Finding the best guitar picks can be a challenge. Most advanced players have a pretty good feel for what they like between their fingers, but since every player is so different, it can be hard for a beginner to figure out exactly what is the best pick. The short answer is there is none, but every player can find a guitar pick that helps them continue to grow and exceed.
First a note about guitar picks. Guitar picks come in all different shapes, thicknesses, materials, and sizes. How do you know what’s right for you? You experiment. You can buy a variety of picks, steal them from your friends, or borrow your buddy’s guitar pick. Once you find something you like, it’s important to stick to that pick for a while – try to use that brand and style for a while to get the best feel of it. Picks are kind of like driving cars, every new car you drive takes you a few minutes to adjust to handling, brake and gas sensitivity, and steering. If you constantly switch guitar picks, you’ll never adjust and become aware of your pick’s limitations, and have an even harder time discovering the best guitar picks for you.
Best Guitar Picks for Beginners
As a general rule, one of the best guitar picks for beginners are tried and true Jim Dunlop Nylon Grey .73mm guitar picks. Why? For several reasons. Nylon is sort of an everlasting material. It tends to outlast other picks. It has has built in knurling in the grip area making it easy to hold onto your guitar pick. As for thickness, .73 is middle of the road med gauge, which is perfect for beginners who haven’t discovered their picking and playing style yet. The pick is forgiving, and easy to hold.
If you have a tendancy to drop guitar picks, the best guitar picks for you might be ones with holes or grip built into them. If you playing style leads you to start playing more pinch harmonics, you might decide the best guitar picks for you would be smaller, tear-dropped shaped picks. It’s all a matter of opinion as to what the best guitar picks really are, but it’s up to every guitarist to decide.
Best Guitar Picks for Advanced Players
For more advanced players, you’ll hopefully have discovered your style by now, and will have chosen a pick that reflects that. Usually, faster playing requires heavier gauge pick for accuracy, while a lot of acoustic players prefer medium gauge picks to get softer, and more subtle tones out of their acoustic guitars. Advanced players should also keep their eyes peeled for something a little better than what they have. In other words, by the time you discover the best guitar picks for you, your playing style has probably evolved, and so will your picking needs. As such, the hunt for the best guitar pick never ends.
