Thickness
Guitar picks vary in thickness to accommodate 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, depending on material, heavier picks are also capable of producing a bright sound.
In rock and heavy metal, while playing electric guitar with hi-gain amplification or distortion, 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 less likely to wear down. 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 only use 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. Gypsy jazz guitarists favor very thick (up to 3.5mm) picks combined with light strings.Bass players tend to prefer thick picks because their strings are far thicker and farther apart than those of guitarists.
Most pick manufacturers print the thickness in millimeters or thousandths of an inch on the pick. Some other brands use a system of letters or text designations to indicate thickness. Approximate guidelines to thickness ranges are presented in the following table:
| Text description | Approximate thickness | Other possible marks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| mm | inch | ||
| Extra light/thin | ≤ 0.44 | ≤ 0.017 | "Ex Lite" or "Extra Light" |
| Light/thin | 0.45–0.69 | 0.018–0.027 | "T" or "Thin" / "L" or "Light" |
| Medium | 0.70–0.84 | 0.028–0.033 | "M" or "Medium" |
| Heavy/thick | 0.85–1.20 | 0.035–0.047 | "H" or "Heavy" |
| Extra heavy/thick | ≥ 1.50 | ≥ 0.060 | "XH" or "Extra Heavy" |
While most pick manufacturers adhere to the above thickness schedule, one company, Red Bear Trading Co. makes their picks a bit thicker. For instance, RBTCO's "light gauge" starts at 1mm and extends up to 1.1mm or so.
Read more about this topic: Guitar Pick
Famous quotes containing the word thickness:
“For his teeth seem for laughing round an apple.
There lurk no claws behind his fingers supple;
And God will grow no talons at his heels,
Nor antlers through the thickness of his curls.”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)