Pick Selection

[M. Stephenson]

Well, looks like I need to start using a pick with a nylon string guitar.

I am looking for recomendations as to pick material and weight.

I have started to play in a band and I was having trouble with my strumming. I picked up a pick and all fell into place. I fought it and I fought it hard, but it needs to be done this way. I can even do rasguedos fairly easily.

Next thing you know I will be hybrid picking. 8)

I am playing a Godin Grand Concert SA (solid body with a classical width neck and RMC piezzo/synth access pickups) thru a Roland VG-8 and a VG-88. I love this setup - by far the most enjoyable rig I have ever owned.

I used to use a pick a lot back when I was a teenager and was playing in the jazz band, but when I started playing again a few years ago it was all finger style.

I used to use really heavy picks - I had even made a few out of plexiglass that gave a really nice jazz tone when played on my old 335 copy.

On the classical, I used to use felt picks, but they did not last long - one concert was about it. I am getting a decent tone with a Medium pick, but I am not totally satisfied. Heavy is not working as well on the nylon strings as I had hoped.

I still remeber some McLuaghlin riffs and it all came back fairly easily. I am sooo much faster with a pick, a little focus and I will be back to playing silly fast riffs - it is kinda fun actually.

Thanks.

[Libre]

I can even do rasguedos fairly easily
I'm not surprised you can do rasguedos with a pick. What I find exceedingly difficult is counterpoint. Todd's got the hang of it - no doubt about that. I was trying a hybrid picking style with my strat - so I could incorporate the best of both worlds - but, I didn't get the knack of it. I didn't give it that much time though. I've seen Roger McGuinn live and he does some un-friggin-believable work with this hybrid style.
Last night I tried some metal finger picks - to go with my new Taylor Steel - to try so save my nails. Nah. No sensitivity. And that raspy grating sound really got on my nerves.
As far as a flat pick - jeez - just go "pick" up a variety and see what you like best. Their cheap enough.

[M. Stephenson]

You are right about getting a variety of picks, however it is nice to know what those that have gone before have used.

--

I am getting used to metal fingerpicks for my squre neck Dobro, which lays down on the lap. Boy, that takes some work.

I am so used to using the back of my nails for strumming that I often send the picks flying across the room.

I am getting better, but still have problems finding the right string.

To get rid of the raspy sound you have to get the pick angle right - perhaps that is easier on a square neck that sits flat on your lap than on a guitar.

Also, I have found that using fingerpicks requires a different approach - I am much more inclined to use p-i for playing runs than to use i-m. I fact, the interplay between p-i-m is much different than with a classical guitar. I have had to carfully chart out some sections and have spent a great deal of time getting used to the different approach.

The work is just starting to pay off. It is pretty cool when it comes off right, there is an effortlessness to it that I do not often get in classical playing.

[M. Stephenson]

I think I found it: 8)

Wedgie Rubber Pick.

http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?ItemPos=8&TempID=9&STRID=134852&Method=0&CategoryID=0&BrandID=1981&PriceRangeID=0&PageNum=0&DepartmentID=0&pagesize=10&SortMethod=3&SearchPhrase=&Contains=&Search_Type=SEARCH&GroupCode=

Gives a sound similar to using the fingers - more finger, less nail. About the size and shape of the plexiglass picks I used to make.

It is different than using a regular hard plastic pick, but it sounds very nice. It is going to take some adjustment, but I do not think that it is going to be a problem.

With a little effort, I was starting to rattle off some pretty clean scales at the same speed as using a regular pick, albeit with a much nicer tone.

I chose the hardest rubber, but they also come in softer rubbers.

[Todd]

WOW! Thanks M!!

Ive been straining my brain for quite some time trying
to come up with a way to soften/lessen pick attack
for classical guitar.
Never new the was such a thing as rubber picks.
I had tried felt, but that wasnt even close.

I think the Wedgie is what ive been looking for.
THANK YOU! I just ordered 3 mediums.

8) 8) TK

[Sandra]

Last night I tried some metal finger picks - to go with my new Taylor Steel - to try so save my nails. Nah. No sensitivity. And that raspy grating sound really got on my nerves.
Hey, Marc, you should give Alaska Piks a try. I use one on my thumb, gives me more "power" on the bass strings. :)

http://www.alaskapik.com/

[Libre]

Sandra-
Those look pretty good. Do you use the metal or plastic ones? And, you use only one on the thumb? I didn't see a thumb pick there.
I'd like to try them on before I order any though. Maybe I can find 'em on 48th Street in NY.

[GSI Fan]

...I've seen Roger McGuinn live and he does some un-friggin-believable work with this hybrid style...

