IMO Jazz III are too tiny to hold onto. I prefer bigger dunlop Tortex which has a jazz III edge but the normal pick size. U get the sharpness and attack of the sharp jazz tip but still big so you can hold it comfortably (for me)
Jazz lll picks changed my playing x 100....speed , accuracy and tone for metal increased. I still prefer a light pick for acoustic. If I'm playing really fast, I use Ernie Ball prodigy picks. They are awesome ..
The thing about thick vs thin picks for me is that with thicker picks, you can always just hold it more loosely if you want that flop. With thinner picks, it doesn't matter how hard you grip the pick, it will always flop around.
@@JohnVieto If you use a thin pick that's pointy then if you hold it at the right angle it's pretty close to a thick pick. I'm not a fan of thin picks but I've heard some good players make the most of em by adjusting the angle between strumming and lead playing. 45 degrees with a pointy thin pick will still give a decent attack. If the pick isn't pointy then you lose all the benefits of the angle.
I use a 1.5 on acoustic. It is harder to make sound good while strumming, but can be done. I can really dig in for single string, or double stop stuff and it sounds way better palm muted.
I find .73 to be sweet spot for acoustic. Everything less has this clacky sound I don't like. You can go a litlle bit thicker from there but you risk losing some of the richness in your tone. But it also depends on guitar, I imagine you can attack dreadnought more than concert.
Not sure what style you play, but my experience is that most good acoustic players play with thicker picks. It may be harder at first, but if you stick with it you have much better control and much much less sound from the pick itself.
I really wish I knew this. I've been playing electric for four years, but acoustic for like 7 months. I wondered why I always sounded so choppy and like bad. Guess it's never too late to learn.
I like the Jazz iii XLs 1.14s. I find the stanard jazz iii a bit too small for my hand. The John Petrucci picks are nice too but a little too thick for me
My first pick was an Ernie Ball glow-in-the-dark God-knows-what gauge. Then my dog chewed it up, then my oldest brother tried fixing it but he split it in half so he gave me a pick of his as ''compensation'' but now my other dog chewed up that one as well.
I use a fairly thin pick , but what i find better is the fact that there is a grip texture to it and its much easier to hold on to in light or heavy picking.
Paul Gilbert uses a .60 pick (Dunlop orange). He said his shredder friends were horrified when he told them but now he can't get enough of that slappy feeling. Whatever works for you is the best pick. Don't let other people tell you what's right or wrong.
Heck yeah. Nice picks, i love them they are just great for either blues / rock, funk, acoustic... et cetera, very versatile if you actually hold them in a way they don't bend that much or simply accept the slappy feel.
Exactly! To each his own. I think I've tried just about every pick out there on the market from Dunlop nylons, tortex, celluloid. Fender shell, and black celluloid picks. Discovered by a happy accident dynamic response who are usually known for their strings also makes a decent shell pick. So I'm torn between that one and the Gibson black celluloid picks. In medium gauge though. I found for playing a strat trying to capture those '80s strat quack tones that a medium pick works best. But still can cover a nice buttery lead tone. Even Neil Schon from journey uses medium picks. He gets a fantastic tone. Not long ago in an interview he said that he uses medium because he likes The buttery sound. "Dunlop mediums the pretty blue ones."
If you want an extreme example of the "heavier as you get more experience", evidently Pat Metheney plays Fender Extra Light picks but he uses the round end! Tosin Abasi plays a .73mm Ultex pick.
Thinner picks are great for rhythm. I’d always use a thin pick if I’m playing funk, the floppiness of the pick actually makes it easier to achieve certain rhythms
When I first started playing at 14, I thought those Fender confetti picks were the coolest thing ever. I remember taking the bus out to some music shop that mainly sold grand pianos, just to get those stupid picks, because that was the only place I knew of that had them. Little things like that, that get you stoked on playing your guitar are important. It makes it fun and helps you reconnect with the things that inspired you to pick up the guitar in the first place. That’s why I do stuff like always play using coiled amp cords, because they remind me of Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival, and how amazing it was the first time I saw that footage.
It's weird because ever since the beginning I always wanted a smaller and thicker pick. When I discovered Jazz 3 everything changed, even more when I discovered the Max Grip version.
jazz III is great, I was using .88 and when tried Jazz III once I have never looked back since then. it is far more better than tortex that it is just insane
At this point I swap between Big Stubbies, Flow 2.5’s, 3.0’s, and 4.2’s lol I have naturally sweaty hands, so the extra with provides a better grip for me. When I was younger I only got what I saw in stores. With the age of the internet, it allowed me to try many types and I found thicker picks work best for me, especially when I play bass with them. Plus the shape makes it easier to just glide across the strings on both bass and guitar. Plus, most of my instruments are extended range with thicker gauge strings, so it’s nice to have more pick to help move those strings and not have to worry about the pick bending or being too noisy with the flat edges.
I've tried so many picks over the years of various shapes, sizes, thicknesses, and gimmicks. Landed on the godsend 1.38 mm ultex jazz 3. I'm in love! Fast, controlled, great grip for me and now the one time elusive pinch harmonics are a breeze!
Right on! I didn’t like normal jazz 3s since i found them to slippery, so i used tortex 1,14 mil with edges that i had sanded to kinda simulate a jazz 3. But then i found ultex jazz 3s.
Points to consider: *Gauge of the strings *Electric/ acoustic/ ukulele *How hard you normally strum *Pic angle when strumming *Holding pick technique * Type of music played *Different shapes can be a help. *Pick materials I like heavy for all ( excluding ukulele)
Size of the pick too, I love purple Dunloops and tried the triangle version of it, but I'd like to hide my pick between index and middle finger for fingerstyle sections and that didn't work with them.
A thicker pick provides more attack and less resistance which means less scratching from the pick sliding as you stroke the note. His opinion on heavier picks is. The best pick on the market right now is the 1mm James hetfield whitefang. But Dunlop flows of any size are great. I think the normal dull point picks the guy in the video use all sound like shit. A pointy pick tip is crucial. And most pointy picks are thicker. That extra pick attack not only sounds good to me which is just opinion. But a fact about the sound is you will cut through the mix so much better with a sharp thick pick then you would a light dull pick
Dude, I get it exactly. I'm 60 and I recently bought an acoustic guitar. I didn't know anything about which pick to choose. I knew it was going to be a big decision just like choosing the right string guage. I knew this because I played drums for 30 years or so and it took a long time to settle on the right drumsticks and drum heads. After much trial and error I finally landed on Vic Firth 5A's and Remo Pinstripe heads for my drums choice. So when I bought my acoustic guitar it had medium guage strings on it. I bought several packs of different guage strings and 1 of every type of pick they had! After much trial and changing of strings I have decided on Elixir Extra Light strings and the pick you used for your acoustic. The red Tortex Dunlop 0.5mm. I feel oddly justified. Your videos are great. Thanks.
I’ve used the tortex 1.14 picks for the entire time I’ve been playing electric guitar, and a couple of days ago I tried playing with a light pick and it made me play better instantly. For a long time I thought thin picks weren’t any good, but to me they sound so much better, and feel so much better!
Yeah I was convinced thick was better for years until I saw Paul Gilbert talk about how he uses the orange Tortex 0.60mm picks and thinks they sound better than the thicker ones. He proceeded to demonstrate exactly what he was talking about and my eyes were opened.
thiner picks make you play better wen you are a beginne yes, later on you want to switch to heavy its way more precise and lets you play faster and cleaner
@@user-yo3cg9ev8y fuller sound as well I never use thin picks anymore. Once you learn pick control thick is best for sure especially peek made ones like blue chip and gravity golds. All kinds of shapes and gauges from blue chip
You covered every dunlop except the one I have used for years, the PINK pick (.46). Most people write it off because it is paper thin, but it takes very little effort to bend/fold it slightly with thumb pressure, making more stiff and solid enough for shredding. The slightly curved tip facilitates hybrid picking more easily. Experimenting with holding it on different parts of the pick (closer/further from the tip) yields more control over its flexibility. I have found it useful for classical, blues, jazz, rock, and beyond. If you don't like the pink color, they make close sizes in grey and white, but I love the pink because nobody ever steals (or borrows) my pick. I have sold a number of guitarists on it over the years who were not too closed minded to even try out the pick because it is pink and flimsy. You just need to know how to use it!
So, I'd like to give my input on this. I've played for over 15 years, and have used many pick materials, metal, wood, plastic, nylon, and synthetic tortoise shell (tortex, or just a different plastic) I have used all the thicknesses from 0.53mm to 1.3mm, and different shapes and grip textures. The main pick I keep buying is the orange tortex .60mm. Why? As you demonstrated in this video, on acoustic guitar, the click of the pick on the strings and the brighter sound it produces helps you stand out in a mix, and if you need more body, a dark reverb will fill out the rest. I use it on my electric guitars though, though, my second favorite is a .73 nylon which is about the same amount of flex. How you hold the pick, what angle you pick at, and the tightness of your grip can all have an effect on your tone. But in the end, it all comes down to 2 main things for me. Does the pick I'm using make me feel confident? And am I going to drop it because of having to hold it too loosely to get the sound I want? Side question, how often do you replace your picks or have to reshape them because the tip wears off?
I played with the Big Stubby 3.0mm way back when, and still remember fondly the feeling of those against the string after having spent the first 2 weeks of learning guitar trying to dig into power chrods on one of those stupid fender mediums.
I switch between 1.14 dunlop and 1.5 dunlop max grip. If someone gives me that wompy 0.something pick I'll kill him with that. I also have a bunch of fender heavy like the once he mentioned in the beginning of the video but they are still a lil bit to flexible (not skinny) to play power chords, gallop ana alternate picking on the E string. I use 10's btw.
Wow... this is one of the most important videos I have came across yet! Honestly. I been struggling to get my speed up while learning lead, I been using a softer pick thinking it would give me speed... because if the flexibility..I went to a harder pick, my speed increased 2x in 5 minutes... what a difference... it was then that I noticed it’s like running on a sponge with a soft pick and like running on hard ground with a hard pick.... the soft pick slowed me down because I wasn’t making contact that I could actually feel in my picking hand... absolutely astounding.. what a very overlooked piece of guitar playing information. Keep up the great work... new sub here!
