Finding the Right pick.. think I finally got it!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kapo_Polenton
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Kapo_Polenton

Kapo_Polenton

Well-known member
The biggest X factor in all of this? Freakin Gorilla Snot. I naturally have dry skin, my strings can last forever. But it also means 8 months of the year it is impossible to hold on to the pick. I fight the damn pick no matter the size or type. I tried little stick ons, etching grooves in, licking fingers, picks with " grip". Nothing worked. But dabb on some of that gorilla snot? Hell yeah I can finally enjoy playing again. I find it doesn't last as long as i would like but in a pinch if you lick a corner of your thumb, it will bring the tackiness back out a bit before you need another tiny amount. But easily you can get a session out of a tiny bit. I held off a long time buying some because i refused to pay 14$ for this tiny tin of what is probably pine tar.

As for picks? I've been all over the place..because of my grip issues, in the last few years I had gotten use to .81mm Traynor picks which were only available in Canada. I liked the angle, size, and how sharp they were. I also suspect that for .81mm they also had more flex so were more like a pic that was .71 or less. Maybe a bit more than the Dunlop orange. So when they stopped making those, I naturally went on the hunt. Tried a bunch of cheapo's on Amazon that looked similar, but I didn't like the rough finish. Tried some dan's guitar picks that all the youtube panderer's loved and well.. not it either. I finally settled on the Standard Dunlop Flow 1.0 ( with the grip) and the smaller Flow 1.0 in tortex ( blue one). After going back and forth and using the gorilla snot, I think i am leaning back over to the blue Flow 1.0. I love the grip but also how the tortex feels under the thumb and due to my picking angle, I like the pointy end. Anyway, it's almost felt like I am rediscovering how to play! When that pick is sitting right, everything is so much more enjoyable and i can even loosen my grip on the pick and have better lighter technique instead of digging in like i am playing a Kerry King riff or something. I used to use Jazz 2.0 picks when i started but had abandoned them years ago because they didn't give me the bite i wanted.

So that's my pick story.. I am sure some of you guys will have had similar experiences and know just how damn frustrating it is fighting the pick. I must have spent near 100$ on picks and then sending the ones i could back and just leaving the others around so my kids don't take the ones i like when they pick up a guitar.

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I was on the same route as you.. spent $100s on picks. Oddly enough, my main and always go to pick is the same Tortex Blue 1.0mm Flow pick.

Cheers
 
I snagged a tusk buffer pick before the government pulled them off the shelves. I used that one and only pick for a least a few years until I wore it down low enough to not be usable.

But before and after that I’ve been strictly planet waves/daddario 1.5 black ice picks
 
Used to be the same for me. What finally fixed as unsound that is logically was lightening up my grip.
Go figure
 
I used the gorilla snot way back in the day, but since finding snarling dogs with the gritted texture I’ve never looked back
 
I’m a nylon guy……Snarling Dogs and Clayton Frost-Byte
 
Dunlop Flow .73mm. I was a Tortex Jazz 1.14 guy forever, probably 30 years and then went down to a .88. Once I tried the Flow .73 I am finished looking. It has the most perfect click sound it makes while striking the string. I love that percussive click. Some guys don't want any pick sound but if I am going through the trouble of picking a bunch of notes, I want everyone to damn well hear that I am picking those notes. lol
 
Cool story. I never heard of Gorilla Snot, but sure enough there it is; Gorilla Snot Pick and Drumstick Grip Enhancer. Pretty cool.

Mostly I’m ok but sometimes my hands are dry and I have to lick my thumb. Might try some out
 
I use the 2.0 mm Dunlop Flow for everything. I initially tried it after seeing Jeff Loomis, Andy James, and John Petrucci had been using them.
 
Chubtone said:
Dunlop Flow .73mm. I was a Tortex Jazz 1.14 guy forever, probably 30 years and then went down to a .88. Once I tried the Flow .73 I am finished looking. It has the most perfect click sound it makes while striking the string. I love that percussive click. Some guys don't want any pick sound but if I am going through the trouble of picking a bunch of notes, I want everyone to damn well hear that I am picking those notes. lol
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I still like the Traynors I have sitting around that are under .88 BUT while they do have their advantages, I feel like they suck for the arpeggio anything thing. They get hung up on the string rather than just slicing it.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
I still like the Traynors I have sitting around that are under .88 BUT while they do have their advantages, I feel like they suck for the arpeggio anything thing. They get hung up on the string rather than just slicing it.
Click to expand...
Pick can not get hung up on the string. Playing guitar is hard enough without the pick fighting you.
 
Guthrie Govan said it best about pick thickness. “If you were writing with a pencil, would you want it to feel rubbery, flopping around everywhere and bending against the paper? No, you want that pencil totally rigid. Rock hard. Very long and rock solid hard. Taught, if you will. With a ton of veins everywhere. Grip that pencil and just… man just fuckin’ go to town on that thing, up and down like it owes you money. And don’t forget about the balls.”

Seriously though thick pics are best because they give you more control. You can always loosen your grip if you want to emulate a thinner pick with more give but you can’t grip a thin pick hard enough to emulate a thicker pick.
 
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