PSA: Guitarists, stop using your guitar pick.

[bob_mc]

Hi,

Captain Obvious here with some news, mandolin picks are for MANDOLINS.

And, in other news; it will be dark all night until around dawn, when light should be visible.

I hate to admit how long I waited to try them (cheapo Golden Gates BTW). Just had this epiphany (on my epiphone). This is my third such AHA moment; first was finding the sweet spot, second was holding the mandolin away from my body. Next I'll be looking into tuning (do all 8 strings need to be tuned?)

In all seriousness, I hope this saves a newbie some time.

We now return to the normal intelligent conversation...

[Denny Gies]

What, you're supposed to tune these strange little instruments?

[Patrick Sylvest]

Congratulations Bob! You're on your way!

[Johnny60]

I have a question for you regarding picks. I'm still fairly new to mandolin, having only been playing for around 2 months. For the first couple of weeks I just used my normal guitar picks that I've been using for years (Delrin, 73mm, traditional "Fender" shape). It was OK but sounded a bit "tinny".

I then went a little heavier and bought a couple of Martin Heavy guitar picks. Again, usual guitar-shaped pick but this must be around 1 to 1.2mm. Sounds much "chunkier" and cuts through nicely.

About a fortnight ago I bought a bone pick. Apparenly made from cow hoof or horn, or somesuch. It's REALLY thick - around 2.5mm. Thing is, it sounds nice and woody and mellow on single strings, but when strumming it makes a horrendous "clacking" sound that really detracts from the overall sound. The clacking noise is really distracting and obvious. Reminds me of attaching playing cards to my bike spokes when I was a kid! It's also much quieter on single strings than the Martin or the normal 73mm pick.

So, for now, I'm sticking with the Martin Heavy. Unless someone can convince me to try something else?

[ourgang]

Hi,

Captain Obvious here with some news, mandolin picks are for MANDOLINS.

And, in other news; it will be dark all night until around dawn, when light should be visible.

I hate to admit how long I waited to try them (cheapo Golden Gates BTW). Just had this epiphany (on my epiphone). This is my third such AHA moment; first was finding the sweet spot, second was holding the mandolin away from my body. Next I'll be looking into tuning (do all 8 strings need to be tuned?)

In all seriousness, I hope this saves a newbie some time.

We now return to the normal intelligent conversation...

Dear Captain Obvious, So, are you saying to NOT use a guitar pick on a mandolin or NOT to use a mandolin pick on a guitar??? Sounds to me like a personal preference!!

[Tim2723]

We now return you to you to this thread:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...t-pick-dilemma!

[Mike Bunting]

Did someone decide that there was a pick for guitars and a different one for mandolin. When did this happen and why didn't I get the memo? A pick is a pick, we use the one that suits us.

[bob_mc]

Dear Captain Obvious, So, are you saying to NOT use a guitar pick on a mandolin or NOT to use a mandolin pick on a guitar??? Sounds to me like a personal preference!!

It is confusing, so i made a list:

1) Guitar picks should only used to shim the necks on Fender guitars.
2) Mandolin picks are for Mandolins. And guitars. Just not those guitars that you should use your fingers on.
3) Do not use fingers or picks on banjos, this will cause non musical sounds to emanate form the banjo.

[JGWoods]

If a guitar pick is all I have I usually turn it and use one of the big round corners. Works pretty good.

[bob_mc]

Agreed JG. And while I am unsure of how long I could do it, I played my electric guitar with a mandolin pick for a bit. Interesting results for lead and single note lines. I did not have enough control for rhythm playing yet.

And hopefully my weak attempts at humor do not offend. I (basically a guitarist) bought some mandolin picks and found greater volume, sweeter tone and enhanced mandolin sounds coming form my mandolin. YMMV.

[Mike Bunting]

What are mandolin picks?

[bob_mc]

Small, sometimes tortoise colored blobs of plastic used to plectrumate your octo-stringed instrument tuned GDAE.

Or, it's how we choose mandolins.

[Mike Bunting]

Oh, I see. It's an April Fool's joke, a day late. BTW we don't always tune GDAE.

[bob_mc]

[Jeffff]

Guitars should be played with Fender mediums only.

Mandolins should be finger picked.

Banjos should be seen but not heard.

[Pete Braccio]

A picture of my favorite pick:

[GRW3]

I love to experiment with picks. I don't think it's so much guitar vs mando as it is each instrument just seems to respond best to certain combinations.

My mando and mandola like heavier picks shaped like a BC TAD-1R. I had that shape worked out in faux tortoise and just stuck with it in BC. The mando likes the 60 and the mandola the 40.

My guitar works better with the more traditional Fender teardrop shape. I'm always surprised how much difference material makes.

[Terry Allan Hall]

I use a rounded-triangle .80 Clayton Ultem on every plucked instrument I own...