Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

[VergDan]

The chirping I'm referring to comes from the picking hand, especially when you pick fast using a thick pick made from hard and stiff material, that high pitch noise resulting from the pick hitting the string near the bridge(basically where you place your picking hand).
This noise had reduced me to using thin soft picks. I developed my picking technique through watching Paul Gilbert and Buckethead so I can get use to thin picks. I even used 0.56 sharp ultem picks for shredding at one time.
But recently I really miss the feel and the tone of thick stiff picks. For example, John Petrucci signature Jazz III and, especially Dunlop Jazztone 208 which I absolutely love the feel of it. But to me, they chirp so much.
I tried to get rid of the noise by changing my picking angle, position, pick lighter, using less tip etc. Now I'm just trying to live with it or even make myself like it, just like how I learned to like the scratchy noise that thin picks make which some people hate but Paul Gilbert loves, and now I can't live without that noise.
What are your thoughts on this?

[VinceT]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

Look up video of Matt Schofield on That Pedal Show - he demonstrates turning the pick around so that you use the flat edge to pick. Mentions that SRV used to do it for his fast strum technique. It reduces the attack quite a bit - I use it that way regularly now as an alternate tone.


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[ICTGoober]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

The first guy I heard doing it was Billy Gibbons way back in the 70's. He said he stole it from some other player, so it's a technique with some history.

[Mincer]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

I don't like that sound. I don't really like any 'pick hitting the string sound' or 'pick snapping back into place' sound at all. I also work hard to eliminate the sound of the pick 'slicing' across the strings...that sawing sound. It works for some people but drives me crazy in my own playing.

[LLL]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

Depends on the context (and whether the gear you're playing through allows those freqs to be audible).

For playing and phrasing that is dynamic and "soulful" (bluesy, blues-rock, and the like), it works very well.

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

just like how I learned to like the scratchy noise that thin picks make which some people hate but Paul Gilbert loves, and now I can't live without that noise.
What are your thoughts on this?

Ah but he used to use super heavy sharp tipped picks, and still had that sound when he did. The brushing cello sound come more from the angle of the pick rather than the thickness . His switch to lighter picks was more due to liking the feel of them especially on the wound strings.

[Jacew]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

I don't like that sound. I don't really like any 'pick hitting the string sound' or 'pick snapping back into place' sound at all. I also work hard to eliminate the sound of the pick 'slicing' across the strings...that sawing sound. It works for some people but drives me crazy in my own playing.

I hate pick sounds too.

I've found celluloid picks to have much softer attack than nylons. They wear out fast though.

[Mincer]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

I use back delrin Jazz III shape. I also tend to use about 1.1mm, so it would be considered a heavy. It doesn't flex at all.

[Nickmag01]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

The chirping I'm referring to comes from the picking hand, especially when you pick fast using a thick pick made from hard and stiff material, that high pitch noise resulting from the pick hitting the string near the bridge(basically where you place your picking hand).
This noise had reduced me to using thin soft picks. I developed my picking technique through watching Paul Gilbert and Buckethead so I can get use to thin picks. I even used 0.56 sharp ultem picks for shredding at one time.
But recently I really miss the feel and the tone of thick stiff picks. For example, John Petrucci signature Jazz III and, especially Dunlop Jazztone 208 which I absolutely love the feel of it. But to me, they chirp so much.
I tried to get rid of the noise by changing my picking angle, position, pick lighter, using less tip etc. Now I'm just trying to live with it or even make myself like it, just like how I learned to like the scratchy noise that thin picks make which some people hate but Paul Gilbert loves, and now I can't live without that noise.
What are your thoughts on this?

I use the carbon fiber jazz iiis, they can chirp quite a lot when my gain is cranked. I always thought Jason Becker used the chirping sound in an awesome way, when a part would get emotional you could hear the pick chirping from how hard he would pluck the strings. Its a cool sound if used correct imo.

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[Joey Voltage]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

I personally like Ultex the best out of everything I've tried. i like the dunlop 1mm ultex sharps.

[Chistopher]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

Ya know what's worse than the pick sound? When studios edit fingers sliding up and down the frets after almost every single chord change. I understand how it adds a raw unprocessed feeling to acoustic songs where they shift a bar chord or what not, but when they do it after every single chord, it really starts to grind my goat.

[Metalman_666]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

I like a good pick chirp during a lead or a riff, but not always on rhythm playing.

To my ears the black stiffo Jazz IIIs have a lot less attack than even thinner (.88 or 1.0) delrin or tortex picks. So if I really want to chirp some notes in a solo especially, I'll reach for the thinner pick to get some extra emotion in there, like dragging the pick off the string to get a sharp attack on a big sustained note.

I was a Jazz III devotee for awhile, then Ultex, then the Delrin Brain picks, but I just ordered a pack of Gravity acrylics. At 1.5mm they are not thin, but the unpolished edges give a wonderful grind, with a bright attack that keeps the note a bit clearer. Even picked chords come out clearer to my ears under low or no gain to high gain. And heavy 7-string riffs, you can back off the gain on the amp, but still hit the strings hard enough to put some weight behind your picking hand to chirp the riff.

Bottom line, that noise is a great tool, but if it bothers you to some extent there are ways to dial it out of your tone. I feel like you would lose a lot of good harmonic content without that bright noise.

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[Van Noord]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

So little of my pick touches the string since I choke up on it significantly. There is always some portion of my thumb also contacting the string(s) too, a very slight, controlled muting that lessens unwanted "pick noise".

[Chickenwings]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

Thick picks are the biz. Just keep going. Your tone and your technique will improve.

[dave74]

Re: Pick chirping sound. Love it, hate it, tell me about it.

I use cfJazz3max. I hate pick-noise and always try to play without it.