Picks (or plectrum) - hard or soft?

My take on the matter is that it's all about personal preference. I myself prefer a thick pick.

Hello Stu,

For my acoustic guitar I very rarely use a pick as you can get so many variations of sound with your fingers depending on whether you use flesh or nail, a single finger or several. You can also change from fingerpicking to strumming and back easily.

For my electric I always use a pick and I tend to a harder one for rocking and a softer one for gentler numbers but as Patrickjacques said it really is down to personal choice.

Roger

I usually use a hard pick, but I've got a very thin one (.38mm) that I sometimes use when I'm playing a song that's faster than my meagre strumming skills would usually allow.  The flex of the pick makes up for my ham-fistedness.

I've just started playing and found thin(0.50mm) nylon picks great for strumming but my son uses around 1mm and can't use thinnner ones .Again try  a few different types

I like the Tortex thin's--they're only .5, but they don't feel like paper like the fender .5's...you don't get the noise or breakage out of them...get more sound than other thins.

I started out using a Dunlop .46 & .77 nylon pick and then discovered the Dunlop Jazz-3 pick. That pick is ultra accurate but it's very very hard. When you are strumming, it's not the best pick because when you hold it loose to strum it has a tendency to get caught up on the strings and moved around in your fingers. With the bigger and more flexible picks you can go from accurate picking to strumming by just changing your grip on the pick and letting more of it stickout from between your fingers.

So now I'm just sticking to the bigger, more flexible picks until I know the fretboard better and can use the Jazz-3 to it's full ability.

Dm

Thanks for all the responses guys!

Just a sub-note really - I recently picked up a metal pick - can't remember the name of the company that makes them now, bit pricey at £1.50 each, but really really good!  Nice tone, easy to play with, easy to grip!  And it's thin, but hard!  Will post again when I get home and check out the name of the manufacturer....

As stated already...the pick is a personal preference.  I like to think of a pick as I think of the style of music I'm playing.  A hard pick for hard stuff and a soft pick for soft stuff.  I use a Gator Grip (.96mm), which is hard, for most of my ROCK playing on my electrics.  I like a Tortex .50 or .60 (flexible) for my acoustic stuff and also use an EB3 pik (about like a Tortex .50mm).  The lower the number, the more flexible it is.  A .96mm is stiff.  A .50mm is nice and flexible.  You can find your favorite at your local shop.  Thing is too....picks are fairly cheap, so you can buy several different kinds and find the one you like best.  Rock on!

Gibson Les Paul Studio (customized) * Epiphone Zakk Wylde Custom Les Paul "Camo" * Breedlove 6-string acoustic * Takamine 12-string acoustic/electric * Line 6 Spider III 212 150 * Line 6 FBV Shortboard * New tight skin-toned colored Spandex and matching thong *

hmmm.... well i think its really all in personal preference. When i play an acoustic i like a softER (not too soft) pick cuz of the neat little chicka chicka sound it makes, then if i'm playing lead or an electric i like a tougher one. hitting single strings is easier with a thinner pick, but then its hard to get a lot of sound out of it...

All You Need is Love

I read wrong, DICK in stead of PICK, but it's in fact a word that looks funny if you use it here.
This question, about the pick or plectrum: I prefer more soft picks, but than again not too soft. I use a lot of "dunlops", who are the best for me, to play. You have a very light gray plectrum, but that one is really soft, in fact too soft.
You can compare the pick I use with the structure and flexibilty of a credit card. I even, made 2 picks out of an old credit- or bankcard. They are hard, but absolutely not too hard, and at the same time they are soft, but again not too soft.
I think that the original, and also the first picks were made of the shell of a turtle.
You will also find guitar players using a coin to play. I tried this once, but the sound you get is TOO METALLIC.