I went on a pick reevaluation journey about 3 years ago after 30+ years of playing. I just don’t like a “standard” pick shape. What sounds best and feels best (for me) is a Dunlop Flow Pick in either 1.14mm or 1.5mm. The shape is sort of like a bigger JazzIII. It has a nice point, and raised lettering which gives a nice grip. I have some in several thicknesses from aroun0.6mm to 3mm, and they all have a usefulness for specific things; though, I find the 1.14 to be the most versatile all-around thickness. I do also have a zippered ring display case of a number of other specialty picks ranging from acrylic for a chirpy attack to thick Gator Grip or 208 for dull traditional jazz tones to textured ones for various sound qualities.
Jazz III’s are great but I really love the John Petrucci signature picks. They’re like a Jazz III but just slightly larger so you can actually hold onto them.
When I started teaching, I ended up finding a Jazz III left behind in a teaching room by another teacher. A friend of mine lives by the jazz III's so I was curious. At the time I was using the yellow tortex exclusively. Tried the Jazz III and loved it. So it was game on after that and the quest to find the perfect Jazz III as the red one was too small for when I played live. I tried the XL's, then the Max Grip, then those Dava picks, then the black Ultex. The black Ultex was the winner, until the black John Petrucci Jazz III's showed up one day. Been using those exclusively, ever since.
When I started playing the electric guitar I only had the 1mm Dunlop Nylon, the 2mm Dunlop Gator and the absolute UNIT that was the 3mm Dunlop Big Stubby. After collecting picks from a few shows I setteled on the red and green Dunlops for most of my playing. For picking I use lighter, for strumming I use the more heavy picks. I find that with lighter picks I can "connect" better with the string in the sense that I can feel the string through the pick. With heavier picks I found that I was less consistent, picked the wrong strings more often and was slower. But I still am a beginner who doesn't play lead all that often so maybe my preferences will change when I get better.
Those translucent brown Fender picks used to be my go-to picks when I was taking guitar lessons in the 70's and 80's, just because they were so readily available. I just used whatever my teacher provided for me. I didn't know about other brands and gauges until the about the early 90's, when I discovered the Dunlop Tortex picks, did a bit of experimentation, and realized the purple 1.14 mm picks suited me best for most styles of rhythm and lead playing.
I agree completely. I've used purple Dunlop Tortex for ever. Another thing, I've found it really tough to accomplish "pinch harmonics" with a light pick.Good stuff here. Rock on brother.
In computer lingo, we'd call what you feel with light gauge picks "latency". Latency is the delay in something to get to where it needs to be to do its job. As with spinning hard drives: latency is the the time it takes for the spot on the turning platters to arrive under the pickup head to read the data the processor needs. The elimination of this latency is why SSDs are so much faster than mechanical hard drives. Your light picks are literally waving back and forth after each string strike and must end their oscillation to return to a position ready for the next clean strike: latency.
It's not about just the gauge, it's about the material, density, the bevel of the edge, shape, size etc. Don't just stick to one company and don't be afraid of experimenting. The tortex dunplops used to be my go to but now I swear by the 2-3 mm Gravity sunrise shape.
100%. Personally, I hate tortex. I don’t like the feel, they don’t grip well for me, and the .6 doesn’t flex much still. For acoustic I use .6mm Dunlop nylons. For electric I’m still feeling it out, but currently I’m liking Dunlop flows in thicker gauges.
Thank you for this video. I saw your video last week, and I changed my pick to a heavier gauge, and it help my picking and the way my songs sound. I was under the impression too, liter gauge picks were for guitars and heavier gauge picks were for bass. And just before I saw your video I saw a Netflix movie about a high school Metal music band, and they too said to use a heavier gauge pick. So I did, and I am very grateful. Blows my mind. Thank you sincerely. John.
I've tried picks ranging from those floppy tortoise shell ones that everyone has 20 of despite never buying any, to 5mm gypsy jazz things. Sharp tips, round tips, slick, grippy, beveled, plastic, bone, horn, quarters from my pocket... A bunch. I found that I need a fairly large pick with a sharp point and something to help keep the pick from sliding between my sweaty fingers - Be it a groove, knobbly bits, texturing or whatever. I have settled on the Dunlop Flow 2mm (not the gloss), the Primetone large sharp tip 5mm and some 1.5mm~ horn/bone grooved picks my wife got me from... somewhere? The Flows are my primary picks. The Primetone is like a workout pick - I use it to practice a bit and then switch back to the Flow and feel like I'm Joe Satriani. For a few seconds, at least. The horn/bone picks aren't quite as smooth playing as the Flows but it makes my wife happy to see them being played. I need the size and grip on a pick because I pick "weird." My thumb bends back almost 90 degrees from straight and it's uncomfortable to pinch a pick between thumb and forefinger and keep my thumb straight for long periods of time. The old thumb keeps rolling further and further back unless I consciously fight it. So I don't. I just let it rock back, a la George Benson or so called "backward picking". My pick rolls back with the thumb, towards being perpendicular rather than parallel with the strings. This is more comfortable for me but not as secure as the "standard" grip, so I need some grip in a pick. I also like to recruit my middle finger to aid the index in holding the pick, because it makes it more comfortable to close the rest of my fist. If I leave my middle finger off, it can't decide whether to stay extended or closed and then hangs around awkwardly, like someone writing an entirely too long comment about picks and picking.
Well that helps a lot actually. I've been playing with a .53 and I really had to fight to play anything heavy (How I learned Disposable Heroes I have no idea) but with a 1.0 everything's way better. Thanks again man!
It’s definitely a personal feeling thing. I think you described the feelings perfectly. I used only .60 forever just because that’s what I started with. Wasn’t until I was given some custom picks that look and felt incredible. They were way thicker than I used but it was neat to try. Now I am experimenting with a bunch of different textures and thicknesses.
Totally agree with this. I used .60 and .73 picks all the time when I first started bc it just felt better but when I got into hard rock and metal I tried the stubby jazz 3.0mm and it was like a gateway opened up lol.
@@t3nshie I have those, those are good for like metal stuff, but when i do acoustics, there's a certain click from the ultex that i prefer. Black fangs to me are just extremely versatile and i need that for playing multiple genres
Started guitar at 7 years old, in '88. I've used do many pics over the years, but always end up back with the Dunlop nylon. I'll use a .77, but .88 is my choice. I like that they're stiff, yet flexible just enough to shape itself to your finger hold - and they wear at the angle I hold them too; which means I actually prefer a slightly rounded, worn in pic, to a fresh one(I actually hate a new pic). So I try to keep a couple broken in ones around, but they are perfect for me. I also like the texture from the printing, as it works like a grip - smooth pics are too slippery feeling for my preference. Most of my friends live the Jazz III, but they just feel far too thick for me.
Great Video. Crucial addition; I find that string gauge affects pick gauge, as a rule of thumb (haha) but seriously *the thicker the strings, the thinner the pick, and visa versa. And different songs can change that too. More importantly as always go on what you personally prefer, by trying all things in different situations. I have an arsenal at my finger tips (ha / literally tho) and change accordingly
One of the best things you can do to find your favorite pick is to get the Dunlop assortment packs. I ordered 3 different Dunlop assortment packs from Amazon for like $5 a piece and ended up with about 30 different picks to try out. You will pretty much have every shape, size, thickness, material, and texture that Dunlop has to offer. I found out that I like the thickest Flow and Jazz III Max Grip picks most of the time, but there are a few others I like to use also depending on what I'm playing. The Ultex, Gator Grip, and Prime Grip Delrin 500 are also really nice. If you put a 2mm Ultex into a Fender Mojo Grip that makes for an awesome all around pick. Aww hell I obviously like playing around with pretty much all of them, lol!! They all have their uses, I guess that's part of the fun!
Love me some white Dunlop’s .38 when I play electric. Before that I was really digging the green mad dog .53mm picks. Not a fan of picks much thicker than that, it starts to feel weird to play for me.
Have a friend who plays electric guitar with a .3mm pick. Tried to use that pick and it felt practically unplayable to me as I'm used to a 1.5mm pick. Still it's interesting to me to see people play electric with a thin pick if only because it's so alien to me as a concept.
This was enlightenment, thank you,,I been playing just for pleasure ,for about 30yars and had problems with picks quite a few times, I play acoustic and hard body electric, hollow body, so now I know right pick right guitar,,I have learnt most music styles ,my fav music (it's all styles)was really 80s classic and soft rock,, popular music 😊
I like the .6mm orange and even better the .6mm gray nylon with grip. I fling picks too damn often otherwise; sold in bags of 72, and the nylon is slippery against the strings. Anything thicker, even on acoustic bass, seems excessive -- I like the pick to do the work of clearing the string, not my wrist.
I picked up one of those in my music class once and i've heard so much hype about it, so I gave it a shot, and from the instant I picked it up and had it in my fingers, I was absolutely appalled at how uncomfortable and disgusting it felt and played. Just not for me.
I used to buy jazz 3 Tortex green picks. Now can't find them anywhere, up until last year I found the replacement. 0.88 Tortex jazz in white. I guess Dunlop did not prefer the colour green apart from me 🥺🥺
John Petrucci's Jazz III's, beautiful. Was decent for bass too. For bass players though, I can't recommend Dunlop's Big Stubby picks, 2mm for me. 2mm is thicker and heavier than any regular guitar pick, and it sounds nice too. Great video once again!
(As a metal lead guitarist) I use a Dunlop 1.5mm pick (its not a jazz iii sadly i lost my only jazz iii) and the 1.5mm just works so well and i used to think fender thin picks were my fav 💀
I’ve been using the yellow Dunlop Tortex picks since the mid 80s. Back in the day I was a rock/metal rhythm guitar playing lead vocalist, leaving solo duties mostly to my lead players. My old band recently reformed, and I took on most of the solo duties, and for the first time in my life, really began to work hard on becoming a better soloist. We all know there are roadblocks and plateaus along the way... A few days ago I decided to order a multiple-gauge multi-pack of Tortex picks, as well as a few Jazz 3 picks, just to see if I settle in on a different gauge than the one I’ve been using for 35 years. Now this video pops up - probably because the algorithm knows I ordered guitar picks. Looking forward to experimenting.
