The Story of the Picks

Picks are very important. The tone of your guitar is made up of everything and picks are no exception. 

Previously, I use V-picks for my picks. My favourite V-picks was the Traditional. It has a traditional shape of a guitar pick, unlike the triangle ones. These picks were my favourite because of the material it is made of, acrylic. This material makes every note you play fuller and… solid and the thickness of 3mm also contributes to that as well. Using thin picks (about 0.60mm) especially for music that is ‘heavy’ seem to makes the notes sound as if they are forced out. The bevelled sides of the V-picks also makes alternative picking easier. A few problems with the bevelled sides and that 3mm thickness, is that it is harder for pick scratching and when playing certain genres like blues where I don't add any compression effect, it makes it harder for me to control the volume of my picking. A delicate touch may end up with a much louder volume than I expect.

So I am using much thinner picks along with the V-picks when I play music that is certainly less ‘heavier’, to the thickness of about 1.14mm or even 0.60mm which is the thickness I occasionally use to play acoustic. Dunlops Tortex picks are what I'm using now. Actually, 1.14mm is still considered a heavy pick but not as heavy as the 3mm (this is extra heavy).  It gives me more control over the volume of the uncompressed notes I play. Pick-scratching is also much easier. And the notes won't sound forced as well since it is thick enough. The material 'Tortex' also produces a good tone, a name given for plastic which is used to replace tortoise shell picks since it was banned in the 70s. Another of such material is Delrex used on the Dunlops Gator picks which spots a matte finish instead. I tried the Gator but the feel of them isn't really to my likings. After all, one of the main reasons I use Tortex is because they feel the same as the Everly Star Picks I used to use and same material as well. Ever since Davis stopped bringing them in, I replaced them with Tortex picks. Oh! Tortex picks are less slippery than V-picks too. Of course I am not getting that 'acrylic' tone much Tortex sounds good as well.

For those small-sized picks, I used to use Alice 3mm picks. Now I am using the Small Tortex, too. I use these picks especially if I am using a lot of artificial harmonics, since it is easier for me to play them with these.

All these picks I used are more or less wear-resistant. And they don't break easily. As far as I know, nylon picks are those that will break so easily. Usually in 1-2 months, it loses its flexibility and become fragile. That is why I always tell my church youths to not buy nylon picks for carol-singing. Well, they don't listen. =/