Rafael Trujillo
patreon
Which guitar pick is the best?
🕑 Added 2024-04-11 22:32:45 +0000 UTCHey everyone,
just because I’m getting so many questions about which pick I use.
Quick answer: Dunlop Jazz III Ultex, 2.0mm
Long answer:
When I first started playing the electric guitar as a kid, I didn't know which pick to choose, so I simply picked one that felt comfortable in my hand. It happened to be a larger pick. I don’t remember exactly which brand it was but it was one of those you get when you buy a starter set in the local music store.
I didn't feel comfortable with smaller ones like the Dunlop Jazz III picks because, I felt like having nothing in my hands and I would loose it very fast because there was no grip on it.
When I started studying in Munich one of my teachers showed me his pick and I was a big fan of his picking technique, so I thought I just have to use his pick and practice his exercises, then I'll get good at picking too lol. (It was Wolfgang Zenk from the German prog rock band called 7for4). He played those Pick Boy Carbon Nylon Picks and I switched using those for a few years actually.
When I started studying more and more Jazz I was looking for something which helps me getting a thicker tone because I didn’t really play hollow-body guitars at that time. So my workaround was just turning the tone knob almost down on my guitar and playing a thicker pick, to get the traditional clean jazz tone.
And till this day the 2mm Jazz III Ultex has the perfect balance for me personally, between the perfect thickness (not too small, not too big) and all the tones I can create with it (percussive, tight, warm clean tones etc…).
Which guitar pick are you using?
Comments
Rafael Trujillo
that's great. what's the thickness?
Ryne G. Schuler
I’ve been using Jazz 3 with grip (just a rougher surface really) for many years now. I was recently given a new pick to try by a friend. I forget the name of it but it looks similar to the jazz iii. It’s transparent purple or blue and has a concave surface when one grips. Haven’t tried it yet
Rafael Trujillo
It makes totally sense to look for all kinds of possibilities and I think it’s great to try all of them. But it is also just a decision you can make to stick to one specific pick, even though the pick doesn’t feel 100% perfect. Every time I changed my pick it felt weird at first. I’m sure you’ll find the right one at some point. And I’ve seen players changing pick for different styles. So that’s definitely an option too.
Josh
Unfortunately I am one of those people who is constantly changing picks. I can fall in love with a pick for ~3-4months and suddenly it will feel wrong and I'll switch. I do tend to favor sharper picks (Ultex Sharp or T3) and I probably used the Jazz3 2.0 ultex the longest as well. I prefer to be able to feel the strings and if there is too much glide it feels very wrong to me (ex: standard shape dunlop or the Flows) I currently have some Ultex Jazz3 XLs on the way haha Not sure why I can't stick with one size/style, it probably definitely hinders my progression a bit because I feel like different picks can require different techniques... Maybe I just haven't found the right one yet!
