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Tuesday, 28 December 2010

Plectrum or Guitar pick

Plectrum


Main article: Guitar pick

guitar picks

A variety of guitar picks

A "guitar pick" or "plectrum" is a small piece of hard material which is generally held between the thumb and first finger of the picking hand and is used to "guitar pick" the strings. Though most classical players guitar pick solely with their finger nails, the "guitar pick" is often used for electric and some acoustic guitars. Though today they are mainly plastic, variations do exist, such as bone, wood, steel or tortoise shell. Tortoise shell was the most commonly used material in the early days of guitar pick making but as tortoises became more and more endangered, the practice of using their shells for guitar picks or anything else was banned. Tortoise shell guitar picks are often coveted for a supposedly superior tone and ease of use.


Picks come in many shapes and sizes. Picks vary from the small jazz pick to the large bass pick. The thickness of the pick often determines its use. A thinner pick (between .2 and .5 mm) is usually used for strumming or rhythm playing, whereas thicker picks (between .7 and 1.5+ mm) are usually used for single-note lines or lead playing. The distinctive guitar sound of Billy Gibbons is attributed to using a quarter or peso as a pick. Similarly, Brian May is known to use a sixpence coin as a pick. David Persons is known for using old credit cards, cut to the correct size, as plectrum.

Thumb picks and finger picks that attach to the finger tips are sometimes employed in finger-picking styles.



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