Tried the John Petrucci flow picks recently and I'm pretty convinced they're the best out of the whole range. I'm not even a Dream Theatre fan, but I'm not surprised JP knows what makes a great pick.
100% crutch for me is floppy picks when I use my acoustic, almost as a natural compressor! I find a medium heavy offers a good natural gallop in alternate picking as I play WITH the flex and kinda piggy back off that give of lighter picks..73 max grip is my general all around pick I feel a good happy medium. I tend to struggle heavy picks with triplets as I think I'm used to working with the give of light picks and feels "stuck" for me.
Interesting that you never mentioned your choice of pick changing according to what string gauge you are using. And the difference in what the pick is made of makes a huge difference to me. I used these colored Dunlop picks for the first several years I played. Because they are made of Tortex instead of whatever Fender and Gibson picks were made of, they felt different to me. A Fender medium pick is roughly .72 if I'm not mistaken. The closest (yellow) Dunlop equivalent always felt stiffer to me. Also the edges aren't as beveled or as slippery. And the flex on Dunlop seams to have a longer "memory". For electric, I always played .009 gauge strings or a hybrid set with 9's on top and 10's on the bass strings. At those gauges, I have tried all kinds of picks and still end up returning to Fender mediums. Unless I'm playing a lot of shredding lead work when I prefer a pick that's a little thicker, the Fender med is just about right. With a kicker. I guess I like it a shade lighter than a Fender medium, because my favorite for electric is a well used, and broken in Fender medium. For acoustic, which I usually use 12s on, I need it a little thicker and I go for a brand new stiffer Fender medium again. Dunlop Tortex always felt less natural and a little bit "gummy". And that sweet spot I'm looking for falls in between the yellow and orange. Orange is too flexible and yellow too stiff. And I absolutely HATE the grey nylon picks. They are super gummy and seem to develop a lot of "burrs" that stick out from the edges and catch the string abruptly. But pick preferences are like opinions...everyone has them and they are all different and personal. To each his or her own!
I think it really depends on what gauge of strings you use too. I use 9 gauge strings. So with electric, I can’t really tell much of a difference between the yellow, the green and the purple. A little bit… but it’s barely noticeable. So I switch back and forth between a medium and heavy pick because my strings are so light.
Love the content. Thank you for sharing this video. One thing I think worth noting is that your mileage per pick thickness will vary depending on how much of the pick edge you have exposed. I've been shredding lately with the yellow tortex picks with great results, but I expose only a tiny bit of the pick edge from between my fingers. This results in very little pick flex or bending. Of course there are a million and 1 ways to hold a pick, and one may not like holding the pick in this manner. Just sharing an observation.
Used to play the orange tortex pick too, liked it enough, but I love the gator grip 0.58 ones, especially when they're brand new and have that graininess, always play better when they still have the grip, like a baseball player pitching with pine tar.
Eh, i feel like the jazz III's tone isn't as good as tortex. For example, if I'm playing palm muted notes on the G, B, and E string, the notes sound very dry. Not sure how to describe it, weak, thin.
I have tried so many different picks over the years, and a couple years ago switched from Jazz III to Tortext Flow. .88 (green) for Electric, .73 (yellow) for Acoustic - amazing difference!
I used to use the regular Tortex Green but just discovered the Flow and I am in love. I think I want to try the purple version though after watching this.
for electric playing, i used grey, textured Jim Dunlop nylons very early on, in the early 80's (after discovering there was an alternative to celluloid picks, which i tended to break quite a bit)... can't remember the gauge, but they were very light... in my mid-teens i got into the orange (.60) Jim Dunlop Tortex picks and stuck with them for quite some time, up until the early 90's when i began using the green (.88) Tortexes, and have stuck with those ever since... this also correlated with my moving to heavier gauge strings as well (also bought a bunch of the same gauge black JD nylons, once i discovered that they existed :D )... for acoustic, for the longest time i generally used whatever picks i used for my electric playing, or simply whatever was laying around... i focused a lot more on my electric playing for a very long time... it wasn't until about 15 years ago that i finally relented, after purchasing a little metal, pick-shaped container of "Diamond Anniversary" Fender medium gauge cellulose picks on a whim... it was immediately apparent to me how much more detailed, and brighter my playing sounded... i have yet to find any others that actually feel the same (standard Fender medium cellulose picks just don't feel the same, somehow... is that even possible?)... the only downside is that due to my late-life diagnosed diabetes, my fingertips are so dry i can't seem to hold on to them very well... the closest i've come to finding a decent replacement that feel similar to me, and i can actually hold on to for a reasonable amount of time while playing, are the Jim Dunlop "Gel" picks, of the purple medium gauge variety...
Those tortoiseshell Fender Mediums were total ass, my dude. Thank God I caught a Dunlop Yellow from Rick at an Exodus show...but Orange 60s completed me.
I personally use .73mm yellow Dunlop Tortex for higher tunings: Drop C#, Drop D, and Standard E. While I use thicker 1.0mm Blue Dunlop Tortex for lower tunings: Drop C, Drop B, and 7 string Drop A#. But that’s just me.
For years I had been playing with the green Dunlop .88s, until recently I randomly stumbled across a handful of the red Dunlop .50s in a shoebox in my room, and decided to give them a quick try. I play almost exclusively rhythm, like a lot of thrash metal, heavy downpicked stuff. Idk what it is, but I feel like my sound has gotten both cleaner, and believe it or not, heavier since I’ve started using the .50s. I feel like my downpicking sounds heavier, fast alternate picking sounds so much more articulate and pronounced. I naturally downpick really hard, so with the heavier picks, my downpicked notes sounded almost...flubby, for lack of a better word, same with alternate picking. Considering everything said in this video, my experience seems kinda backwards lol but it is what it is.
I comp this, I tried some heavier picks on electric, but I noticed the sound was not what I wanted and I recon it was due to my picking is somewhat hard, so for me Dunlop Maxigrip .88 gives me the best feel and sound, .73 is already too floppy and 1.0 too thick. In the end, I think the way you pick, angle, etc. plays great part as well the sound you get/prefer. There's no "one size fits all". With acoustic I prefer much more flimsy pick and .73 or less is much better. For strumming especially.
I play in an Americana band as a singer and lead guitar player where I’m switching between acoustic and electric depending if songs are more bluegrass or rockish. I like the green tortex because it gives me the ability to swap over guitars quickly without worrying about changing my right hand too much. Recently though I bought some .88mm primetones from Dunlop and I think those might be my new acoustic pick, but that’s more of a tone thing than a feel thing. .88 mm has just felt right for the past few years for me. Great video explaining how to use them and where to go with the pick gauges, really wish I had tried that earlier on with learning
This is super helpful. I'm self-taught in learning guitar just today via online course, and there was a part where the teacher suggested to use a pick. Oh boi! I was confused because I don't know anything about a guitar's pick. Thank you for saving a total newbie's day by making this video. P.S. I ended up bought all the colours. I'm planning to do acoustic, but somehow I love the sound when the purple-coloured pick attacked the acoustic guitar.
Good summary. Matches my experience. When I started out, someone gave me a jazz III, and it elevated my playing greatly. It seemed to make me more aware of my picking. I still use them primarily on electric, but I think the benefit of practicing with it spills over to any pick I use.
Been using the purple dunlops for over a decade after transitioning from the blue. About 2 years ago i got a couple of dragonheart picks and loved them. Now i make my own wooden picks.
I like the purple for rhythm, not so much for lead personally (which I don't do that often unless I'm doing something like Iron Maiden where the rhythm is lead lines) so I've started using the blue Jazz III XL picks. Best of both worlds
I'm still new to guitar but I have been experimenting a lot with different picks. So far my 3 favorites are the John Prettruci Trinity Pick (1.4mm), the James Hetfield White Fang 1.14mm, and the Dunlop Ultex Flow 0.73mm. I'm still not sure which I prefer, but one thing I like about the lighter Flow 0.73mm is the tactile feedback I get from them when playing. You can feel it through the pick every time you make contact with a string whereas the heavier picks tend to significantly lessen that tactile response. I find it a lot more enjoyable to play softly/quietly with a thinner pick as I can "feel" what I'm doing and of course, strumming is also much easier. The 0.73 Ultex Flow also has a powerful bright snap to it that actually sounds really good for chugging.
I was waaay into the orange Dunlop pick as I was learning. I also used the green one a bit, but I always felt like I was getting a nice blend of both strumming and picking as opposed to super heavy or super light picks. I'll have to experiment around some more since I never questioned it again after that (20+ years ago). Learn something new every day!
I have always used the Dunlop tortex picks. I use the .60mm for acoustic guitar, and tend to use the 1mm for electric guitar and acoustic bass. For electric bass I will use both the 1mm and 1.14 mm.
Great topic! Been using different picks for varied tones, technique etc.... since the late 1970's. Different materials can also change the tone drastically. I've been mostly sticking with thicker picks by V-Picks (their Diamond, Dimension, Psycho & Small Pointed -which is a great alternative to Jazz 3), as well as picks by Hufschmid (their Anvil etc). Still using a couple of picks a friend made for me from a semi-precious stone called Brazilian Agate. First tried stone picks that were called M'ind Picks back in the 70's, also made of agate. There are too many pick manufacturers to mention, but they're worth exploring. I also like the Jim Dunlop Jazztone 205 and 250 picks. It's an inexpensive way to change your tone and improve your technique at the same time. Cheers.
I played guitar in a U2 tribute band for the longest time, and The Edge actually uses the grip part of the pick to play with (that's how he gets that distinctive attack on his notes). Now I can't play with the correct side of the pick and it drives me insane.
@@Malady I actually found a much cheaper alternative that has the same attack. I'll try and find out what it's called. Got fed up of paying through the nose for Herdims.
