small, as small as the small Jazz 3 picks, and I'm not really comfy with them (at first). So being small, clangy, and really hard, I can trill fast and yet sound clean. Switch back to Jazz 3s, I become a little sloppy.

So I don't really know what to do now, continue with my Jazz 3s and practice, or just make the switch.

By the way. http://www.awe-in-one.com/ This is the site for the mad picks. Lol. It fits in my grip nearly perfectly, just that my thumb is really close to the strings.. Very easy to get harmonics, maybe a little too easy, and very easy to mute the strings by accident too. Nothing a little getting used to can't fix tho.

Sorry for the long post, I can be a nag sometimes :D
 
dric said:
yea man, i used to use thin picks as i felt that they are much easier to use as theres not much resistance when u pick on the strings.

You know I experience the exact opposite with thin picks! Really weird! Especially for alt picking. The string will always sound at a different location and I have to alt pick wider because the pick bends. If I lift away from the strings the alt pick will sound really weak. A hard pick doesn't bend so there's not much pick resistance, I just have to get past the string. It feels like I'm only working against the string and not the string and the pick as well.
 
lol im using a 3mm and 2.0mm pick now... switch betw them once in a while... cant use thin picks dunno why. feels odd.

besides, thick picks gives u a better er.. "power" when u pick the string and the sound or tone coming out rather, sounds more 'round' and thick. not like thin picks =/
 
I use the Dunlop Big Stubby 3.0 mm. purple ones made of something like acrylic. Give a brighter sound than the nylon ones.

Personally, I didn't enjoy the Jazz IIIs ... great control and all that but just too small for me. I was scraping the nail of my index finger against the strings so often because the Jazz III was so tiny... ended up with a fingernail thats super thin on one side. 8) Cool aye?

Anyway, if using some specially formulated pick is cheating then all picks would be cheating. No cheating would be just fingers. ;)
 
Ooo that stubby? It's a bass pick no? I have that. Tried on guitar, didn't like it, it just slides off the strings. Not much attack. When I play with it and I hear carefully it sounds like *shing* *shing* :p

But you have a point about using a formulated a pick.. But is it right to use something formulated to get up to standard than to practice to get up to standard?
 
ShredCow said:
I use the Dunlop Big Stubby 3.0 mm. purple ones made of something like acrylic. Give a brighter sound than the nylon ones.

Personally, I didn't enjoy the Jazz IIIs ... great control and all that but just too small for me. I was scraping the nail of my index finger against the strings so often because the Jazz III was so tiny... ended up with a fingernail thats super thin on one side. 8) Cool aye?

Anyway, if using some specially formulated pick is cheating then all picks would be cheating. No cheating would be just fingers. ;)


^5 heh
 
By the way you all using the small or normal sized Jazz 3? The normal sized one is sized like a normal generic pick, and they have a smaller one
 
Yup, that stubby. :) Its so thick, its really powerful...

Is it right to use something formulated to get up to standard than to practice to get up to standard? Should we use more compressors so when you tap high notes, they sound louder and clearer? Should we use metronomes to help us keep count while we practice? Should we use the Gripmaster to help improve finger strength? Should I use a Jazz III because my Big Stubby 3mms seem to make me play faster?

Like what I said, if you deem using a special pick as cheating, then lets all use a standard 1mm pick. ;)
 
sanXp said:
Ooo that stubby? It's a bass pick no? I have that. Tried on guitar, didn't like it, it just slides off the strings. Not much attack. When I play with it and I hear carefully it sounds like *shing* *shing* :p

But you have a point about using a formulated a pick.. But is it right to use something formulated to get up to standard than to practice to get up to standard?

I believe that theres nothing wrong using a pick that lets u play better. Its like choosing to ride a bicycle instead of a bike. Ok that was crap. Just use the good one man. thats my opinion 8)
 
Hmm you got a point shredcow but using Gripmaster still involves certain effort to be put in ma :D But yeah. I agree with you. And everyone else. I think I should get used to the new pick then. This is the 2nd bloody time it happened to me... Right after I buy a number of picks I think I will be using for the rest of my life something better comes along. I guess life's like that...

Thanks!
 
just use the picks that make you play better.. i used to use dunlop tortex and was quite unwilling to change. but i decided to buy a bunch of different picks and test each one out (limited to 10 mins playing time).. but when i got to the ernie ball H plastic picks (cheapo picks), i just cant stop playing.. same thing with dunlop black nylon picks (1mm) ... so the moral of the story is TRY out and find one that suits you
 
hmm a word of caution for Gripmaster users... the Gripmaster have not been proven to improve finger strength and may injure your fingers instead.
 
sanXp said:
By the way. http://www.awe-in-one.com/ This is the site for the mad picks. Lol. It fits in my grip nearly perfectly, just that my thumb is really close to the strings.. Very easy to get harmonics, maybe a little too easy, and very easy to mute the strings by accident too. Nothing a little getting used to can't fix tho.

Hello... where can i get this awe-in-one picks here?
 
i'm using that too. Its quite expensive. 4 bux for 3 picks.Dont lose it man. 2 of those picks somehow went under my bed, and its as good as gone. If it gets blunt sharpen it with a penknife.

of all the picks i tried so far, it has one of the best grip , giving u quite alot of power for alt picking. You can get it at sweelee. They sell it at celviano music too.ur gonna use it on the bass?
 
i use picks... nv realli care abt wad i use.. just anyhow use :lol:

use thicker ones for heavier songs...

and i cannot play with fingers anymore :?
 
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