# Instruments and Equipment > Equipment >  Whats the best type of pick to use?

## Lightbread

I just started, i've used a Jim Dunlop 2.0mm, a jazz III pick, and fender heavy picks, and i was just wondering what y'all thought were the best type of picks to use

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## mandroid

you want to keep a turmoil stirred up don't you? 

NB :the blue chip sect has 50 pages of  believer's testimonials from it's cult, alone.

Unlike those,  the ones you list,  are not $35 each ,

 so you can buy a sampling and try all those semifinalists out for yourself.

Dawg/GoldenGate  and Fender 346, the big rounded side triangles, are a couple i use.

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## mandroid

The word picks into search ..    See : http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/se...earchid=642610

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## George R. Lane

Please make it go away, just please make it go away.

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## Elliot Luber

There's no right or wrong pick. Try the ones people say they like (within your budget) and see what sounds good. Keep them as your opinions may change later. If you take lessons, ask your teacher.

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Jackgaryk

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## Markus

It depends on mandolin, strings, player, context/group, and music played.

I use the Dunlop 206 or other very heavy (dawg, wegen) at crowded jams, Wegen 1.4 when playing with my buddy on guitar, 1.0 tortex at home (quieter).   I like my Blue Chip with fiddle tunes, and currently have a ultex .7 next to me as I am visiting my parents and their house echoes and heavier picks make everyone hear me.

Overall, I change it up a lot, though most often its a wegen or bluechip in my hand.

To each their own, I would try a variety while realizing the serving the tune and context may not have one universal answer for you.

To me, variety is the spice of life.

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gregorx

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## TurboMick

I just have to say this. I have been watching this pick thing for a while on this blog. Everyone keeps recommending the Blue Chip picks at 40 bucks a pop. So I finally bought one TPR-45. Being very sceptical of this deal being a sales pitch scam. Anyway, I started using it just because it cost so dang much. Now, I am convinced that it is the best Pick I have ever used. High Price or not there is none that compare to this Blue Chip thing. Just don't loose it. I have tried hundreds of picks. The Blue Chip pick is the best.

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## Bertram Henze

The best pick for your axe?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

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## jim_n_virginia

Man you are sure stirring up a hornet's nest! LOL! Not your fault though Lightbread how could you know? It's a legitimate question from someone just starting out eh?

With that said ... in MY opinion (which won't get you a cup of coffee) Bluechip is the best pick I have used to date and well worth the $38.00 cost (including shipping).

The way it usually goes ... you will balk at the price, give in and buy one out of curiosity because of all the praise you read about them, realize how good the pick is and then after that you will worship at the alter of the Bluechip forever!  :Laughing:

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## Bertram Henze

Not kidding this time... Clayton Ultem 0.80 big triangle, loud and evil, exactly what I need. Let those others chip away at their blues.

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## frshwtrbob

Hey Lightbread,

Here's a sorta funny photo I found somewhere along the line. 

My limited experience finds me switching from pick to pick for subtle to drastic differences of volume and tone depending on the mood I'm in. 

Gobble, Gobble to you and yours.

frshwtrbob

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## Ed Goist

> The best pick for your axe?
> 
> Sorry, couldn't resist.


Bertram: I must take exception to this...I have found that picks with a horizontal rear blade provide much more volume, less pick-noise, and a better tremolo. Also, the ones made in Europe (costing ten to fifteen times more that the Pac Rim made picks) provide a much better feel (of superiority, at least)  :Wink:

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Jim

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## Ray(T)

There's only one answer to this question. The best pick is the one that you're most comfortable using and gives you a sound you're happy with. You may as well ask what the best type of woman/man is to marry!

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## GRW3

Except for the exotics, most picks are cheap and you can try a lot of styles from the tiny teardrops to the giant triangles for little more investment than a big mac meal. I did exactly that, went to music shops that sell individual picks and bought everything that was unique. From there I wandered off the path to first synthetic tortoise ($5/pick) and then to Bluechip ($ as stated above). Do it this way to get the basic form and size that you find the most compatible with your playing. Then you can move to more exotic picks and choose something most likely to satisfy. 

My inexpensive pick quest led me to sort of standardize on a Golden Gate (still cheap at $1). The edge was too round and that led me dressing the edge. I then went to the syn-tortoise that was basically a form cut out of sheet that I had to finish to suit. My first Bluechip was a model (TAD40-1R) that most closely matched the syn-tortoise I had been using. I have since upped the thickness for mando to 60 and I use the 40 for guitar.