Thin picks makes the notes ring out kind of as if the treble was turned all the way up. Thick picks create more of a muffled effect in comparison. So I prefer picks that's a little past somewhere in the middle. Like a 0.70 - 0.75 mm. Not too heavy. Not too light.
1.14mm picks and medium tops / heavy bottoms (12-56; somewhere around there. I can't remember the exact gauge) for me. My playstyle is heavily (pun not intended) influenced by James Hetfield. I just constantly downpick, palm mute, and tremolo pick hard on the strings. It just feels so damn powerful and as someone who prefers to lay down the rhythm and just have it all sound tight, that's why I chose that 1.14mm picks and around that gauge of strings. The medium-ish tops also gives me a bit of flexibility to be able to do the occasional solos, and they're not big enough to feel like I'm trying to bend piano strings or so small that I feel like they're cutting through my fingers. I also play lower tunings. Ranging from C Standard to Eb Standard. So having bigger strings ensures that my playing doesn't sound twangy and weak.
ngl i've switched to 1.5/2mm and the black jazz III gator grip/tortex picks almost immediately. The 2 is best for bass and the 1.5 is ideal for rhythm. Learning to do it all with jazz picks is still an incredible way to improve your tone and your right hand articulation
I tried out the green 88s when I read about james using them.Those tried the yellow 73s and found them to be too bouncy for the sound I was going for. My exploration carried on to trying out the jazz picks, which I came to adore when it forced me to fine-tune my picking technique. I started playing again after a ten-year layoff. Decided to try out the blue 1s and loving them. Wish I'd tried them out all those years ago. The least expensive piece of gear can be very important.
I have been playing acoustic for 10 years now but I just recently took it seriously by learning how fretboard works and switched to electric guitar. For the most part of my journey, I always used my fingers to play but when I tried to use picks, I fell inlove with the purple right away.
After shredding with those old pics I would get pic dust all over my strings and Pick ups. I am so glad picks have come a long way since the 80's when I started playing
A few others have mentioned in the comments that the relation between puck and string gauge is important. I typically run beefier gauge strings on my electrics and use thicker picks if in playing heavy rock/metal and anything in drop tunings, but i prefer comically light gauge picks when playing acoustic and playing anything clean in standard on electric. Get a variety pack and play the same thingnwith every gauge and you will definitely notice a difference
I honestly don't care for pick gauges. I just get one, and use it for all as long as it isn't very floppy. (I also cut cards when I can't find a pick. Anything as long as I can play.)
I've been using Dunlop purple on my electric since I picked it up and started playing again several years ago. I'm glad you reached the same conclusion so I know I haven't been "doing it wrong" all this time.
I started on Dunlop Tortex .73mm but then switched to Tortex .88mm. I tried Tortex 1mm but didn't like it as much as .88mm. Then I got a variety pack of Dunlop picks to try some stuff out, and in that bag was a Dunlop Gator Grip .96mm. Gator Grip picks are slightly smaller than Tortex and have slightly bevelled edges. The difference looks subtle but to me they feel a lot more comfortable and I feel like my grip on the pick is a lot more solid. I've also tried Gator Grip 1.14mm, and while I prefer the .96mm I think that 1.14mm Gator Grip is better than 1mm Tortex.
Purple can feel good, but those thick boys are like running up the stairs. If you’re off by just a bit you can get caught on a string and look like a moron.
.60 and .73 is where it's at for me. I've always found when teaching the guitar that a lot of beginning players gravitate towards heavier picks because they're easier to play with. Once they get a grip on nuance and pick attack they tend to move towards thinner picks to get a more controlled and nuanced sound from the strings.
Many many rock and metal players are complete garbage too. I agree to use what feels best, but when an expert way above your level speaks, it's worth listening.
I started experimenting with picks the day I got my first guitar. It seems strange to me to be uninterested in picks, it's 50% of your contact point with the guitar.
When I started playing the guitar, I played with the pick that came with my 50 dollar POS guitar. It was about as thick as two pieces of paper stacked on top of each other. Then I saw Hetfield using the green Dunlop picks, so I started using those. A year or two later, I was doing some road work for a local band whose primary lead guitarist was using the 1.14 Dunlop jazz pick and I started using that. I sounded better immediately. The next step for me was that I took a grinder to a nickel and shaped it like a jazz pick. I got some powerful attack out of that thing, and let me tell you that the pick slides with that thing were other-worldly, but it was constantly squirting out from between my fingers and I was breaking so many strings it just wasn't feasible to continue using it. I still have that old nickel pick, but I use those Dunlop 1.14s for all but acoustic.
I was jamming with some friends the other night. I usually use heavy Fender picks. But, I had trouble getting the "feel" right as I played improvised solos. I started to get depressed and frustrated as it felt that my solos were just not "happening." Then my friend gave me a medium pick and then my solos were right in the pocket and I could express more feeling as I played. The compliments then began to flow from my friends. "Wow, that was awesome!" and "you sound great!" Even one friend who gigs frequently as an acoustic artist said to me "you can sit in with me ANY TIME." Funny thing is, practicing alone at home I didn't realize how much of a different pick gauge makes. It was improvising solos with friends the revealed this to me. So, I'm returning to medium, at least for the mid term. As I get more control I may slowly go up in gauge. I'm happy to see this video confirm my experience as well.
I'm thinking by the comments that his has officially become an ad for Jazz III picks. haha
They are fantastic though, so no surprise there
IMO Jazz III are too tiny to hold onto. I prefer bigger dunlop Tortex which has a jazz III edge but the normal pick size. U get the sharpness and attack of the sharp jazz tip but still big so you can hold it comfortably (for me)
Lol
Jazz lll picks changed my playing x 100....speed , accuracy and tone for metal increased. I still prefer a light pick for acoustic. If I'm playing really fast, I use Ernie Ball prodigy picks. They are awesome ..
I use basically only jazz III picks
The thing about thick vs thin picks for me is that with thicker picks, you can always just hold it more loosely if you want that flop. With thinner picks, it doesn't matter how hard you grip the pick, it will always flop around.
great point
you dont get that flop even when you hold it looser
Exactly. Thicker picks sound better to me, even on acoustics. It's a matter of lightening your touch.
Tell that to Eddie Van Halen and Paul Gilbert.
@@JohnVieto If you use a thin pick that's pointy then if you hold it at the right angle it's pretty close to a thick pick. I'm not a fan of thin picks but I've heard some good players make the most of em by adjusting the angle between strumming and lead playing. 45 degrees with a pointy thin pick will still give a decent attack. If the pick isn't pointy then you lose all the benefits of the angle.
Before I watched this I said, “he better talk about how much better acoustic guitar sounds with thin picks.”
Did not disappoint.
I use a 1.5 on acoustic. It is harder to make sound good while strumming, but can be done. I can really dig in for single string, or double stop stuff and it sounds way better palm muted.
I find .73 to be sweet spot for acoustic. Everything less has this clacky sound I don't like. You can go a litlle bit thicker from there but you risk losing some of the richness in your tone. But it also depends on guitar, I imagine you can attack dreadnought more than concert.
Not sure what style you play, but my experience is that most good acoustic players play with thicker picks. It may be harder at first, but if you stick with it you have much better control and much much less sound from the pick itself.
Much more open sounding..but honestly I would go a notch higher if not for carpal tunnel/ tendonitis ya know.
I really wish I knew this. I've been playing electric for four years, but acoustic for like 7 months. I wondered why I always sounded so choppy and like bad. Guess it's never too late to learn.
Jazz III’s are where it’s at, in my opinion.
Not bad, but try Chicken Picks. They are amazing.
Jazz IIIs are great but I love the new JD Flow Picks even better. Really smooth pick. Well worth a try.
I like the Jazz iii XLs 1.14s. I find the stanard jazz iii a bit too small for my hand. The John Petrucci picks are nice too but a little too thick for me
The Dunlop XL 1.35 Tortex Jazz III is currently my favorite pick.
Ultex jazz III for me. The regular ones are too slippery.
My first pick was an Ernie Ball glow-in-the-dark God-knows-what gauge. Then my dog chewed it up, then my oldest brother tried fixing it but he split it in half so he gave me a pick of his as ''compensation'' but now my other dog chewed up that one as well.
Nice
Sell the dogs to buy more picks. Simple.
Get yourself 5$ and convince someone to take you to guitar center. You can get a bag of 10 or so for 3-4$
Your talking like picks aren't like 5 bucks for 15 of em.
It's a pick, not a car.
I use a fairly thin pick , but what i find better is the fact that there is a grip texture to it and its much easier to hold on to in light or heavy picking.
Um there are textured hard picks
Paul Gilbert uses a .60 pick (Dunlop orange). He said his shredder friends were horrified when he told them but now he can't get enough of that slappy feeling. Whatever works for you is the best pick. Don't let other people tell you what's right or wrong.
Heck yeah. Nice picks, i love them they are just great for either blues / rock, funk, acoustic... et cetera, very versatile if you actually hold them in a way they don't bend that much or simply accept the slappy feel.
Gilbert also uses his teeth and plays better than most
Dunlop Orange 60s. Since 1988.
Exactly! To each his own. I think I've tried just about every pick out there on the market from Dunlop nylons, tortex, celluloid. Fender shell, and black celluloid picks. Discovered by a happy accident dynamic response who are usually known for their strings also makes a decent shell pick. So I'm torn between that one and the Gibson black celluloid picks. In medium gauge though.
I found for playing a strat trying to capture those '80s strat quack tones that a medium pick works best. But still can cover a nice buttery lead tone.
Even Neil Schon from journey uses medium picks. He gets a fantastic tone.
Not long ago in an interview he said that he uses medium because he likes The buttery sound. "Dunlop mediums the pretty blue ones."
If you want an extreme example of the "heavier as you get more experience", evidently Pat Metheney plays Fender Extra Light picks but he uses the round end!
Tosin Abasi plays a .73mm Ultex pick.
I like to use a thick pick when I want to use it like a hammer, and a thin one when I want to use it like a brush.
