Ways To Modify Your Existing Guitar Picks To Achieve Different Playing Effects

Looking for new ways to change up your guitar pick playing style

? Below are some great ideas to add new features to your existing guitar picks.

Guitar picks are great for changing into other shapes. Get yourself a piece of medium sandpaper and a piece of fine sandpaper. If you want a brighter sound with greater attack, sharpen the tip point. Use your medium sandpaper to obtain the sharper point and bevel the edges. A 45 degree angle is usually what most guitar players like. Now sand that edge with the fine sandpaper for a smoother edge and for a faster release. This will give you a brighter treble in your playing and sound almost as though you are finger picking. For a jazz tone players usually prefer very thick with blunt tips. In this case round your tip more. This will give you a fatter jazz tone from your guitar.

Another neat trick, is to drill holes into your guitar picks. Experimenting with hole location until you find what works best for you. Start out with 4 small 4mm holes towards the center. You can use your standard home drill to do this, with a piece of wood underneath the guitar pick. Gluing the pick down with rubber cement will help keep the pick in place while drilling. Once you play you can see how the pick feels, then adjust with additional drill sizes and or hole locations. Doing this will help you get a better grip onto your pick, if needed.

It is hard these days to find very thick celluloid picks like the old thick tortoiseshell picks, so try this. You will need some acetone, a steel clamp, and a few celluloid guitar picks of the same shape. It is best to get the thickest celluloid picks you can find. This is best accomplished with a pick larger in shape than the one you wish to end up with. So, start with a Rounded Triangle picks, if you want to end up with a Standard pick, and start with a Standard picks if you want to end up with a Small Teardrop pick. Place all 3 or 4 celluloid picks into a small paper cup filled with the acetone. You should be wearing gloves while doing this. The acetone will begin to attack and soften the surface of the guitar picks. After a minute or so, remove the picks with gloves on, and align them all together, placing them between the clamp, and apply pressure. This, if done correctly will fuse the celluloid picks together. Let the picks dry in the clamp overnight. Now you can trace a smaller shape of the pick you want and sand it down with a belt sander or by hand. Again try to bevel the edges to about a 45 degree angle. You should end up with a nice thick 2 - 3 mm pick, similar to the coveted tortoiseshell picks of the past. Before doing this task realize care needs to be taken as both acetone and celluloid are extremely flammable.

by: Alexis McGrade

POST COMMENT

Spider-man The Musical Tickets - Prepares For Official Premiere In December Top Five Tips To Break Into The Spotlight Of The Music Industry As A Start-up Band Buying Your First Guitar learning to play the piano Browse The Internet And Secure Affordable Milwaukee, Wisconsin Vacations To Go To The The Music Fest Zager Zad 50ce Guitar Review By Rick Clanton How Meditation And Music Helps In Deepening Kundalini Yoga Practice Taught Youself To Play Easy Guitar Songs Learning to Speak French with Music Nokia C6 Improves On The Successful 5800 Xpress Music Rock Selections Released Sony Ericsson W380 Music Phone Look for an older experienced teacher - Oakville Guitar Lesson - Rick Washbrook Guitar Studio Go Online To Secure Your Family Milwaukee, Ws Vacations To Take Part In The Music Festivals And Oth