Looking for a mellow sounding pick

Nejc

Hi! It has been a while. Hope everyone is doing fine! Took a long hiatus, and now I decided to dip my toes back into GJ.

I am looking for recommendations for a pick that is less or about 2mm, which is mellow sounding and does not produce clicks. I would really like to add some depth to the sound, and most conventional picks sound just too bright and superficial for my taste. I tried Gators, none of those worked. Currently I am using the side of a Dunlop Jazztone 208, still too bright and clicky, but it locks nicely into my hand. I also found to like the sound of the DAndrea pro 1.5mm pick (front and back) the problem is that the shape is too elongated for my taste and I find myself correcting the pick all the time. I would normally just buy a bunch of picks and try them out, but given the price cant afford to do that.

I might also try to reshape a couple of cheap picks, maybe that will work.

t-bird

I have tried a good number of picks and BlueChip has the lowest amount of click I've found. Michael sells some here and you can get them through the BlueChip site as well.

mac63000

I'm a huge fan of the big city picks by Wegen (linked below). They are very much the perfect pick, imo. They are easy to hold, light weight yet stiff, and no clicking that you get with bigger or cheaper materials. Pro tip: get them in white so you don't lose them as quickly ?

https://www.djangobooks.com/Category/big_city_picks

Buco

Yeah as @t-bird said, for me there's no substitute for Blue Chip. It's expensive but one of the very, very few that I bought and didn't think "I could've done without it". It pretty much boils down to them and Jokko's Manouche picks. His picks are priced much lower than the Blue Chip and I like Romino and Giovanni shapes, warm and quiet.

But also there are some Dunlop and Golden Gate that are good substitute for Blue Chip, lots of info here and in the famous "sideways" thread:

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/13913/bluechip-sr60-speed-bevel-or-round-tip

Oh and welcome back!

Scoredog

I think some of the mellowness one is looking for has to do with picking technique. While my main pick is a Manouche pick it is not the most mellow I have played and his picks seem to be different, even the ones named the same. The Dunlap Gator and Prime Tone 2.5 sound mellower, are cheaper but I feel I have less facility with them. I use the rounded edge, not the sharp edge with those. Again that may be due to my picking technique or lack there of.

Buco

Jokko's materials definitely vary from soft to hard. There's a post where I kinda listed them out of 4 I had at the time. I remember his tortoise shell to be the softest (but somewhat at the expense of volume and projection) and Ivory replica the hardest. But he's always experimenting with new materials so they change. Best to ask him, email or via FB, he answers quickly. Then there's technique of course. Roughly speaking the more angle, the softer the tone.

Bones

Yes as Scoredog says, if you use the rounded edge it will not be as bright. Also, I find the thinner picks a lot brighter and clickier but I'm not that picky (hehe) so never made much of a study about it. So maybe you should try something a little thicker. I think a lot of it is just finding something and sticking with it for a while since a lot of it for me is just what I am used to using at the time. Lately I like the Primetone 2.5. They sound good and are cheap so you aren't too bummed if you lose one or two.

pdg

I would try the 1.5 mm Dunlop Primetone Semi-Round picks, in the form with "Grip."

They have three usable tips -- one is too rounded and mellow in my opinion (but others like it), and the other two are slightly less round and have better feel and control, in my opinion, and with those two tips you can go from too mellow to bright enough, by altering pick angle.

They're sometimes in the stores, but make sure they're the 1.5 mm thickness (and hopefully not the smooth variety, though those are also good).

stuology

I second the vote for the big city. @Jazzaferri left his at my place a few years ago and its gradually become my main pick. A warm tone, no clicking, very accurate at speed. I put on a gig with Stochelo last year, he asked me to get his guitar from the stage and I noticed he had a big city pick then - if it's good enough for Stochelo ....

Buco

Whatever happened to you @Jazzaferri ? We miss you...

Scoredog

I miss him too, he had some good tips and insights, i hope I did not help push him away. Someone wanted to know how to compose GJ tunes and he suggested a Walter Piston book which is clearly not the way to go and I said so in no uncertain terms, have not seen him since. Probably a coincidence.