Quote:
Originally Posted by superblonde.org
I play hard rock on an electric guitar with EMG81/85 pickups with .09 nickel-based strings and would like to experiment with changing my guitar tone by changing to a different pick while playing. My current picks are jazz ii, and chromacast, both are a type of plastic or resin. These sound different from each other but the difference is very subtle, more on the percussive side, on attack, and also very minor hand adjustment since the size, thus grip, is different. Jazz ii is also a much stiffer, harder material. Which picks to try, to give a very different & noticeable tonal change? (dont say switch to the thumb or switch to hybrid style) If there's a change, it should be distinctive in a recording, and to an audience.
Two examples I recall, both EVH and Page Hamilton recorded and performed with metal picks for some time. Listening to recordings though, I'm not sure I would be able to pick out the difference. (pun intended) However I notice when I switch pick types that my expressivity changes, from the grip, so ultimately the difference could be related to that for me.
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I've been playing guitar for 30+ years and IMO the pick used has minuscule effect on the sound from an electric guitar through an amp. What matters MUCH more for electric guitar tone is the playing technique, speaker, amp, eq, pickups.
One good trick is going from pick to fingerstyle in one second, by letting the pinkie finger fold up the pick.
It takes some practice to quickly fold/unfold but is very useful for some styles. (I think Brian Setzer has a tutorial vid on it)
Simply use the pick you are comfortable playing with, material, size, thickness.
Yes, the pick will have a big impact on an unplugged acoustic played sound, but that's not what this thread is about.
By using the playing dynamics, position and technique in the pick hand, it will cover everything you want to do in any style from soft, dull, hard, scratchy attack.
I once wondered the same thing and recorded the same parts in various styles (clean to metal) with about ten different picks including my finger nails (no picks from metals used).
The result proved to me that I can get all the picks to sound pretty much identical to a point where it simply doesn't matter. The fingernails did great except for heavy metal rhythm (hurt too much). I asked my friends and they couldn't tell when I changed pick.
For example, take a Jazz 3 XL pick and compare with a Dunlop Delrin pick 1,5mm (Yngwie use them).
They sound vastly different playing unplugged, Delring is much duller than the brighter Jazz 3.
But when plugging in to an amp (bypassing the acoustic unplugged sound) I can get them to sound the same.