Guitar Picks

Regarding the material used, players have been shaping plectrums (or plectra, if you want to be formal about it) out of wood, bone, amber, stone, ivory, glass, felt, metal and anything else they could find for probably as long as there have been stringed instruments. Tortoise shell was widely used for everything from guitar picks to pocket combs, until its use was outlawed in 1973. Today, plastic is by far the most common material, though there are several types of plastic, most notably Tortex, nylon and celluloid, though some players use old credit cards or filed bits of broken CDs in a pinch. You can even find picks made from meteorites at auction sites, if you have a few hundred extra dollars!

You might want to investigate what your favorite guitarist uses - Jimmy Page and David Gilmour have both been known to use Herco Flex 75s, Stevie Ray Vaughn played Fender medium picks, using the round end, and Brian May of Queen uses an English sixpence coin, which is about the size of a dime and has a serrated edge. Similarly, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top uses a Mexican peso. Most major-league players these days have their own custom-printed picks, which they throw out to the audience during their shows. This has spawned a cottage industry of pick collectors on eBay and other sites, where music fans buy and swap vintage picks used by their idols. You can even order a set of custom picks yourself from several makers such as Clayton at nominal cost. And there are always new variations on the venerable pick hitting the market, some more of a gimmick than others, but all with their own charm. For instance, novel designs like the Jellifish plectrum or the Dunlop Strummer use multiple tines set at a beveled edge, so they make contact with the strings in succession, and can offer a 12-string or chorus effect when used properly. The E-Bow is like an electronic bow for your electric guitar, used in place of a pick, which generates almost endless sustain and other effects, and can be heard on tunes by Radiohead, U2 and R.E.M., among others. The original Pick of Destiny, sadly, is no longer available, but you can even get a functional replica of that! The best way to decide what is right for you, however, is to get a little knowledge, check out the offerings from Dunlop, Fender, Gibson and some of the smaller manufacturers, and then experiment. Now get picking! Close>