Anyway, what I'm trying to relate is a process. Try lots of picks at the cheap level. It doesn't matter what anybody else likes, it only matters what you like.

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CeeBee

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## Pikalot

> It depends on mandolin, strings, player, context/group, and music played.
> 
> I use the Dunlop 206 or other very heavy (dawg, wegen) at crowded jams, Wegen 1.4 when playing with my buddy on guitar, 1.0 tortex at home (quieter).   I like my Blue Chip with fiddle tunes, and currently have a ultex .7 next to me as I am visiting my parents and their house echoes and heavier picks make everyone hear me.
> 
> Overall, I change it up a lot, though most often its a wegen or bluechip in my hand.
> 
> To each their own, I would try a variety while realizing the serving the tune and context may not have one universal answer for you.
> 
> To me, variety is the spice of life.


What a great answer. In fact pretty much everyone behaved and restrained themselves thus far in answering this question. That's great to see... I dreaded to click on it. New folks need a few weeks to figure things out. It's good to see that Lightbread didn't get the flamethrower.

That said, here's my 2 cents. If I had it to do over again, I'd _make sure I was holding_ _the pick properly first_, whatever pick it was. Learn wrong from the start and it'll be a hard habit to break later. Next, I echo Markus.

I play a Blue Chip most of the time. But I have a half dozen other types in my case I might use for a different sound or style.

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CeeBee

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## Markus

> Anyway, what I'm trying to relate is a process. Try lots of picks at the cheap level. It doesn't matter what anybody else likes, it only matters what you like.


I really like this advice, as working your way through various cheap picks is the best way to find a pick shape that fits your technique properly.  Initially, you should be focused on technique there [as Pikalot brings up] and trying some of these will keep your focus on that.  

Good technique is essential to get everything out of the pick - as changing how tightly the pick is gripped does a LOT.  Having this control really allows you to get to know a pick, as having an ultra-loose grip can make some picks really shine more than you'd think [and a few, a very tight grip].  There's a lot of tone in something so simple.

Having a small collection of picks around is useful if friends come to play and want to borrow one - or when context asks for it.

It's so easy to focus on what works best for me, what sounds best to myself as I play ... and forget that the music itself might require more than one pick.  Crowded bluegrass jams require a pick to generate volume soloing and a chop like thunder, totally inappropriate this afternoon as I play quiet christmas songs with the football game muted and my wife and daughter playing together.  

MAS suggests I have separate mandolins for these varied purposes - best I can currently hope for is separate picks.  

Given that - variety is really useful.  I practice and play with a friend or two with my `nice pick' [recently got a Bluechip, though the Wegen still is my go-to].  I figure the tool I use most I can spend a lot on - now that I've got the thickness and shape I want figured out pretty clearly after years playing.  

But ... for the heavy picks I use at the bluegrass jam, the various lighter picks I use in quieter contexts, and the Dunlop with it's round dark sound - I'm not buying spendy picks.  When practicing or just fooling around, I've tried to work with some different picks - I've really had the concept of giving each song it's own unique voice in my mind while playing music recently.  Picks, technique [double stops, cross picking, etc], and even muting the mandolin against my body all yield slight variations on tone which can help serve this context - picks almost seem like cheating as it's by far the easiest thing to change.  I'm unlikely to have anyone ever notice what I'm trying, I'm far too amateur to convey much.

And for the most part, when playing with friends or out - I'm not going to inflict my personal weirdness upon the world and at most have two or three picks at most in my pocket.

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## fatt-dad

I like THIS one.  I like the larger triangle and I like something over 1.0 and under 1.5 mm.  My current favorite, however, is the Blue Chip CT 55, which I had made with one rounded corner.  Yeah, it was $35.00, but I'm faithful to my picks.

f-d

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## Pete Counter

The one I use of course, clayton big triangle 1.20 white. No other picks are the best!

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## Capt. E

I continue to be amazed at how different picks pull different sounds from my mandolins. Right now I am fond of a couple of "Papa's" picks I picked up at the SXSW guitar store. They are made from casein and sound just like tortise shell. Cost $12 each.

I read that Bill Monroe used whatever pick he could borrow, beg or steal. Didn't seem to care.

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## Treblemaker

I prefer Wegen's.

For banjo's I use this: 



Note: Also works on Autoharps.

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## mandowilli

A guitar is an axe.

The mandolin is a hatchet.

