Is there a compromise?

[Conisewer]

I love to use thick picks (my favorite pick right now is a 2.0mm Dunlop Gator Grip). But, as I'm sure many of you know, fat picks just don't cut it when strumming chords, or playing anything but lead lines. All I get is chirpy crap. Is there such a pick that is thick (>1.0mm), and can be used for both leads and strummy/rhythm stuff?

[justnick]

Try relaxing your grip. That'll give you the best of both worlds.

I use a Dunlop 405 (really thick, small, jazz pick) for everything, including lots of funk rhythm work.

n

[jassibi]

You could try Dava picks www.davapick.com
"DAVA’s multi-gauge design gives rhythm and lead all in one controllable pick!
By simply modulating your grip within the DAVA Control Region, you can go from silky smooth rhythm at ridge 1 to the full-on attack of a lead solo at Ridge 3"

[78deluxe]

Originally Posted by Conisewer

I love to use thick picks (my favorite pick right now is a 2.0mm Dunlop Gator Grip). But, as I'm sure many of you know, fat picks just don't cut it when strumming chords, or playing anything but lead lines. All I get is chirpy crap. Is there such a pick that is thick (>1.0mm), and can be used for both leads and strummy/rhythm stuff?

I agree with others, it is all about technique. I don't use picks under 1.5 regarless of the playing style.

I recommend Blue Chip. They glide off the strings even at heavy thickness and the "chirpy crap" should be minimal to nothing noticeable if your technique is right.

[2061X]

My favorite pick is the 1.5 mm Dunlop Gator Grip. I agree with justnick that you do a lot with your grip. Been using the Gator for some years now and haven't found anything better to my liking.

[Blackmoreguitar]

Jim Dunlop small stubby. I am told they are an acquired taste, but then I have used nothing else, (other than a short flirtation with some v-picks), for years.

[DraggAmps]

The answer is actually MORE thickness. A thick Dunlop or Fender style pick is hard to strum with because it's a stiff pick but it has no bevel and it's only thick enough to be stiff and awkward and get caught on your strings in an attempt to rip them off, but not thick enough to have a bevel so that the string doesn't catch on it, and they're also made out of cheap plastics that don't sound good and aren't hard enough, so they snag the string. Take a look at some of my picks below. The clear ones are V Picks. They come in lots of different thicknesses, and since I was coming from Dunlop .77's, I was intimidated by the thicker ones when I first orders some, so I got the thinnest ones they had (which were still a revelation for me). Luckily, Vinni was cool enough to throw in an extra free pick to try, and it was thicker, so I was able to try it and understand what the deal was with these kinds of picks. The hard acrylic material is not only extremely grippy, but the hardness combined with the fact that they are thick, which allows for a longer and more gradual bevel (as opposed to the non-existent bevel on traditional picks, which, if you've noticed, actual gain a sort of bevel the more you use it, because the soft material gets worn by the string and a sort of "speed bevel" is produced), which allows the string to just slip off the pick. You get very little resistance, the thicker picks are extremely comfortable, and your tone is noticeably improved. Plus, the feel and grip is much better and they're much less fatiguing the thicker the pick. The thickness and the grip also allow you to relax your grip a bit, as someone else mentioned. V Pick actually makes some insanely thick picks (one is actually called the "Insanity") that are partially designed for people with hand problems, because they're so much easier to hold.

The thickness seems crazy at first, and I only tried it out of curiosity, but now I understand. It's something you really have to try. The brown picks in the pictures are called Blue Chip Picks. You probably wouldn't be interested in those until you try a lot of these kinds of picks as they're very expensive, because they're made of a very expensive material and they literally do NOT wear at all. People buy these picks USED and they actually hold their value because they honestly don't wear. They are my favorite picks, as much as I like V Picks, because they have their benefits. Aside from not wearing out at all (by the way, V Picks last a VERY long time too), the material sounds awesome, feels awesome, is even for grippy, and it is self lubricating, which helps it to be even more frictionless against the string. The biggest thing that makes them different is the bevel. Blue Chips have this big, long, perfectly shaped bevel that makes them glide across the strings like you would never think.

If you don't loose these picks, the fact that they won't wear out makes them pay for themselves in the long run, and that's aside from all of the benefits which make them worth it. When you have picks like these, you don't lose them, trust me. I used to spend a ton of money on Dunlops because they weren't worth anything so I wouldn't keep track of them. But I have several hundred dollars worth of "boutique" picks now, and I haven't lost one. They're seriously a lot of fun to experiment and I would definitely recommend starting with V Pick, to figure out what you like, since they're not too expensive. It gets addicting, and as much as you think you might not, you will probably find yourself trying thicker and thicker ones because the feel is awesome once you get used to it.

Anyway, these kinds of picks will really help your playing and your sound and will make strumming and all kinds of picking much easier. Sharper picks are really cool too. You'll notice a lot of my picks are sharper, because the notes just jump out with a lot of clarity, they have much better accuracy and definition, and they actually still work very well for strumming. You just have to learn how to choke up on the pick some and use it as a tool. I use the side of my thumb a lot, combined with a certain portion of the pick protruding to get the right sound and feel when doing different picking stuff. It just happens automatically. For instance, when strumming something soft with accented dynamics, I'll use a portion of the pick sticking out and the side of my thumb to impact the string first to a certain degree, which allows me to control the sharpness of the notes, the volume, etc. Then I can accent the sound by giving more of the pick to the string or using just the pick to string the string. It's just natural to me now and gives me a lot of variation in sound, feel, and dynamics. The way these picks are crafted really lends itself to that kind of stuff.