I use a thick pick for everything but the dynamics come from the hand the pick just responds. That why I like thick ones.
Thinner picks are great for rhythm. I’d always use a thin pick if I’m playing funk, the floppiness of the pick actually makes it easier to achieve certain rhythms
funk and ska/reggae backbeat goes well with lighter picks! to get that waka waka
I find I can’t use anything except thin picks for faster strumming songs, especially lead
Nile Rodgers uses the red Dunlop picks for his rhythm, and may be all he uses since he doesn't play much lead.
I've been playing those green guys for 20 years. I just today realized that these picks are in rainbow/ROYGBIV order.
Good catch!
When I first started playing at 14, I thought those Fender confetti picks were the coolest thing ever. I remember taking the bus out to some music shop that mainly sold grand pianos, just to get those stupid picks, because that was the only place I knew of that had them. Little things like that, that get you stoked on playing your guitar are important. It makes it fun and helps you reconnect with the things that inspired you to pick up the guitar in the first place. That’s why I do stuff like always play using coiled amp cords, because they remind me of Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival, and how amazing it was the first time I saw that footage.
It's weird because ever since the beginning I always wanted a smaller and thicker pick. When I discovered Jazz 3 everything changed, even more when I discovered the Max Grip version.
I lost my max grip pick and I've been devastated ever since honestly 😅😂
Same story but i ended up with a jazz stuby 3mm. sadly they don't seem to make a gripier version of it.
jazz III is great, I was using .88 and when tried Jazz III once I have never looked back since then. it is far more better than tortex that it is just insane
Maxgrip jazz's are basically all I play nowadays
As a Shen main and a guitarist, I am truly happy to see a River Shen out in the wild
I was just reminded that back in college I used to play with a worn down quarter.
Are you Brian May?
We've all been there
Sometimes I just pinch my fingernails together and use my index for downstrokes and thumb for upstrokes. But thats last option tho.
@@ValiantNoob I’m learning how to play finger style and when I want to play some open chords I do that technique too, out of laziness of course
@@Dankster-yo8xv wait wasn't that zztop that would play with a quarter?
Once I tried Jazz 3 and I’d never look back. Jazz 3 2.0 ❤️
Same here.
Those 2.0's have something to them I can't figure out. They sound a lot different than other similar picks.
Hell yeah with you bro still playing with jazz 3😂
Same.
I did. But I went to the Tortex Jazz instead of the nylon one.
3mm 'Big Stubby' is my go-to for electric leads. Amazing pick
Stubby gives you ULTIMATE control. NO GIVE whatsoever.
the stubby is the pick of kings. they’re amazing for jazz leads and chop style comping
These are my go to, when I play bass.
At this point I swap between Big Stubbies, Flow 2.5’s, 3.0’s, and 4.2’s lol I have naturally sweaty hands, so the extra with provides a better grip for me. When I was younger I only got what I saw in stores. With the age of the internet, it allowed me to try many types and I found thicker picks work best for me, especially when I play bass with them. Plus the shape makes it easier to just glide across the strings on both bass and guitar. Plus, most of my instruments are extended range with thicker gauge strings, so it’s nice to have more pick to help move those strings and not have to worry about the pick bending or being too noisy with the flat edges.
I've tried so many picks over the years of various shapes, sizes, thicknesses, and gimmicks. Landed on the godsend 1.38 mm ultex jazz 3. I'm in love! Fast, controlled, great grip for me and now the one time elusive pinch harmonics are a breeze!
Change picks to condoms
Right on! I didn’t like normal jazz 3s since i found them to slippery, so i used tortex 1,14 mil with edges that i had sanded to kinda simulate a jazz 3. But then i found ultex jazz 3s.
Points to consider:
*Gauge of the strings
*Electric/ acoustic/ ukulele
*How hard you normally strum
*Pic angle when strumming
*Holding pick technique
* Type of music played
*Different shapes can be a help.
*Pick materials
I like heavy for all ( excluding ukulele)
Size of the pick too, I love purple Dunloops and tried the triangle version of it, but I'd like to hide my pick between index and middle finger for fingerstyle sections and that didn't work with them.
4:26 "verses the heaviest pick I have, listen to this"
Me "oh that's so much nicer"
"see it gets dull sounding"
Me :(
All opinion :)
If you like that sound better play like that.
A thicker pick provides more attack and less resistance which means less scratching from the pick sliding as you stroke the note. His opinion on heavier picks is. The best pick on the market right now is the 1mm James hetfield whitefang. But Dunlop flows of any size are great. I think the normal dull point picks the guy in the video use all sound like shit. A pointy pick tip is crucial. And most pointy picks are thicker. That extra pick attack not only sounds good to me which is just opinion. But a fact about the sound is you will cut through the mix so much better with a sharp thick pick then you would a light dull pick
Dude, I get it exactly. I'm 60 and I recently bought an acoustic guitar. I didn't know anything about which pick to choose. I knew it was going to be a big decision just like choosing the right string guage.
I knew this because I played drums for 30 years or so and it took a long time to settle on the right drumsticks and drum heads.
After much trial and error I finally landed on Vic Firth 5A's and Remo Pinstripe heads for my drums choice.
So when I bought my acoustic guitar it had medium guage strings on it. I bought several packs of different guage strings and 1 of every type of pick they had!
After much trial and changing of strings I have decided on Elixir Extra Light strings and the pick you used for your acoustic. The red Tortex Dunlop 0.5mm.
I feel oddly justified. Your videos are great. Thanks.
I’ve used the tortex 1.14 picks for the entire time I’ve been playing electric guitar, and a couple of days ago I tried playing with a light pick and it made me play better instantly. For a long time I thought thin picks weren’t any good, but to me they sound so much better, and feel so much better!
Plus, they make for a better pick scratch
Same here!
Yeah I was convinced thick was better for years until I saw Paul Gilbert talk about how he uses the orange Tortex 0.60mm picks and thinks they sound better than the thicker ones. He proceeded to demonstrate exactly what he was talking about and my eyes were opened.
thiner picks make you play better wen you are a beginne yes, later on you want to switch to heavy its way more precise and lets you play faster and cleaner
@@user-yo3cg9ev8y fuller sound as well I never use thin picks anymore. Once you learn pick control thick is best for sure especially peek made ones like blue chip and gravity golds. All kinds of shapes and gauges from blue chip
"Are You SURE You're Using the Right Pick Gauge?" absolutely fuccking not lmao :(
Me, a fingerstyle player: *interesting*
I'm same way, I feel more comfortable playing with my fingers and with a pick I might as well throw guitar in the trash. I wonder what causes that
Are your finger the right size?
one time i fard pant
I cannot finger pick to save my soul.. help me 🤣
Have you tried filing your fingers down to get a different feel?
You covered every dunlop except the one I have used for years, the PINK pick (.46). Most people write it off because it is paper thin, but it takes very little effort to bend/fold it slightly with thumb pressure, making more stiff and solid enough for shredding. The slightly curved tip facilitates hybrid picking more easily. Experimenting with holding it on different parts of the pick (closer/further from the tip) yields more control over its flexibility. I have found it useful for classical, blues, jazz, rock, and beyond. If you don't like the pink color, they make close sizes in grey and white, but I love the pink because nobody ever steals (or borrows) my pick. I have sold a number of guitarists on it over the years who were not too closed minded to even try out the pick because it is pink and flimsy. You just need to know how to use it!
So, I'd like to give my input on this.
I've played for over 15 years, and have used many pick materials, metal, wood, plastic, nylon, and synthetic tortoise shell (tortex, or just a different plastic)
I have used all the thicknesses from 0.53mm to 1.3mm, and different shapes and grip textures.
The main pick I keep buying is the orange tortex .60mm.
Why? As you demonstrated in this video, on acoustic guitar, the click of the pick on the strings and the brighter sound it produces helps you stand out in a mix, and if you need more body, a dark reverb will fill out the rest.
I use it on my electric guitars though, though, my second favorite is a .73 nylon which is about the same amount of flex.
How you hold the pick, what angle you pick at, and the tightness of your grip can all have an effect on your tone.
But in the end, it all comes down to 2 main things for me.
Does the pick I'm using make me feel confident?
And am I going to drop it because of having to hold it too loosely to get the sound I want?
Side question, how often do you replace your picks or have to reshape them because the tip wears off?
The bottom line is, to each their own. Just like women, we all have our preference. Thick, thin, redhead, yellow, midget, stepsister, it's all good.
Bro 😂 Jesus loves u
Giggity
When ur stepsister pick gets stuck in the acoustic: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Hold up
Ha, giggity giggity
I played with the Big Stubby 3.0mm way back when, and still remember fondly the feeling of those against the string after having spent the first 2 weeks of learning guitar trying to dig into power chrods on one of those stupid fender mediums.
same boat, thick picks for life
but its 1.14 mms or .88s for me
The big stubby was always a hard one for me especially if I dig in too hard it would get stuck lol
Whenever someone gives me a light gauge pick a bit of me dies
As a new player I already can't stand too light a gauge haha
I switch between 1.14 dunlop and 1.5 dunlop max grip. If someone gives me that wompy 0.something pick I'll kill him with that. I also have a bunch of fender heavy like the once he mentioned in the beginning of the video but they are still a lil bit to flexible (not skinny) to play power chords, gallop ana alternate picking on the E string. I use 10's btw.
I just put my guitar down and say nevermind
Wow... this is one of the most important videos I have came across yet! Honestly. I been struggling to get my speed up while learning lead, I been using a softer pick thinking it would give me speed... because if the flexibility..I went to a harder pick, my speed increased 2x in 5 minutes... what a difference... it was then that I noticed it’s like running on a sponge with a soft pick and like running on hard ground with a hard pick.... the soft pick slowed me down because I wasn’t making contact that I could actually feel in my picking hand... absolutely astounding.. what a very overlooked piece of guitar playing information. Keep up the great work... new sub here!
