Does someone play guitar here?

[Bond]

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume someone must play guitar here.

I'm looking to learn how to play the mandolin, but was wondering what size of pick I should get, or if it even matters?

[Fox 6]

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume someone must play guitar here.

I'm looking to learn how to play the mandolin, but was wondering what size of pick I should get, or if it even matters?

I think Bube plays the guitar.

[Angrist]

Yeah Bube plays it.

I play it a little bit. As in: trying to teach myself. I can do some basic stuff, but don't ask me anything about mandolins. :-o

[Jason1]

I can play a little but im pretty bad. I first picked it up about a year ago after my brother started taking lessons. He's shown me a few things, but otherwise im self taught. I have a Yamaha FG Acoustic that I use, and my brother has a Schecter that I also play quite a bit.

But as for the Mandolin, sorry I cant really help you there.

[thatmariolover]

I've been playing for ~7 years.

Bottom line for pick size (not thickness) is how comfortable you feel with it in your fingers. But if you're talking thickness, I'd start thin with something as delicate as a mandolin.

[Bond]

Sorry, I am talking about thickness (.50mm-1.14mm):

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dunlop-Tortex-Standard-Picks?sku=110040

So, you could go with the .50mm?

[thatmariolover]

I guess it's all to feel. How many picks have you held and pushed against something?

With a Mandolin you're going for a more gentle sound, which is easier to accomplish with a thinner pick (0.50mm). But a lot of mandolin players like medium picks because they feel like they're more in touch with what they're doing (more control). If you're going hardcore, I guess a lot of professional mandolin players swear by "real tortoise shell" picks.

[Bube]

Well, mariolover seems to have summed it up pretty well. I'd suggest a thinner one for starting out, because at first you may have trouble with the rigidness of thicker picks - it'll keep snagging the strings. When you get used to using a pick, I'd suggest moving on to a little thicker one. I found bliss in a mid-sized pick that came with my guitar strap.

Of course, this is all for guitar - but I guess the two instruments are similar..

[manasecret]

I give the opposite advice. I would start off with the thick picks. Thin picks are easier to play with, but it will be another tough learning curve to move up to thicker picks once you decide to do that. If you start with the thick picks, then you can very easily move down in thickness to your preference, and you will probably find that since you started with thick picks that you can pick much quicker with thin ones than if you had simply started thin.

I think it was the drummer from Nirvana who said he learned the drums with the big massive marching band drumsticks. As I remember, he said by the time he realized that drummers used the smaller sticks, he could already play great with the big ones and then found that he could play extremely fast with the smaller ones.

It's similar advice that I took here for Guitar Hero. I had never played until III, but I started the game on hard. Though it was tough at first, it was going to be tough anyway so I might as well get used to the harder difficulty in the process. Now I can move down in difficulty with no trouble, and without having to go through two extra learning curves starting with easy, going to medium, and then going to hard.

[Angrist]

I started out with a very thin pick, because it felt right. Now I'm leaning more towards a medium pick. My skills have increased, so it sounds better with a medium one.

Manasecret's advice could make sense, but I'm afraid it won't sound half as good as when you'd start with a thin pick.

[Swan]

And I play the bass!



*dom dom dom badom dom dom digadigadomdom*

[Bube]

I give the opposite advice. I would start off with the thick picks. Thin picks are easier to play with, but it will be another tough learning curve to move up to thicker picks once you decide to do that. If you start with the thick picks, then you can very easily move down in thickness to your preference, and you will probably find that since you started with thick picks that you can pick much quicker with thin ones than if you had simply started thin.

I think it was the drummer from Nirvana who said he learned the drums with the big massive marching band drumsticks. As I remember, he said by the time he realized that drummers used the smaller sticks, he could already play great with the big ones and then found that he could play extremely fast with the smaller ones.

It's similar advice that I took here for Guitar Hero. I had never played until III, but I started the game on hard. Though it was tough at first, it was going to be tough anyway so I might as well get used to the harder difficulty in the process. Now I can move down in difficulty with no trouble, and without having to go through two extra learning curves starting with easy, going to medium, and then going to hard.
That advice could be applied for everything - start out with the hard one, and you'll be able to manage everything.

However, I have found that sometimes that's not the best way. You can get put off when something gets too hard. And when you play an instrument, you sometimes want to have fun, to be able to play some familiar tunes. Starting out the hard way takes the fun out of it imo.

And tbh, I really don't think thicker picks are needed unless you're playing very advanced techniques.

[manasecret]

That advice could be applied for everything - start out with the hard one, and you'll be able to manage everything.

However, I have found that sometimes that's not the best way. You can get put off when something gets too hard. And when you play an instrument, you sometimes want to have fun, to be able to play some familiar tunes. Starting out the hard way takes the fun out of it imo.

And tbh, I really don't think thicker picks are needed unless you're playing very advanced techniques.

Good points. My good friend is leaps and bounds better than me and he started with and uses a much thinner pick.

Starting either way I think is legitimate. Depends on personal preference. I just wanted to give the other side of the coin.