Choosing The Right Pick for Your Electric Guitar

Choosing The Right Pick for Your Electric Guitar

A good guitar pick makes a big impact on how your guitar sounds and the best way to play it. We’ve previously discussed how to choose an acoustic guitar pick, and while some of the same guidelines apply to electric guitar picks, the outcome is often different. The plectrum that works great for your acoustic may leave you all out of sorts on an electric axe. So let’s look deeper at choosing electric guitar picks so you can come up with the right plectrum for a lasting connection.

Electric Guitar Pick Size and Gauge

Like with acoustic guitar picks, you have thin, medium, heavy and extra-heavy picks for electric guitars. However, thin picks (0.4-0.6mm) are rare in the electric guitar world. This is partly because you are generally playing faster on an electric guitar and doing less strumming. The flex in a thin, flimsy pick makes it harder to keep up. The other reason is that the strings on an electric guitar are thinner; when you combine that with a thin pick, you must work harder to get a full tone.

Conversely, heavy (0.8-1.2mm) and extra-heavy picks (1.2-2mm) are more common for electric guitars. They allow for a harder attack when soloing and playing rock power chords, and they can offer a warm, mellow sound that suits jazz well. A medium pick (0.6-0.8mm) is a good starting point or “middle ground” if you’ll be playing a variety of musical styles and techniques. Choose a smaller pick if you play a lot of lead guitar and a larger pick for rhythm guitar.

Best Pick Material for Electric Guitar

Plastic celluloid and nylon guitar picks, which are known for their balanced sound and affordability, are a fine choice for most electric guitarists. If you play a lot of lead guitar, though, you should gravitate toward more rigid materials. Acetal, acrylic and ultem picks offer a brighter sound and give you more bite for everything from county solos to black metal riffs. Acrylic picks are also on the bright side but feel slicker. Polycarbonate makes a great electric jazz guitar pick because it is strong while giving you a warmer sound for sweeping solos.

Electric Guitar Pick Shapes

The four most common guitar pick shapes are the standard 351, the teardrop, the triangle and the jazz pick. We recommend a standard pick for all-around use, a teardrop or triangle pick for rhythm and a jazz pick for lead guitar and/or playing fast. A versatile guitarist might consider the shark fin guitar pick that has multiple edges for different techniques. You’ll also want to look at how sharp the striking point is. A sharp point gives you a brighter sound and stronger attack for lead guitar; a rounded point produces a warmer sound and a softer attack for rhythm.

Are you looking for a few new guitar picks to try? Strings and Beyond has hundreds of guitar picks in stock so you can discover one that feels great in your hand and on your strings.