I went on a pick reevaluation journey about 3 years ago after 30+ years of playing. I just don’t like a “standard” pick shape. What sounds best and feels best (for me) is a Dunlop Flow Pick in either 1.14mm or 1.5mm. The shape is sort of like a bigger JazzIII. It has a nice point, and raised lettering which gives a nice grip. I have some in several thicknesses from aroun0.6mm to 3mm, and they all have a usefulness for specific things; though, I find the 1.14 to be the most versatile all-around thickness. I do also have a zippered ring display case of a number of other specialty picks ranging from acrylic for a chirpy attack to thick Gator Grip or 208 for dull traditional jazz tones to textured ones for various sound qualities.
Jazz III’s are great but I really love the John Petrucci signature picks. They’re like a Jazz III but just slightly larger so you can actually hold onto them.
I found one on a pavement and tried... They are much louder than Dunlop Flows 1.5mm which was very interesting to spot.
@Timothy Martin it is just modify to his style
Yeah. Exactly my sentiment. The JP picks are my favourite as well.
the John Petrucci sig. picks still felt way too small for me. I'm stuck with the Jim Root picks by dunlop (1.38 mm). They're perfect for me :)
JimDunlop Jazz III almost 12 years and still love it.
When I started teaching, I ended up finding a Jazz III left behind in a teaching room by another teacher. A friend of mine lives by the jazz III's so I was curious. At the time I was using the yellow tortex exclusively. Tried the Jazz III and loved it. So it was game on after that and the quest to find the perfect Jazz III as the red one was too small for when I played live. I tried the XL's, then the Max Grip, then those Dava picks, then the black Ultex. The black Ultex was the winner, until the black John Petrucci Jazz III's showed up one day. Been using those exclusively, ever since.
When I started playing the electric guitar I only had the 1mm Dunlop Nylon, the 2mm Dunlop Gator and the absolute UNIT that was the 3mm Dunlop Big Stubby.
After collecting picks from a few shows I setteled on the red and green Dunlops for most of my playing. For picking I use lighter, for strumming I use the more heavy picks. I find that with lighter picks I can "connect" better with the string in the sense that I can feel the string through the pick. With heavier picks I found that I was less consistent, picked the wrong strings more often and was slower.
But I still am a beginner who doesn't play lead all that often so maybe my preferences will change when I get better.
Those translucent brown Fender picks used to be my go-to picks when I was taking guitar lessons in the 70's and 80's, just because they were so readily available. I just used whatever my teacher provided for me. I didn't know about other brands and gauges until the about the early 90's, when I discovered the Dunlop Tortex picks, did a bit of experimentation, and realized the purple 1.14 mm picks suited me best for most styles of rhythm and lead playing.
I agree completely. I've used purple Dunlop Tortex for ever. Another thing, I've found it really tough to accomplish "pinch harmonics" with a light pick.Good stuff here. Rock on brother.
Purple Dunlops are great! They last for years.
In computer lingo, we'd call what you feel with light gauge picks "latency". Latency is the delay in something to get to where it needs to be to do its job. As with spinning hard drives: latency is the the time it takes for the spot on the turning platters to arrive under the pickup head to read the data the processor needs. The elimination of this latency is why SSDs are so much faster than mechanical hard drives. Your light picks are literally waving back and forth after each string strike and must end their oscillation to return to a position ready for the next clean strike: latency.
@@creamwobbly I'd say attack is more accurate.
It's not about just the gauge, it's about the material, density, the bevel of the edge, shape, size etc. Don't just stick to one company and don't be afraid of experimenting. The tortex dunplops used to be my go to but now I swear by the 2-3 mm Gravity sunrise shape.
You’re a freak
100%. Personally, I hate tortex. I don’t like the feel, they don’t grip well for me, and the .6 doesn’t flex much still. For acoustic I use .6mm Dunlop nylons. For electric I’m still feeling it out, but currently I’m liking Dunlop flows in thicker gauges.
Thank you for this video. I saw your video last week, and I changed my pick to a heavier gauge, and it help my picking and the way my songs sound. I was under the impression too, liter gauge picks were for guitars and heavier gauge picks were for bass. And just before I saw your video I saw a Netflix movie about a high school Metal music band, and they too said to use a heavier gauge pick. So I did, and I am very grateful. Blows my mind. Thank you sincerely. John.
I've tried picks ranging from those floppy tortoise shell ones that everyone has 20 of despite never buying any, to 5mm gypsy jazz things. Sharp tips, round tips, slick, grippy, beveled, plastic, bone, horn, quarters from my pocket... A bunch. I found that I need a fairly large pick with a sharp point and something to help keep the pick from sliding between my sweaty fingers - Be it a groove, knobbly bits, texturing or whatever.
I have settled on the Dunlop Flow 2mm (not the gloss), the Primetone large sharp tip 5mm and some 1.5mm~ horn/bone grooved picks my wife got me from... somewhere? The Flows are my primary picks. The Primetone is like a workout pick - I use it to practice a bit and then switch back to the Flow and feel like I'm Joe Satriani. For a few seconds, at least. The horn/bone picks aren't quite as smooth playing as the Flows but it makes my wife happy to see them being played.
I need the size and grip on a pick because I pick "weird." My thumb bends back almost 90 degrees from straight and it's uncomfortable to pinch a pick between thumb and forefinger and keep my thumb straight for long periods of time. The old thumb keeps rolling further and further back unless I consciously fight it. So I don't. I just let it rock back, a la George Benson or so called "backward picking". My pick rolls back with the thumb, towards being perpendicular rather than parallel with the strings. This is more comfortable for me but not as secure as the "standard" grip, so I need some grip in a pick. I also like to recruit my middle finger to aid the index in holding the pick, because it makes it more comfortable to close the rest of my fist. If I leave my middle finger off, it can't decide whether to stay extended or closed and then hangs around awkwardly, like someone writing an entirely too long comment about picks and picking.
Well that helps a lot actually. I've been playing with a .53 and I really had to fight to play anything heavy (How I learned Disposable Heroes I have no idea) but with a 1.0 everything's way better. Thanks again man!
It’s definitely a personal feeling thing. I think you described the feelings perfectly. I used only .60 forever just because that’s what I started with. Wasn’t until I was given some custom picks that look and felt incredible. They were way thicker than I used but it was neat to try. Now I am experimenting with a bunch of different textures and thicknesses.
Totally agree with this. I used .60 and .73 picks all the time when I first started bc it just felt better but when I got into hard rock and metal I tried the stubby jazz 3.0mm and it was like a gateway opened up lol.
James Hetfield BLACK FANG, 1.14, doesn't feel thick at all because it has tapered edges. I use it for both electric and acoustic when I'm on a Gig!
Weird because I thought James was a huge green. 88 guy
@@INVERTEDBUKAKI No he's using sharp picks. Tortoise shell 1.14 during mop I think. Anyway, the black fang is based on the pick he had during mop era.
Ernie ball Prodigy 2.0mm picks are what I use, they have tapered edges too maybe you would want to try them
I use those too, they are really good
@@t3nshie I have those, those are good for like metal stuff, but when i do acoustics, there's a certain click from the ultex that i prefer. Black fangs to me are just extremely versatile and i need that for playing multiple genres
Started guitar at 7 years old, in '88. I've used do many pics over the years, but always end up back with the Dunlop nylon. I'll use a .77, but .88 is my choice. I like that they're stiff, yet flexible just enough to shape itself to your finger hold - and they wear at the angle I hold them too; which means I actually prefer a slightly rounded, worn in pic, to a fresh one(I actually hate a new pic). So I try to keep a couple broken in ones around, but they are perfect for me. I also like the texture from the printing, as it works like a grip - smooth pics are too slippery feeling for my preference. Most of my friends live the Jazz III, but they just feel far too thick for me.
Great Video. Crucial addition; I find that string gauge affects pick gauge, as a rule of thumb (haha) but seriously *the thicker the strings, the thinner the pick, and visa versa. And different songs can change that too. More importantly as always go on what you personally prefer, by trying all things in different situations. I have an arsenal at my finger tips (ha / literally tho) and change accordingly
One of the best things you can do to find your favorite pick is to get the Dunlop assortment packs. I ordered 3 different Dunlop assortment packs from Amazon for like $5 a piece and ended up with about 30 different picks to try out. You will pretty much have every shape, size, thickness, material, and texture that Dunlop has to offer. I found out that I like the thickest Flow and Jazz III Max Grip picks most of the time, but there are a few others I like to use also depending on what I'm playing. The Ultex, Gator Grip, and Prime Grip Delrin 500 are also really nice. If you put a 2mm Ultex into a Fender Mojo Grip that makes for an awesome all around pick. Aww hell I obviously like playing around with pretty much all of them, lol!! They all have their uses, I guess that's part of the fun!
I second this, that's how I figured out that I love the ultex 2mm
@@trevorbaker7168 Yeah, the sampler packs are great. Just got one and found the 0.88mm "Tortex III."
I ended up on the blue Dunlops. I'm a lead guitarist in a band that plays classic rock and country. I find they work well for those genres.
Love me some white Dunlop’s .38 when I play electric. Before that I was really digging the green mad dog .53mm picks. Not a fan of picks much thicker than that, it starts to feel weird to play for me.
Have a friend who plays electric guitar with a .3mm pick. Tried to use that pick and it felt practically unplayable to me as I'm used to a 1.5mm pick. Still it's interesting to me to see people play electric with a thin pick if only because it's so alien to me as a concept.
ha! i sharpen my whites,stick about 1mm out (like a stylus pic).. use the sides too :)
This was enlightenment, thank you,,I been playing just for pleasure ,for about 30yars and had problems with picks quite a few times, I play acoustic and hard body electric, hollow body, so now I know right pick right guitar,,I have learnt most music styles ,my fav music (it's all styles)was really 80s classic and soft rock,, popular music 😊
I like the .6mm orange and even better the .6mm gray nylon with grip. I fling picks too damn often otherwise; sold in bags of 72, and the nylon is slippery against the strings.
Anything thicker, even on acoustic bass, seems excessive -- I like the pick to do the work of clearing the string, not my wrist.
Im more of a jazz 3 guy myself
I just played with a jazz 3 randomly one day and never looked back.
