free picks

A guitar pick is a type of plectrum designed for use on a guitar. Over time people have made picks of various materials, including plastic, rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, and stone. They most often take the shape of an acute isosceles triangle with the two equal corners very rounded and the third corner rounded to a lesser extent. This shape is, however, merely one of many used by manufacturers.
Pick shapes started with guitarists filing down bone, shell, wood, cuttlebone, metal, amber, stone or ivory to get the desired shape. Most of today's classic guitar pick shapes were created by the company that made the first plastic pick in 1922, D'Andrea Picks. The plastic pick was an idea that Luigi, and his young son Tony, Sr., had after purchasing a few sheets of the tortoise shell-like celluloid from a street vendor. It appeared very similar to the real tortoise shell picks the guitarists used in their Greenwich Village neighborhood.
Most users of picks are familiar with the most popular shape, the 351. The rounded triangle is the 346 and the small jazz pick, the 358. All these numbers represent the numbers the Luigi & Tony D'Andrea assigned to each of their new "creations" at the request of the guitarists they serviced. Soon after, they requested their names be imprinted on them. D'Andrea Picks was the first company to create custom pick imprinting. One of the first to make the player imprint popular was guitarist Nick Lucas in the 1930s.
Many picks have some form of imprint on them from simple manufacturer logos to completely customized artist picks bearing the imprinted signature or bandlogo of the musician. Probably the most famous and easily recognizable name on a pick is the logo of Fender Guitars. One of the early "mass distributors" of customized guitar picks was Rick Nielsen of the rock band Cheap Trick. Rick was known to toss out hundreds of customized picks over the course of a single concert. These artist picks have become more popular over the last few decades to the point it's somewhat rare to find a famous artist who doesn't use a custom pick. As the technology for printing improved over the years, so did the variety and quality of the imprints. What began as simple block lettering has evolved into multi-color and highly-detailed graphics. Steve Clayton was the first pick manufacture to create multi-colored imprinting for guitar picks. Shortly thereafter, the Clayton facility started offering multi-colored picks over the Internet. With such a wide variety available, people began collecting guitar picks as a full-fledged hobby. There is even a global network for collectors to trade their picks called PickNET that sprang up in 1994. Custom picks are available at concerts as the musicians frequently toss used picks out to the audience. Some artists even sell their picks through their websites or fanclubs.
Guitar picks come in varying thicknesses to accommodate the different playing styles and kinds of strings. Thinner plectra are more flexible and tend to offer a wider range of sounds, from soft to loud, and produce a "click" that emphasizes the attack of the picking. However, some argue that heavier picks produce a brighter tone.
In rock and heavy metal, while playing electric guitar with hi-gain amplification or distortion, it is generally assumed that thinner picks produce muddier, heavier, less controllable sound and thicker picks produce more delicate, more controlled and well-shaped tone. Thinner picks also tend to rip or tear more often if used too forcefully, whereas a thicker one is more likely to wear down over time. Thicker picks are generally used in more discrete genres, such as heavy metal or power metal. However, there are many exceptions to these stereotypes, especially as there is an element of guitarist preference involved in selecting pick thickness.
Many death metal musicians swear by picks thicker than 1.5mm, because it allows more control over heavy gauge strings. Thinner picks tend to give less attack and do not give as much control when doing fast tremolo picking. Also, they tend to wear much faster when used with heavier gauge strings.
Jazz guitar players tend to use quite heavy picks, as they also tend to favor heavy gauge flat-wound strings. Bass players tend to prefer thick picks because their strings are far thicker than those of guitarists.
