by Brix Milner of Seven Kings
 |
| Shapes from left to right: ISO, Jazz XL, Standard, Rounded Triangle |
The answer is: Whatever feels best to you. Thank you and goodnight.
This could very
well be the end of this article, because that is a true statement, but we will
try to help you decide based on some things we have learned over the years and
the general laws of physics. I will say it now and probably later in this article,
there are always exceptions. There are professionals who defy the rules of
logical choice and surprising applications will continue to reveal themselves
until the end of time, or until computers play guitar for us.
Let's first talk
about materials. There are many exotic materials of guitar picks such as bone,
turtle shell, wood, stone, shell, metal, leather, tusk, tooth, and the list
goes on... I have even heard of dinosaur bone! We will not be talking about
those. We will be talking about the common materials used by most of the world.
The most common materials are celluloid, delrin, acetyl, nylon, and plastics of
different varieties beginning with the prefix "poly". I am not going
to go into the history of each material, boring details of origins, or
manufacturing techniques. Let's just get to the nitty gritty of helping you
decide what material may be best for you.
Celluloid: This is a softer material in relative terms. Think about the
plastic material that encases your television and other electronics vs. a
plastic tub in which you store your Christmas decorations. It would be more
like the latter... maybe not quite as soft, but this is just to give you an
idea. Celluloid has an "eggshell" finish, somewhere between glossy
and flat. In my opinion, this material is the least "clicky" on the
strings (excluding leather, felt, or other pick materials that we are not
discussing here). Celluloid is said to give a "warmer tone" than
harder materials. This material will wears fairly quickly as compared to
others, but once again this is relative... there are players who wear them down
in two songs and others who have a handful of celluloid picks that last for
years. With any pick, wear depends on how hard you play, the angle of the pick
when you play, how often you play, the amount of back and forth strokes in the
music you play, etc.
Delrin / Acetyl: The most popular version of delrin is offered with a matte finish.
With Seven Kings this line is known as Delrinex™. We use DuPont delrin tumbled
in a special media. The matte finish provides better grip, but this also
creates more friction on the strings. This is a trade off because sometimes you
want grip, but also want the maximum "string release" that another
material can give. In my opinion many people use this material because
"everyone else does" and they may think they need the grip, but
really would have no problem holding on to a pick of a different material that
could be better for their playing style. A great example is someone who is
doing a lot of fast picking and riffing as in many genres of metal. Many metal
guys use Delrinex™ (or other companies version), but in my opinion may do
better with a slicker material that would help the pick slide off of the string
quicker instead of "grabbing" it like a matte finish pick does. Don't
get me wrong, this is a great material and very long lasting I should surely
note, but give some other materials a try if you have not, or are just going with
this material because your buddy uses them. Acetyl is simply delrin without
pigment, so acetyl will be a slightly "see-through" grayish-white.
Some companies offer this material polished as opposed to tumbled, giving it a
gloss finish as opposed to matte.
Poly plastics: These can vary greatly in finish and durability from brand to brand
depending on the "recipe". The Seven Kings G-Poly™ line is made from
polycarbonate plastic. These picks are fairly hard, and have a high gloss
finish. They provide maximum string release, meaning they slide off the string
with less resistance as compared to other materials because of the high gloss
finish. Players who have excessively sweaty fingers may have trouble holding on
to these but this is not always the case, even with sweaty fingers. Like I said
before, rules and logic do not always make sense in the guitar pick world.
G-Poly™ picks wear slightly faster than Delrinex™.
Nylon: I will start by saying that we (Seven Kings) cannot print on nylon
picks, and as far as I know, no one else can either. Nylon picks are fairly
slick for the most part, but almost always have a grip built into them or
raised letters and/or logos that act as a grip. These are also said to give a
"warm tone" as mentioned with celluloid. Players who tend to break
picks often use nylon because they are practically unbreakable.
Let's now move on
to shapes. We will only talk about the basic shapes that we carry because that
covers 99.9% of players. There are some crazy shapes out there if you want to
dig. Seven Kings guitar picks come in Standard, ISO, Large Rounded Triangle,
and Jazz XL shapes.
There is not much
difference in Standard and ISO as you can see on our web site. The ISO is just
slightly more triangular than the Standard. The Large Rounded Triangle is the
same height as a Standard shape when measured from the tip straight up to the
middle of the adjacent "side", but the wings stick out and make the
pick appear quite a bit larger (see images). A Jazz XL shape has a more pointed
tip and is slightly smaller than a Standard or ISO (see images).
Standard and ISO
are the most popular pick shapes out there for any instrument and any type of
music, but once again, there are no real rules for any of this. Many bass
players who use picks prefer the Large Rounded Triangle simply because the mass
of the bass strings better match the larger surface area of the pick. Bass
strings cover more area when they move back and forth and the larger pick makes
it less likely the strings will be hitting your fingers. With that said, there
are more than a few 6 string guitar players who prefer these as well, and there
are bass player who use tiny picks. Our Jazz XL shaped picks are more pointy
and I feel are great for fast riffing and lead playing because there is less
surface area at the tip, thus less resistance, allowing the pick to move
quickly back and forth across the string. Although, these are good for any and
all types of music.
The subject of
gauge (thickness) may be more subjective to randomness than anything above. If
you are not sure, go with "medium", which is between .71mm and .81mm.
Below these gauges the picks are considered "light" or
"thin". A .96mm is considered a heavy and many would agree that a
1.14mm is extra heavy whereas a 1.35mm is extra extra heavy. At that point the
picks do not bend at all, but some companies make picks up to 2.0mm and beyond.
The few points I will make regarding gauge are as follows:
Many bass players like a heavy gauge; some acoustic players like heavier gauges; and many technical and/or metal players like a heavy gauge. Light gauges are good for guys and gals who jump around and use their whole arm to strum (think punk rock style) because the picks "give" when they come slamming down on the strings. A stiff pick would tend to make the strings go sharp (in the music scale) when hit hard and maybe even break strings.
Although these
guidelines are not absolute, they will get you started... especially if you are
a beginner. These suggestions will apply to 90% of guitar players no matter
your age or instrument. The best thing you can do is try all materials, gauges,
and shapes and decide for yourself. You can own every pick out there for under
$10 or $20, so why not? This is nothing compared to the price of a guitar, an
amp, lessons, cables, and everything else that comes along with guitar playing.
You will be surprised at how much the right pick can improve your playing.
Check out our site
www.SevenKings.com and give us a call
or email if you have further questions. Please comment on this blog thread, as
we would definitely like to hear your opinion on the subject. Thanks!
Brix Milner
Seven Kings