I picked up one of those in my music class once and i've heard so much hype about it, so I gave it a shot, and from the instant I picked it up and had it in my fingers, I was absolutely appalled at how uncomfortable and disgusting it felt and played. Just not for me.
Jazz 3 XL for me
Yessir I have the Kirk sig’s
I used to buy jazz 3 Tortex green picks. Now can't find them anywhere, up until last year I found the replacement. 0.88 Tortex jazz in white. I guess Dunlop did not prefer the colour green apart from me 🥺🥺
John Petrucci's Jazz III's, beautiful. Was decent for bass too.
For bass players though, I can't recommend Dunlop's Big Stubby picks, 2mm for me. 2mm is thicker and heavier than any regular guitar pick, and it sounds nice too.
Great video once again!
I don't like the plastic they used for the Petrucci Jazz III. Too noisy.
@@JimVincent it's ultex
Thats my fav for guitar. Find it hard to use a flat pick these days...
As a bass player, I believe in 1.5mm Dunlop Sharp supremacy. The attack feels like punching my strings.
As a bass player i disagree 0.73 mm for life
@@AM-dh2bg 0,73mm? Weak, i use paper picks to shred on bass!
LOL I'm a guitarist and I also use them.
I like the pointy tip, because it helps me hide how terrible my tremolo picking skills are.
(As a metal lead guitarist) I use a Dunlop 1.5mm pick (its not a jazz iii sadly i lost my only jazz iii) and the 1.5mm just works so well and i used to think fender thin picks were my fav 💀
I’ve been using the yellow Dunlop Tortex picks since the mid 80s. Back in the day I was a rock/metal rhythm guitar playing lead vocalist, leaving solo duties mostly to my lead players. My old band recently reformed, and I took on most of the solo duties, and for the first time in my life, really began to work hard on becoming a better soloist. We all know there are roadblocks and plateaus along the way... A few days ago I decided to order a multiple-gauge multi-pack of Tortex picks, as well as a few Jazz 3 picks, just to see if I settle in on a different gauge than the one I’ve been using for 35 years. Now this video pops up - probably because the algorithm knows I ordered guitar picks. Looking forward to experimenting.
After trying DOZENS of picks, I've arrived at the Dunlop Flow gloss 2.0 picks. I love them.
My man! flows are the greatest. I use the 3.0 and 2.0 picks.. By far my favorite!!!
Tried the John Petrucci flow picks recently and I'm pretty convinced they're the best out of the whole range. I'm not even a Dream Theatre fan, but I'm not surprised JP knows what makes a great pick.
After 10 years these are finally "my" picks. Love them.
100% crutch for me is floppy picks when I use my acoustic, almost as a natural compressor! I find a medium heavy offers a good natural gallop in alternate picking as I play WITH the flex and kinda piggy back off that give of lighter picks..73 max grip is my general all around pick I feel a good happy medium. I tend to struggle heavy picks with triplets as I think I'm used to working with the give of light picks and feels "stuck" for me.
Interesting that you never mentioned your choice of pick changing according to what string gauge you are using. And the difference in what the pick is made of makes a huge difference to me. I used these colored Dunlop picks for the first several years I played. Because they are made of Tortex instead of whatever Fender and Gibson picks were made of, they felt different to me. A Fender medium pick is roughly .72 if I'm not mistaken. The closest (yellow) Dunlop equivalent always felt stiffer to me. Also the edges aren't as beveled or as slippery. And the flex on Dunlop seams to have a longer "memory".
For electric, I always played .009 gauge strings or a hybrid set with 9's on top and 10's on the bass strings.
At those gauges, I have tried all kinds of picks and still end up returning to Fender mediums.
Unless I'm playing a lot of shredding lead work when I prefer a pick that's a little thicker, the Fender med is just about right. With a kicker. I guess I like it a shade lighter than a Fender medium, because my favorite for electric is a well used, and broken in Fender medium.
For acoustic, which I usually use 12s on, I need it a little thicker and I go for a brand new stiffer Fender medium again.
Dunlop Tortex always felt less natural and a little bit "gummy". And that sweet spot I'm looking for falls in between the yellow and orange.
Orange is too flexible and yellow too stiff. And I absolutely HATE the grey nylon picks. They are super gummy and seem to develop a lot of "burrs" that stick out from the edges and catch the string abruptly.
But pick preferences are like opinions...everyone has them and they are all different and personal.
To each his or her own!
I think it really depends on what gauge of strings you use too.
I use 9 gauge strings.
So with electric, I can’t really tell much of a difference between the yellow, the green and the purple.
A little bit… but it’s barely noticeable.
So I switch back and forth between a medium and heavy pick because my strings are so light.
Love the content. Thank you for sharing this video.
One thing I think worth noting is that your mileage per pick thickness will vary depending on how much of the pick edge you have exposed. I've been shredding lately with the yellow tortex picks with great results, but I expose only a tiny bit of the pick edge from between my fingers. This results in very little pick flex or bending. Of course there are a million and 1 ways to hold a pick, and one may not like holding the pick in this manner. Just sharing an observation.
This was a great breakdown for something that a lot of people do subconsciously I bet. Watching this was great, thanks!
Used to play the orange tortex pick too, liked it enough, but I love the gator grip 0.58 ones, especially when they're brand new and have that graininess, always play better when they still have the grip, like a baseball player pitching with pine tar.
jazz III is the master of them all and is not even close
Eh, i feel like the jazz III's tone isn't as good as tortex. For example, if I'm playing palm muted notes on the G, B, and E string, the notes sound very dry. Not sure how to describe it, weak, thin.
Try out the jazz III 2.0 :)
I find it too small personally
Too small
I have 6 Matt Heafy signature Jazz III picks. Too small for me
I have tried so many different picks over the years, and a couple years ago switched from Jazz III to Tortext Flow. .88 (green) for Electric, .73 (yellow) for Acoustic - amazing difference!
I used to use the regular Tortex Green but just discovered the Flow and I am in love. I think I want to try the purple version though after watching this.
for electric playing, i used grey, textured Jim Dunlop nylons very early on, in the early 80's (after discovering there was an alternative to celluloid picks, which i tended to break quite a bit)... can't remember the gauge, but they were very light... in my mid-teens i got into the orange (.60) Jim Dunlop Tortex picks and stuck with them for quite some time, up until the early 90's when i began using the green (.88) Tortexes, and have stuck with those ever since... this also correlated with my moving to heavier gauge strings as well (also bought a bunch of the same gauge black JD nylons, once i discovered that they existed :D )... for acoustic, for the longest time i generally used whatever picks i used for my electric playing, or simply whatever was laying around... i focused a lot more on my electric playing for a very long time... it wasn't until about 15 years ago that i finally relented, after purchasing a little metal, pick-shaped container of "Diamond Anniversary" Fender medium gauge cellulose picks on a whim... it was immediately apparent to me how much more detailed, and brighter my playing sounded... i have yet to find any others that actually feel the same (standard Fender medium cellulose picks just don't feel the same, somehow... is that even possible?)... the only downside is that due to my late-life diagnosed diabetes, my fingertips are so dry i can't seem to hold on to them very well... the closest i've come to finding a decent replacement that feel similar to me, and i can actually hold on to for a reasonable amount of time while playing, are the Jim Dunlop "Gel" picks, of the purple medium gauge variety...
Those tortoiseshell Fender Mediums were total ass, my dude. Thank God I caught a Dunlop Yellow from Rick at an Exodus show...but Orange 60s completed me.
I personally use .73mm yellow Dunlop Tortex for higher tunings: Drop C#, Drop D, and Standard E. While I use thicker 1.0mm Blue Dunlop Tortex for lower tunings: Drop C, Drop B, and 7 string Drop A#. But that’s just me.
For years I had been playing with the green Dunlop .88s, until recently I randomly stumbled across a handful of the red Dunlop .50s in a shoebox in my room, and decided to give them a quick try. I play almost exclusively rhythm, like a lot of thrash metal, heavy downpicked stuff. Idk what it is, but I feel like my sound has gotten both cleaner, and believe it or not, heavier since I’ve started using the .50s. I feel like my downpicking sounds heavier, fast alternate picking sounds so much more articulate and pronounced. I naturally downpick really hard, so with the heavier picks, my downpicked notes sounded almost...flubby, for lack of a better word, same with alternate picking. Considering everything said in this video, my experience seems kinda backwards lol but it is what it is.
I comp this, I tried some heavier picks on electric, but I noticed the sound was not what I wanted and I recon it was due to my picking is somewhat hard, so for me Dunlop Maxigrip .88 gives me the best feel and sound, .73 is already too floppy and 1.0 too thick. In the end, I think the way you pick, angle, etc. plays great part as well the sound you get/prefer. There's no "one size fits all". With acoustic I prefer much more flimsy pick and .73 or less is much better. For strumming especially.
I play in an Americana band as a singer and lead guitar player where I’m switching between acoustic and electric depending if songs are more bluegrass or rockish. I like the green tortex because it gives me the ability to swap over guitars quickly without worrying about changing my right hand too much. Recently though I bought some .88mm primetones from Dunlop and I think those might be my new acoustic pick, but that’s more of a tone thing than a feel thing. .88 mm has just felt right for the past few years for me. Great video explaining how to use them and where to go with the pick gauges, really wish I had tried that earlier on with learning
This is super helpful. I'm self-taught in learning guitar just today via online course, and there was a part where the teacher suggested to use a pick. Oh boi! I was confused because I don't know anything about a guitar's pick. Thank you for saving a total newbie's day by making this video.
P.S. I ended up bought all the colours. I'm planning to do acoustic, but somehow I love the sound when the purple-coloured pick attacked the acoustic guitar.
It seems I'm a bit early for once. But I've always been a thin pick kinda guy myself, about .6 or so usually suits me
Good summary. Matches my experience. When I started out, someone gave me a jazz III, and it elevated my playing greatly. It seemed to make me more aware of my picking. I still use them primarily on electric, but I think the benefit of practicing with it spills over to any pick I use.