Most manufacturers (D'Andrea Picks, Jim Dunlop, Alice, Teckpick, Dava Control) print down the thickness in millimeters or thousandths of an inch right on the pick. Some other brands (Gibson, Fender, Peavey, Ibanez) occasionally use a somewhat cryptic system of letters or text designations to mark the thickness. Approximate guidelines to thickness ranges are presented in the following table:
Most common picks are made out of various types of plastic. Most popular plastics include:
Celluloid. Historically, this was the first plastic ever used to produce picks, and it is still of some use today, especially for guitarists aiming for vintage tone. Occasionally, guitarists who smoke have accidentally discovered the extremely flammable nature of this material. Nylon. Popular material, has a smooth and slick surface, so most manufacturers add a high-friction coating to nylon picks to make them easier to grip. Nylon is flexible and can be produced in very thin sheets. Most thin and extra-thin picks are made out of nylon. However, nylon loses its flexibility after 1-2 months of extensive use, becomes fragile and breaks, so guitarists that use thin nylon picks should have several spare picks just in case. Tortex / Delrex. By Jim Dunlop and D'Andrea Picks respectively. Brand names for DuPont Delrin which is specially treated to have a matte, opaque surface, surprisingly easy to grip even with sweaty fingers. Acetal. Acetal is a class of plastics, which is divided into two groups. The copolymer group, was first introduced by McAndrew Hoechst Celanese Corporation in 1960. Clayton uses this branch for their line of Acetal picks. DuPont's (Wilmington, DE) Delrin™ developed and patented acetal homopolymer. Delrin™ is a Dupont trade mark/name. Dupont homopolymer acetal, is slightly harder, and stiffer than the copolymer branch. Ultem. This space age plastic has the highest stiffness of all plastic picks. Produces a brighter tone. Introduced by Steve Clayton, the material is additionally popular among mandolin players. Lexan. Glossy, glass-like, very hard surface, though it wears out relatively fast. Barely bends at all and it's commonly used only for thick and extra-thick picks (> 1 mm). Usually has a high-friction grip coating. Best known example of Lexan picks are Jim Dunlop Stubby series. Modern plastics can be ranged this way from the easiest to bend to the hardest: Nylon, Acetal, Delrin (Tortex/Delrex), Lexan, Ultem. This means that the same medium (for example, 0.70–0.80 mm) pick would be fairly flexible if made out of nylon and very solid if made out of Ultem.
Picks made out of steel will produce a much brighter sound than plastic ones. They do however wear the strings quickly and can easily damage the finish on the guitar if used for strumming, especially on acoustic guitars. Brian May of Queen uses picks which replicate his original choice — a silver sixpence coin.[1] Some of them are produced by The Royal Mint of England and are considered to be rare and precious among collectors. Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top uses a regular Mexican peso,[2][3] usually filed down to more usual pick shape, resembling 351.
Agate. These gemstone guitar picks range in thickness from 1mm (very rare) up to 5mm, and they don't flex at all. Stone is a surprisingly versatile material because no mold or press is needed allowing a single pick to be crafted to the desired specifications. Though they take some getting used to, they offer the player a pick that is harder than metal (guitar strings) and can therefore resonate the strings more completely. Stone picks are (usually) polished smooth and some even come with grip features. Lignum vitae is a rare hardwood with unique properties. It's very hard (4500 lbf[1], according to Janka Wood Hardness Rating) and its cellular structure is saturated with its own natural oil, giving a pick a unique feel and sound. Such picks are usually about 2-3 mm thick. Some picks have small protrusions to make them easier to keep hold if the fingers start to sweat (very common on stage due to the hot lights). Some picks (as illustrated) will have a high-friction coating to help the player hold on to them. The small perforations in the stainless steel pick serve the same function. Many players will often have spare picks attached to a microphone stand or slotted in the guitar's pickguard.
The equilateral pick can be easier for beginners to hold and use since each corner is a playing edge.
The shark's fin pick can be used in two ways - normally employing the blunt end or the small perturbations can be raked across the strings producing a much fuller chord or used to employ a "pick scrape" down the strings producing a very harsh, scratching noise. The Tenacious D pick, developed by Steve Clayton, achieves the same effect, and is associated with the movie "The Pick Of Destiny".
The sharp edged pick is used to create an easier motion of picking across the strings.
Bass players who use a pick normally use much heavier picks than guitar players. Some bass players find that coins make excellent picks, though some prefer slightly thinner picks to increase speed and endurance.