Marc, you’re confused. Rodger McGinn retired several years ago after a lengthy career as a private French Polisher. He wasn’t a guitar player – or at least not a famous player. As the story goes, he climbed to stardom in the field of FP when Segovia approached him to do ALL the FP work for his $9.99 guitar and accessories marketing attempt. Most folks aren’t aware of that old artifact. You see, besides his incredibly successful leadership of a country and the ever more popular guitar making operation, he ultimately paved the way for his nearest and dearest friend Esteban. It’s been suggested that Esteban and Segovia were inseparable for years while trying to get that idea off the ground. Although Segovia’s vision never made it past the planning stages, two people owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to him. Roger, because Segovia pushed his name to the forefront of French Polishers world-wide. And, of course we all know what Segovia’s closed friend did…carried out the Segovia vision to make the guitar as common as a broom is in every house.

Hope this clears things up for you Marc! :wink:

[Sandra]

Sandra-
Those look pretty good. Do you use the metal or plastic ones? And, you use only one on the thumb? I didn't see a thumb pick there.
I'd like to try them on before I order any though. Maybe I can find 'em on 48th Street in NY.
They're just different sizes. I use a plastic XL on my thumb. Never really tried to use on the rest of my fingers. Like I said, it really gives me more "power" on the basses and there's no nail wear from scraping across the wound strings.

They are pretty tight at first, I usually put one around a tube of lipstick for a week or so to stretch it a tad. And sometimes the edges on the back can be a little sharp and need a little filing. I haven't bought any new ones in years, maybe they're a bit different now. Used to have a problem with them "disappearing" when I had a particularly mischievious cat. They would eventually turn up in some unsuspected place.

Yeah, I'd recommend checking them out in person. Took a little getting used to, but the way it goes under your nail, you're still using it just like your nail, so it feels much more natural than regular finger picks. :)


EDIT: Speaking of stretch, that l-o-n-g url you posted, M. Stephenson, stretches this page into oblivion. Maybe you could link it instead? Here's the code (I'm disabling code in this post to show what it looks like):

give your link a name here (http://www.whatever.com/blahblah.html)

[NLong]

You pick guys might give those wooden picks from ebay a try. http://cgi.ebay.com/Concertgoers-Needed-Who-Wants-to-Meet-the-Band_W0QQitemZ7365697707QQcategoryZ20831QQrdZ1QQcm dZViewItem seems like it might be a decent one. I would imagine they would give a nice warm sound, but I'm guessing they'll give a little click when you hit a string and leave it there before plucking it. I've tried giving the pick thing a chance. I started playing electric years before touching a classical, and I'm a heck of a lot faster with a pick, but I don't feel that intimate flesh and nail to guitar connection.

[M. Stephenson]

Well, I spent the evening playing with the rubber Wedgie pick.

They sound much like flesh of finger with no fingernail. A little bit of nail sound would be nice and I think that I am going to slice open one of the picks and insert the tip of a thin plastic pick. That would be the perfect pick. Probably will do it this weekend.

Todd, let me know what you think. The mediums were to wobble for my taste, but I used to use very heavy picks when I played electric guitar as a teenager so I was looking for stiffness.

The wedgie can sound a little muddy when playing fast on a classical (gotta have dead on timing and technique), but it sounds great when choping chords. I think that I am just a tad faster and cleaner with the plastic picks, but I do not like the tone.

With the Godin / VG-8 the sound is not as loud or as bright as with a plastic pick, but overall I prefer the tone from the rubber Wedgie pick. The sound is better than when I use my fingers, however.

My left hand fingers and my left forearm are sore from "shredding" scales and riffs - it feels good to play fast again. Playing with a pick has come back to me faster than I thought it would, but I need to apply some of my classical guitar discipline to refine my technique and timing.

All in all, these picks are not perfect, but they are the best I have used on a nylon strung guitar.

--

Curiously, I find that I am much more apt to start making things up with a pick in my hand. I guess that with classical guitar I was always learning a piece of music, but since I do not know a lot of pick oriented pieces I tend to doodle and experiment with what I can do with the VG sounds.

[Jubilee Valence]

"Hey" M. I've got a rubber one ...gauge?(rigidity?)-I dunno!--"it's white" and the steels just burn it up though!--It sounds "KILLER" on the "Archtop", but the heavys(even the flat-wound aspect of it) just grind it down; It's like, "half-left"

"Strunz And Farah" use Fender Heavys & Mediums, if I remember right from that last thread--while yer' tryin' 'em out, try some Jim Dunlop Tortex-they have a "dulled" finish which you may like against the brilliant strings. That's what I use vs. the brilliance of new Bronze or Brass on my flat-tops(Elixers -for me-require a "back to the shiney" basics a la a "smoother" pick)

I've always used the first or second fingernail(or stub; "if")for the hyper-speed run-throughs, as I'm improving somewhat with the tips and have all but done away with picks on nylons;-but in the day, it was just "whatever was on hand"

Jubi :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

p.s. 'how in the heck did we get in "sideways mode"? :?

*edit:-now that we're "off" page one....it's back to "regular" mode...ALSO, I've got different "tensions/gauges" on every guitar--so the picks are all diff. too!-typical thought though for me is: heavier strings= heavier picks etc

[tanolonco]

John McLaughlin once said he makes his own picks from Tupperware. Since he was once the shred master, it would be difficult to argue with his choice.