Yes this does change depending on style and the desired sound.
Well, I have not seen any Italians playing mazurkas or tarantellas with those "blunt" picks!
Plucking or brushing the strings?
I use a pointed pick because I want that "pluck", and a small area to control it, the tip of the pick.
Others want another tone color and use round picks.
As you can see from this and similar threads, this is something with multiple viewpoints!
I've logged many hours with this "Tremolo Technique and Exercises" and as Sharon says, it originally came from Caterina Lichtenberg and is designed as a right hand exercise to minimize pick stroke to train one to be small and efficient for cleaner tone. IE, less sloppy playing. She acknowledges there will will be lower volume while practicing it so it is definitely not intended to be a "performance" practice as is somewhat implied in the OPs question. Btw, I love how the Cafe archives are an ongoing source of information and wonderful research tool when we finally get around to studying these various issues/topics.
Good point about exercise vs. performance, and about the purpose of that exercise, thanks
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Pick depth can also be a variable to manipulate in playing expressively.
It’s all licking dynamics, how deep you dig in how tight you grasp the luck how much you let the pick float in your grip, every which angle has its uses. Play around get a feel for the tone and hold and use what’s appropriate for the song time location situation etc.
I don’t get to play with many people and not even yearly will I get to play along with others, nature of my work and travels, but I can say the absolute worse person I ever had the misfortune of playing with did nothing but dig in and try to be as loud as possible all the time. Don’t be that person, be aware of the people around you. Oh, wait, maybe that was me in front of th le mirror? No no I’m sure it was someone else. but seriously don’t be that person, no one enjoyed playing with them, always out front overly loud when they didn’t need to be or shouldn’t have been.
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