Been using the purple dunlops for over a decade after transitioning from the blue. About 2 years ago i got a couple of dragonheart picks and loved them. Now i make my own wooden picks.
are the dragonheart's good for speed picking??
I have been using textured dunlop picks for around 20 years. I absolutely love them.
I’m always happy when this channel does a topic I’m interested in… so thoughtful.
Dunlop greens and yellows probably my favorite. Also the Gator ones are probably just as good.
not sure why i watched a 13m video on picks... "its midnight" I guess is the only reason
I asked myself the same question.
same)
Same here lmao
4:00am for me, damn just noticed
well if you're a newer guitar player, especially self taught, this info is pretty useful
if you don't play guitar though that's another thing haha
Can’t beat the purple Dunlops! 🤘🏻
I like the purple for rhythm, not so much for lead personally (which I don't do that often unless I'm doing something like Iron Maiden where the rhythm is lead lines) so I've started using the blue Jazz III XL picks. Best of both worlds
Which purple dunlop picks? There are a few
gator grip is where it's at
You mean the Big Stubbys? Those things could open paint cans lol
Purple gator grips were my thing until i picked up a 1.5 jazz iii. Now other than strumming an acoustic, i can't play with them!
I'm still new to guitar but I have been experimenting a lot with different picks. So far my 3 favorites are the John Prettruci Trinity Pick (1.4mm), the James Hetfield White Fang 1.14mm, and the Dunlop Ultex Flow 0.73mm. I'm still not sure which I prefer, but one thing I like about the lighter Flow 0.73mm is the tactile feedback I get from them when playing. You can feel it through the pick every time you make contact with a string whereas the heavier picks tend to significantly lessen that tactile response. I find it a lot more enjoyable to play softly/quietly with a thinner pick as I can "feel" what I'm doing and of course, strumming is also much easier. The 0.73 Ultex Flow also has a powerful bright snap to it that actually sounds really good for chugging.
I was waaay into the orange Dunlop pick as I was learning. I also used the green one a bit, but I always felt like I was getting a nice blend of both strumming and picking as opposed to super heavy or super light picks. I'll have to experiment around some more since I never questioned it again after that (20+ years ago). Learn something new every day!
Green Tortex Sharp picks changed my playing
I like the purple sharps
i like the ultex sharps 1.14
Same with me. I started with the yellow sharps and now use the green sharps. They wear like iron.
Thats my go to pick
Green Tortex .88’s 🥰
+1 Can't go wrong with those!
Red Tortex .50mm
I play really fast punk rock on my bass so I use .60 Dunlop max grip.
I have always used the Dunlop tortex picks.
I use the .60mm for acoustic guitar, and tend to use the 1mm for electric guitar and acoustic bass. For electric bass I will use both the 1mm and 1.14 mm.
Great topic! Been using different picks for varied tones, technique etc.... since the late 1970's. Different materials can also change the tone drastically. I've been mostly sticking with thicker picks by V-Picks (their Diamond, Dimension, Psycho & Small Pointed -which is a great alternative to Jazz 3), as well as picks by Hufschmid (their Anvil etc). Still using a couple of picks a friend made for me from a semi-precious stone called Brazilian Agate. First tried stone picks that were called M'ind Picks back in the 70's, also made of agate. There are too many pick manufacturers to mention, but they're worth exploring. I also like the Jim Dunlop Jazztone 205 and 250 picks. It's an inexpensive way to change your tone and improve your technique at the same time. Cheers.
I played guitar in a U2 tribute band for the longest time, and The Edge actually uses the grip part of the pick to play with (that's how he gets that distinctive attack on his notes). Now I can't play with the correct side of the pick and it drives me insane.
It's quite satisfying to alternate pick with the grip part of the Herdim
@@Malady I actually found a much cheaper alternative that has the same attack. I'll try and find out what it's called. Got fed up of paying through the nose for Herdims.
Thin picks makes the notes ring out kind of as if the treble was turned all the way up. Thick picks create more of a muffled effect in comparison. So I prefer picks that's a little past somewhere in the middle. Like a 0.70 - 0.75 mm. Not too heavy. Not too light.
I used to use a grey 1.1mm until I actually tried a red .50mm. A whole new world of new techniques were open to me after that.
1.14mm picks and medium tops / heavy bottoms (12-56; somewhere around there. I can't remember the exact gauge) for me.
My playstyle is heavily (pun not intended) influenced by James Hetfield. I just constantly downpick, palm mute, and tremolo pick hard on the strings. It just feels so damn powerful and as someone who prefers to lay down the rhythm and just have it all sound tight, that's why I chose that 1.14mm picks and around that gauge of strings.
The medium-ish tops also gives me a bit of flexibility to be able to do the occasional solos, and they're not big enough to feel like I'm trying to bend piano strings or so small that I feel like they're cutting through my fingers.
I also play lower tunings. Ranging from C Standard to Eb Standard. So having bigger strings ensures that my playing doesn't sound twangy and weak.
ngl i've switched to 1.5/2mm and the black jazz III gator grip/tortex picks almost immediately. The 2 is best for bass and the 1.5 is ideal for rhythm. Learning to do it all with jazz picks is still an incredible way to improve your tone and your right hand articulation
I tried out the green 88s when I read about james using them.Those tried the yellow 73s and found them to be too bouncy for the sound I was going for. My exploration carried on to trying out the jazz picks, which I came to adore when it forced me to fine-tune my picking technique.
I started playing again after a ten-year layoff. Decided to try out the blue 1s and loving them. Wish I'd tried them out all those years ago. The least expensive piece of gear can be very important.
I have been playing acoustic for 10 years now but I just recently took it seriously by learning how fretboard works and switched to electric guitar. For the most part of my journey, I always used my fingers to play but when I tried to use picks, I fell inlove with the purple right away.
I LOVE the Ernie Ball Prodigy 1.5 mm black mini. It’s very similar to jazz 3, but both edges are beveled, super sweet and fast.
35 years and I still only use the confetti fender picks when practicing. Heavies.
After shredding with those old pics I would get pic dust all over my strings and Pick ups. I am so glad picks have come a long way since the 80's when I started playing
when you go to comment on the jazz 3 being good but 844 people already have.
I use multiple pick gauges depending on what style I’m playing. It makes a huge difference 🙂
I'm working on this. I got a sample pack, because I'm really into math rock and hybrid picking. I've used Jazz 3, and 3mm purple Dunlops for years.
would you mind sharing some examples?
A few others have mentioned in the comments that the relation between puck and string gauge is important.
I typically run beefier gauge strings on my electrics and use thicker picks if in playing heavy rock/metal and anything in drop tunings, but i prefer comically light gauge picks when playing acoustic and playing anything clean in standard on electric.
Get a variety pack and play the same thingnwith every gauge and you will definitely notice a difference
Same with me
I honestly don't care for pick gauges. I just get one, and use it for all as long as it isn't very floppy. (I also cut cards when I can't find a pick. Anything as long as I can play.)
I've been using Dunlop purple on my electric since I picked it up and started playing again several years ago. I'm glad you reached the same conclusion so I know I haven't been "doing it wrong" all this time.
I started on Dunlop Tortex .73mm but then switched to Tortex .88mm. I tried Tortex 1mm but didn't like it as much as .88mm. Then I got a variety pack of Dunlop picks to try some stuff out, and in that bag was a Dunlop Gator Grip .96mm. Gator Grip picks are slightly smaller than Tortex and have slightly bevelled edges. The difference looks subtle but to me they feel a lot more comfortable and I feel like my grip on the pick is a lot more solid. I've also tried Gator Grip 1.14mm, and while I prefer the .96mm I think that 1.14mm Gator Grip is better than 1mm Tortex.
Many many rock and metal players use yellow .73 or similar... so take his words with a grain of salt. Use what feels best for you.
My favorite and yea I play metal with them
Purple can feel good, but those thick boys are like running up the stairs. If you’re off by just a bit you can get caught on a string and look like a moron.
.60 and .73 is where it's at for me. I've always found when teaching the guitar that a lot of beginning players gravitate towards heavier picks because they're easier to play with. Once they get a grip on nuance and pick attack they tend to move towards thinner picks to get a more controlled and nuanced sound from the strings.
Like Dave Mustaine from Megadeth he uses .73 dunlops and he shreds and plays some of the best Heavy Metal rhythm.
Many many rock and metal players are complete garbage too. I agree to use what feels best, but when an expert way above your level speaks, it's worth listening.
Ngl, I liked the sound of the 1.14 mm pick on the acoustic.
I started experimenting with picks the day I got my first guitar. It seems strange to me to be uninterested in picks, it's 50% of your contact point with the guitar.
When I started playing the guitar, I played with the pick that came with my 50 dollar POS guitar. It was about as thick as two pieces of paper stacked on top of each other. Then I saw Hetfield using the green Dunlop picks, so I started using those. A year or two later, I was doing some road work for a local band whose primary lead guitarist was using the 1.14 Dunlop jazz pick and I started using that. I sounded better immediately. The next step for me was that I took a grinder to a nickel and shaped it like a jazz pick. I got some powerful attack out of that thing, and let me tell you that the pick slides with that thing were other-worldly, but it was constantly squirting out from between my fingers and I was breaking so many strings it just wasn't feasible to continue using it. I still have that old nickel pick, but I use those Dunlop 1.14s for all but acoustic.
I was jamming with some friends the other night. I usually use heavy Fender picks. But, I had trouble getting the "feel" right as I played improvised solos. I started to get depressed and frustrated as it felt that my solos were just not "happening." Then my friend gave me a medium pick and then my solos were right in the pocket and I could express more feeling as I played. The compliments then began to flow from my friends. "Wow, that was awesome!" and "you sound great!" Even one friend who gigs frequently as an acoustic artist said to me "you can sit in with me ANY TIME." Funny thing is, practicing alone at home I didn't realize how much of a different pick gauge makes. It was improvising solos with friends the revealed this to me. So, I'm returning to medium, at least for the mid term. As I get more control I may slowly go up in gauge. I'm happy to see this video confirm my experience as well.