I am finding I can pick quite fast with thinner picks these days.Has my control improved.?

KevS

I originally used Jazz III picks and found the sharpened tips and small size was holding me back after using them for let's see 1994 til 2021..So 27 years,I could try and explain why but each to their own,we are all different..

So I experimented and found I really liked both the sound and feel of Herco Flex 75,,Holy Grails..
Compared to designer picks the difference isn't much..

I also continued to explore other picks,especially Dunlop Tortex and Nylon..

When I Started the Blue Tortex 1 mm fely about the same flexibility as the Herco Flex 75,,which is actually around 1mm not 0.75 mm...

At that point Green Tortex 0.88 felt clumsy ,got caught in the strings and sounded raspy..

A while later I found this wasn't the case the case anymore..

I also notice the Rhythm guitar sounded more open and just better..

I then found I could pick just as fast with a Yellow 0.73 Tortex as the Herco which is good because that is a good Vocal Accompaniment size on an acoustic guitar for me..

Now I'm finding I can pick as fast and tidily with an orange Tortex...60 mm 
I'm even doing pretty well with a 60 mm nylon which is very flexible ..

Is this because my technique is getting better and I am not using force but technique to maneuver through the strings..

I used to find picking at speed pretty much impossible with a thinner pick..

Does being able to do this now have any advantages..?
Well apart from being able to use a thinner pick..

Winny_Pooh

This is just one opinionated bloke speaking...for single note lines there are no advantages. You have a less control as the front of the pick is lagging behind the base and the tone of thin picks is quite weak.

As for control....if you're practicing more and can play more precisely then that sounds good.

PAL

I find not using the point of a pick and instead using the rounder shoulders of the pick more precise and allows me to pick
  faster. I use standard Fender heavy shell picks.

KevS

PAL said:

I find not using the point of a pick and instead using the rounder shoulders of the pick more precise and allows me to pick
  faster. I use standard Fender heavy shell picks.

I've heard many people saying they liked this approach..It's definitely harder to miss the string that way..

PolarityMan

I find that the flex in the tip stops me going fast, partly because you have to pick further through the string before the note sounds meaning that the economy of movement is lost unless you basically shorten the amount you expose to the strings to a tiny  section which has its own problem.

Depends what you mean by fast though.

KevS

PolarityMan said:

I find that the flex in the tip stops me going fast, partly because you have to pick further through the string before the note sounds meaning that the economy of movement is lost unless you basically shorten the amount you expose to the strings to a tiny  section which has its own problem.

Depends what you mean by fast though.

I'm finding I am picking with more economy of movement and less clumsily..I found a thicker pick made me dig in harder than needed,this also limited movement a little at times..I didn't realise this until I started to experiment...I was muscling my way through the strings with my sledgehammer..Now this doesn't seem to be the case..How much a pick bends depends on how hard you use it....I found with a thicker pick when playing rhythm,to me things sounded deader with chords..Also fast is relative..If you strictly pick every note..Or if you play legato..I do a mix of the 2 and have worked out how to use pick direction to my advantage,a bit of maths,but that gets to the point that I want to make music..I want it to sound good and musical over purely technical..Being able to execute things physically is very handy though..I can still pick harder when I want to,but again I found a thicker pick limited your dynamics a bit more..How much the pick flexes doesn't just depend on the pick,but on the player too..The pick doesn't flex without the player using it..

OilCityPickups

Back in the 70s I used Herco Gold ... at the moment I'm using either a V-Picks Snake (4mm!) or A Chicken Picks 3mm I think.
My rhythm is okay with medium picks ... but fast lead leads 'big' big pointy pick, big frets and big codpiece (I might have lied about one of those). 

KevS

OilCityPickups said:

Back in the 70s I used Herco Gold ... at the moment I'm using either a V-Picks Snake (4mm!) or A Chicken Picks 3mm I think.
My rhythm is okay with medium picks ... but fast lead leads 'big' big pointy pick, big frets and big codpiece (I might have lied about one of those). 

I love Big Frets,again though,some people squeeze notes sharp on them..I think it is partly what you are used to,but big frets are great for legato..If I do too much legato with smaller frets,I get a sort of corn thing on the outer edge between pinkie pad and nail..It really effing hurts..

Big Codpieces can be stuffed with sports socks..

That Pick looks more like a Viking Axe Head..
Gold Hercos are a little bit too bendy for me,although the originals may have been..Stiffer/More Rigid..
............. Place Double Entendre here..

OilCityPickups

Perfect ... I think I have just invented the Pick dispensing Codpiece ... beats taping them to your mike stand ..

KevS

V Pick Trouser Master, Snake Dispenser with Theatrical Medieval Codling Protector..
That's more Metal than Manowar that..

OilCityPickups

How Metal? None more metal (Spinal tap reference there :-) )

guitarjack66

PAL said:

I find not using the point of a pick and instead using the rounder shoulders of the pick more precise and allows me to pick
  faster. I use standard Fender heavy shell picks.

Thats been my way of playing since I began. I liked the shape of the picking surface and the sound too. 

KevS

This may come across as deep and meaningless..lol...But Instead of you finding another way of doing things,another way can find you,,but it can be a more slow progression....Like me realising that a more rounded tip means it is more effective in not missing the string,this came to me slowly....A more instant version of this is,using a totally rounded contact point in the first place...The back corner.....Kind of like going past the straightjacket of you have to use somethip with a tip....This is a way the user found and took a decision to use. an alternate surface,,rather than a slow development...A more instant positive decision,that if there were rules,they were broken....

When you look at a sharp pointed narrow tipped plectrum..It can be very effective,but it is making you play a certain way,there is also less variation in how you can hold it for it to work properly./ no margin for error...There is no margin for error to find that a bigger tip has a wider contact surface.,,because there is none there.lol.. One instant solution is of course use the back edge..You have found another solution..Now we have came full circle..lol

I find meaning here..To many it would have been obvious in the first place..