What Guitar Pick Should I Use?

So you’ve heard that you should be using a guitar pick (also known as a plectrum). So you walk into the guitar shop, ask the guy for a guitar pick and he directs you to a display box filled with different colours, shapes, sizes and thicknesses and all you can think is – “how can there be so many, I just wanted a guitar pick?!”

Usually, the first guitar picks people buy are either random, different thicknesses because they’re not sure which is a good one or just because they like the colour.

To be honest, I don’t blame them because it all seems pretty insignificant.

However, different thicknesses do actually produce different tones and are different to play with. It is somewhat personal preference and I have met plenty of people who disagree with me on this subject.

What’s the advantage of a thinner pick?

Thinner picks tend to be favoured by beginners. As they are more flexible than thicker picks they tend to be easier to strum chords with as they do’t get ‘stuck in the strings’ the same way. They can also be used to make guitar chords sound smoother.

What’s the advantage of a thicker pick?

Thicker guitar picks give the player more control and accuracy as they don’t flex as much as thinner picks. This can make them more difficult to use as you need to be more precise with them. The main advantage is of thicker picks are with soloing and playing faster single note riffs.

Should I use a smaller or bigger guitar pick?

Smaller picks are good for fast single note work and are favoured from jazz to metal for speed. Bigger picks are nice for strumming chords as well as techniques such as pick slides where more surface area is useful.

What material should the pick be made out of?

Most guitar picks are made from some type of plastic. However, you can also get metal and metal tipped picks.

Metal picks give a harsher slightly tinnier tone than their plastic counterparts which give a smoother sound.

Thoughts

Personally, I can’t stand thin picks – they feel flimsy like that have been made out of a used margarine tub and give off a really ‘clicky’ type of sound.

I prefer to play with heavier picks around 1mm or above. They give a much cleaner sound than their lighter counterparts. Also thinner picks tend to bend and flex, which is not only annoying but it also slows you down.

A common issue people have when trying to use a thicker pick is they hold on to it too tightly. As thinner picks flex more easily players — especially beginner — seem to hold on to the pick tightly. When you play with a thicker pick like this it seemed overly rigid. This causes the pick to get stuck between the strings and often to drop it. Loosen up!

The other common mistake is holding the pick too high and using too much of the pick to strike the strings. If you think a guitar pick is meant to be a replacement for growing out your nails, you don’t really need to use much of it at all. Hold the pick nearer the point — this will give you more control and less chance of snagging it against the strings when you’re strumming.