Best guitar picks: recommended plectrums to upgrade your playing

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Various guitar picks on Blackstar amplifier

(Image credit: Future)

1. Product guide
2. Buying advice
3. How we choose

Not many guitarists pay attention to their pick, with most opting to go with whichever looks the coolest or something a friend recommended. The fact is, this small piece of plastic has a huge effect on your playing technique, and your tone itself, which is why we’ve put together this guide of the best guitar picks available today.

One pick won’t do it all, so it’s always good to have a multitude on hand for differing styles. Harder picks are great for when you want to get heavy or play fast, whereas a softer pick can be better for softer styles where you want more nuance in your playing.

Even this isn’t a hard and fast rule though, shred legend Paul Gilbert manages to play both heavy and fast with a comparatively thin pick, so it’s important to try different styles and see what feels best for you.

A change of plectrum can completely open up a new world of playing, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced guitarist. So if you want to learn more about the gauges and materials available, then read up on our expert advice at the bottom of this article. If you just want to see the latest and greatest in the world of guitar picks, then keep scrolling.

Jonathan Horsley
Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to publications including Guitar World, MusicRadar and Total Guitar. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.

Best guitar picks: Product guide

Best guitar picks: Buying advice

Hand holding a guitar pick

(Image credit: Future)

How to choose the best guitar picks for you

You can trust Guitar World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing guitar products so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

A guitar pick is as personal to each player as a guitar amp, pedals, and your guitar itself. This means to find the best pick for your personal taste, you’re going to have to play a few. Thankfully the majority of guitar picks are inexpensive, so it’s pretty easy to try a few different types until you settle on your perfect match 

Why are guitar picks different thicknesses?

The thickness of your pick determines how it will react in your hand, and also plays a part in how your instrument will sound too. Generally speaking, a thinner pick will have a brighter sound with a less precise attack, making them great for strummed chords on your acoustic guitar and less so for fast picking.

Thicker picks tend to be better for players wanting to build up speed, with their stiffness meaning less work for your picking hand when playing licks or riffs. This stiffness can make them feel cumbersome when strumming chords, as you’ll really feel each of your guitar strings when you strum. Tonally they offer a fuller, warmer tone thanks to the density of the material, and often come with beveled edges to minimize pick-to-string contact.

Your perfect match will be something that doesn’t make your picking hand work too hard, forcing you to grip your pick tighter. Ideally, you’ll want your picking hand to be as relaxed as possible, giving you a better picking technique and preventing you from tiring out too soon. Whether this is a thicker or thinner pick is all in your personal playing style.

Guitar pick lying on an acoustic guitar

(Image credit: Future)

What are guitar picks made from?

Picks have been made from all sorts of materials in the past, including bone, steel, tortoiseshell, wood, and abalone shell. You can also get steel picks but the majority nowadays are made from synthetics like celluloid, acrylic, Delrin, Ultex, or nylon. 

The material certainly affects the way the pick feels in your hand, and has a small impact on the sound, but we wouldn’t fret too much about the tonal impact of the material itself. 

Do guitar picks wear out?

We’ve yet to come across a guitar pick that hasn’t worn out eventually. You put your picks through some pretty tough conditions when strumming hard or chugging riffs, and the repetitive contact of any material on steel strings eventually wears through, no matter how tough it claims to be.

Modern materials tend to be a lot more durable, with Delrin, Ultex, and Nylon offering an excellent lifespan, even if you’re gigging every night. Celluloid on the other hand does its utmost to imitate tortoiseshell, so will wear out relatively quickly, and quicker still if you play an aggressive style of music.

What guitar pick shapes are available?

The shape of a guitar pick is another huge aspect to consider. It will affect your grip and the contact the pick makes with the strings, with sharper, beveled points catering to shredding styles and rounded points increasing the amount of contact you make with the string. Many find smaller shapes can help with picking efficiency, whereas some tend to find their fingers unwittingly catching the strings when using these types. 

Find out more about how we make our recommendations, how we test each of the products in our buyer's guides, and our review policy.

How we choose the best guitar picks

Here at Guitar World, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything guitar related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our guides.

When choosing what we believe to be the best guitar picks available right now, we combine our hands-on experience, user reviews and testimonies and engage in lengthy discussions with our editorial colleagues to reach a consensus about the top products in any given category.

First and foremost, we are guitarists, and we want other players to find the right product for them. So we take into careful consideration everything from budget to durability and even how they feel to hold to come up with a list of what we can proudly say are the best guitar picks on the market right now.

Read more about our rating system, how we choose the gear we feature, and exactly how we test each product.  

Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to publications including Guitar World, MusicRadar and Total Guitar. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.

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