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## journeybear

I think your best bet is the PickMatic, commonly misspelled as "pick mattock". Its automatic picking ability (hence its name) enables incredibly fast action and decreases the amount of effort normally required of the wrist. Having two distinct points enables a variety of picking styles and attacks and their resultant sounds. You will be breaking new ground with this device!  :Mandosmiley:

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Jim, 

meow-n-dolin

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## Kbone

$38 bills for a pick ! - you guys nuts, but then again, with my add kicking in, I can't find my partial half the time  :Smile:

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## Markus

Last time I walked through the musky lure section and looked at prices, the BC pick didn't seem so crazy. 

I've spent nearly the same price on something to throw repeatedly in a lake trying to have a toothed fish maul it.

Put in that perspective, buying 1 BC pick for life seems thrifty. It won't poke you, and getting it back doesn't involve sticking your hand near a bitey fish.

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meow-n-dolin

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## Kbone

> Last time I walked through the musky lure section and looked at prices, the BC pick didn't seem so crazy. 
> 
> I've spent nearly the same price on something to throw repeatedly in a lake trying to have a toothed fish maul it.
> 
> Put in that perspective, buying 1 BC pick for life seems thrifty. It won't poke you, and getting it back doesn't involve sticking your hand near a bitey fish.


Yea, but I lose everything, even a real ' Mickey Mantle" bat from 61" that was the worse..

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## mandroid

If there were a few brightly colored 'clown barf' thick rounded Wankel triangle picks, to be found . 

I 'd go for a dozen or 2  .. a lot easier to find when you drop them, than Mock Tortoise.

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## Rob Gerety

> ... commonly misspelled as "pick mattock".


At the risk of showing my age - and revealing a bit about my time spent digging ditches as a strapping teenager - the correct name of the tool depicted is indeed "Pick Mattock".  I expect you knew that. :Whistling:  Been around for a couple of hundred years. Great tool by the way. I have one out in the barn. Oh, and there ain't much "matic" about it either.  You'll be reachin' for the liniment at the end of the day.

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## journeybear

Well, yes, of course ...  :Whistling:  but the truth just drains all the humor out of the joke ...  :Crying:  My dad had one of these when I was a kid, and it sure was just the thing for breaking ground. I used to wonder why it was called a pickmatic until I read a book in which a worker used a mattock - and a light bulb lit in my brain. In case you young whippersnappers don't know what we old fogeys are yammering about, a pick-mattock combines the two tools, with a pick on one side and a mattock blade on the other.

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## SincereCorgi

Weird, everybody in my family calls it 'a mattocks', as in 'bring over a shovel and a mattocks'. Is that a dialect thing?

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## Rob Gerety

> Well, yes, of course ...  but the truth just drains all the humor out of the joke ...


You're right. Sorry!  Shouldn't have pushed the send button on that one.  I couldn't help myself.  I recall the day I used a pick mattock for the first time.  I remember being really impressed with the tool and how much more I could get done in the same amount of time.

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## journeybear

That's OK. I'm sure we're edumacatin' some people with (or in spite of) all our tomfoolery.  :Grin: 

Speaking of which - People! Please don't use one of these on your mandolin! This is a heavy earthworking tool. For a delicate instrument, use a lighter tool, like a mountaineer's pick:

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## yankees1

> Yea, but I lose everything, even a real ' Mickey Mantle" bat from 61" that was the worse..


   This is much worse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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## JackHorner

How long does one get out of a blue?  No thought of loss, just wear.

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## Jim

A pick that is easy to find in a store or on the floor. I have used Fender 351 picks medium & heavy and similarly shaped Dunlops since the mid 70s. That shape is what I am used to and though I've tried many other shapes it's what I come back to. Bright colors are what I like, Looking for a brown pic on a brown floor in low light is frustrating to say the least. Clown puke, yellow and orange are the way to go.

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## Mike Stewart

> For a delicate instrument, use a lighter tool, like a mountaineer's pick:


Figgers that the guy from Key West wouldn't know how to properly spell "ice ax".  :Laughing: 

(And, yes, I realize my pedantic reply has now taken the wind out of the pun.)

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## JeffD

> How long does one get out of a blue?  No thought of loss, just wear.


Mine are several more than several years old, and indistinguishable from brand new.

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## DavidKOS

> A pick that is easy to find in a store or on the floor. ....., Looking for a brown pic on a brown floor in low light is frustrating to say the least. .


On electric guitar I use Ultex/Ultem picks...light yellow-brown translucent picks.



They are really hard to find, and almost impossible to locate on a wooden floor.

There's something to be said for the old bright yellow and green Tortex.

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## DHopkins

Changed my mind.

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