How to Choose the Thickness of a Guitar Pick

Unless you are play primarily finger-style, the guitar pick you choose will have a great effect on your playing. Guitar picks are available in normally about four different sets of thicknesses: thin, medium, thick, and extra thick. The thickness of the pick each affect the sound of your playing, so you should think about the sound you want and try out many different picks. However, to make the trial of finding the perfect pick easier, I have made this article to help you narrow down your choices.

Thin Picks (Less than .60 mm thick)

Thin picks are popular among rhythm guitarists and acoustic guitarists because generally strumming the guitar is easier with a thin pick than with a thick pick. However, most people find playing lead guitar harder with a thin pick than with a thick pick because of the extra bend a thin pick has when picking. Since thin picks makes rhythm playing easier, thin picks are also good for beginning guitarists.

Thin picks generally give your playing a brighter, treble heavy sound than a thick pick. So, a thin pick is an effective way to get a bright sound on an acoustic guitar since you can't get use tone modifiers on an acoustic guitar like on an electric guitar. Of course, if you are finding your playing have too strong of a treble sound in it, you could try switching to a thicker pick.

Medium Picks (.60 mm to .80 mm thick)

Medium picks are a popular compromise between the easy strumming ability of thin picks and the easier ability to play lead guitar offered by thick picks. And, Medium picks can start functioning as thin bass guitar picks. Furthermore, if you started using thin picks as a beginner and want to try a thick pick, medium picks can act as a good pick for transitioning to a thicker pick.

Medium picks offer a sound between the treble-heavy sound of thin picks and the mid-heavy sound of thick picks.

Thick Picks (.80 mm to 1.20 mm thick)

The thickest picks normally offered by pick makers, thick picks are popular among shredders because they allow most people to more easily play single note lines. The trade off for the easier ability to play single note lines is that strumming becomes much harder with a thick pick. However, you still can strum with a thick pick. You just have be much more careful about accidentally digging-in with the pick while strumming. Also, because of their ability to be able to pick thick strings, thick picks are popular as bass guitar picks.

Thick picks have a mellow, mid-heavy sound making them very popular among jazz guitarists. So, if you want a mellow sound with your playing, choosing a thick pick is a good choice.

Extra Thick Picks (Greater than 1.20 mm thick)

Much rarer to find than the thick picks, extra thick picks are basically just more extreme version of the thick pick. So, if you love the feel of a thick pick, you should probably try to get an extra thick pick.

Like thick picks, extra thick picks have a mellow, mid-heavy sound. However, extra thick picks are still even mellower than thick picks, so they are worth looking into if thick picks are not mellow enough for you.

While the best way to find the best pick for you is try out as many as possible, I hope this guide will help give you a direction in which to start your pick hunt. Another thing to keep in mind is that thickness is not the only attribute that affect the sound of a pick. How sharp the tip of a pick and the material of the pick also affect the sound, so two picks of an identical thickness could still sound different. Nevertheless, generally, the statements in this article will hold true for most picks. Good luck with your hunt for the perfect pick.