Thin picks? Whaaaa?

Does anybody use thin picks? Why would you want to? A friend of mine uses the fender thin pick and I'm always telling her to use something thats at least 1mm or so. I took the thin pick and strummed a funk kind of groove on my acoustic to proove my point. "chuka-chika-chuka-chika" is all I heard...I couldnt hear any of the chords I was playing.
I use a Dunlop Stubby 3MM! What are these thin picks designed for? Try to shred on an electric with a thin pick? That would sound like when I put baseball cards in the spokes of my bicycle...

You can shred with thin picks.
I do it all the time.
Its not what pick you use, its your technique (or maybe attitude).

I find that thin picks are excellent for playing an acoustic. We're not all shredders you know.

Hang on a sec here...I'm not saying anything bad about anybody or their ancestors. I'm just wondering why would anyone be using a thin pick? Its a fact that the thickness of your pick will affect the tone and the attack of your sound. If you can shred using a thin pick I'll bet you would sound better(with whatever attitude you might be sporting at the time, by the way..geeez..)if you used something that was thicker.

I've been using Dunlop Tortex 0.5 mm (red) since they first hit the market. A thin pick gives me much better control over the sound, especially when I'm strumming chords. A guitar should be stroked for rhythm parts. Heavy picks tend to scrape. A thin pick gives me more subtle attack and release, the same way that a slightly soft-strung tennis racquet gives more control over the ball.

I hold my pick so that the edge of the pick touches the string first, sliding toward the tip. There is no clackclackclackclackclack from the pick lurching free of one string and crashing into the next one. After I've used a pick for a while, the edges are actually quite sharp from sliding past the strings.

Well, all I can tell you is what I've learned over the past 22 years I've been playing guitar..when you pick a string, something has to give a little - the string or the pick. Since the string is going to be vibrating anyway, it makes sense to me that its the string thats going to give. So I use a 3mm pick with 9 gauge strings. The pick is so thick that the entire perimiter of the pick is rounded to an edge (Plus the shape of it comes to a point like a small teardrop). When I hear anybody play with a really thin pick I can hear the "clack" from the pick coming through the amp.
They also seem to break more often....Thats just what I've experienced.
I tell all my students to start out with a pick around 1mm and experiment to find something they like and are comfy with. None have ever settled on a pick less than .96mm. And these arent new players, I've had some of my students close to 7 yrs now.

OK, I'll try not to be judgemental/arrogant, because really everything is a personal preference and thats fine. But...

I started by playing rhythm on an acoustic, and an older friend taught me a few chords to get started, and told me that be uses thin picks. On this recommendation, thats what I use, and can't really work with anything else. I hold it quite close to the pointy end, so in a way it ust acts to protect my fingers a bit, and give a more even sound on up and down strokes. It does make some noise, but then I play guitar in quite a percussive style, so this is OK with me.

I've been trying to find out (on some other forums) if a thicker pick is better fo playing lead/solos. I find them difficult to use - unwieldy - but thats mainly because I'm not used to them, whereas I've had years of experience to hone my attack technique with floppy picks

JE

Well I've been taking lessons for 9 years, and I
never play with a pick thicker than 0.67 mm.
Everyone likes different picks.
This is like the discussion "speed vs feeling"
You will never reach an outcome.
Nothing good can come of this.

Yeah - but lets argue it out anyway. Although there is simple no contest - Thin plectrums are better and those wo use them are better guitarists! End of story!

Hehe - joking, but seriously, I might dabble in the dark side and try jammin' with a 1mm pick for a bit see if I can get used to it.

See mc9mm, something good did come out of it - we have encouraged each other to try different equipment and techniques. Now I must sign off to try a similar technique in Northern Ireland/Afganistan/Israel.

G'nite
JE

I hold my pick with my thumb and two fingers, so I can control the stiffness of the pick by varying the pressure applied by my thumb. After 34 years, I'm not interested in trading that kind of versatility for a piece of boilerplate!

Well said.
I have never understood people who holds their
picks with the thumb and the index.
I hold my pick with every finger except the pinky.

So what it comes down to - You can use any thickness of pick to play any style of guitar. You just have to modify the way you hold the pick to accomodate the thickness. One way to use a thin pick is to hold it toward the bottom edge(which, as I see it, is simulating a thicker/stiffer pick). See-I too learned something from this. Unless I'm mistaken, thats what we are all here for....