# Minimizing Pick scraping noise?



## Metalrulz (Jan 5, 2013)

Hey guys

When I alternate pick although im hitting every note clearly. I hear a sort of high pitched pick scraping noise. No matter what I try, New picks, New strings, Holding the pick parallel to the strings. I Just cannot seem to get rid of it. Im sure there is always going to be a bit a of pick noise, But any suggestions on how to minimize it?


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## Manurack (Jan 5, 2013)

Try the Dunlop Jazz III picks, they're smaller then regular sized picks, also playing _cleaner_ may help the problem you have.
Trust me bro, it will feel super weird to use small picks for the first time, but once you get used to them, you won't go back to regular sized picks!! John Pettrucci has signature Jazz IIIs too!


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## Overtone (Jan 5, 2013)

Pick angle and how you pick (hard, soft... through the string, across the string, INTO the string) are all key. With any pick you can change the sound with that element. The pick choice is still very important. Then there is your pickup and how it interacts with your amp's distortion, and how you've EQed the amp. Finally there is how the live or recorded mix sounds. Here's where it gets to be a burden... that pick sound is everywhere. Not just that, there are other sounds that suck that are all over the place on a guitar. Even a well set up guitar played well has some ugliness if you know what to listen for. So control your technique and maintain your get, but accept there will always be some pick noise. 

One song that always cracks me up is Losfer Words by Iron Maiden just for that little "plink" of their picking. Sounds kinda cool though!


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## ChronicConsumer (Jan 5, 2013)

Honestly, picking noise (in my experience) is determined mostly by technique and the material of the pick. Technique wise, the harder you pick, the louder the picking noise. However, assuming you've already tried to pick softer in order to reduce the noise , I think your problem might be the pick material. 
I use Dava jazz picks (really recommend them! used to play jazz III, went Dava, never went back, no regrets, ever!), and I've noticed that materials like nylon and delrin are simply much, much louder than polygel. This is why I almost exclusively use polygel-tipped picks: they barely 'stick to the string' when you pick, and create virtually no unwanted string noise.


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## mm66554 (Jan 5, 2013)

Does it happen when you pick slow or only at fast speeds? If it's not the angle that you're holding the pick it can still be the angle at which the pick hits the string - as you know there are different picking techniques; parallel picking, circle picking, "limp-wrist" picking etc - with each technique the pick will hit the string in a different way, so even if you visually make sure you're holding it parallel to the string, in practice this doesn't necessarily mean it is hitting the string in parallel. Also like the guy above said, if you pick lighter it will be less noticable.


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## skeels (Jan 5, 2013)

Less noise? 

Does not compute!





Seriously though, in all my years of playing live and recording I found that the best thing to do is to make any noises date do you create work for you rather than to try to avoid them.
Not a popular opinion perhaps but music and sounds are just a kind of noise. 
Right?


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## Experimorph (Jan 5, 2013)

From another point of view, kinda along the lines with skeel:

Devin Townsend on creating the 'heavy sound' - YouTube


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## All_¥our_Bass (Jan 5, 2013)

skeels said:


> Less noise?
> Does not compute!
> Seriously though, in all my years of playing live and recording I found that the best thing to do is to make any noises date do you create work for you rather than to try to avoid them.
> Not a popular opinion perhaps but music and sounds are just a kind of noise.
> Right?


He might not like the *particular timbre/tone color* of his pick attack.
Most metal guys like a good amount of attack for rhythm (except maybe for some types of doom/sludge/drone/ambient/etc.) but it's a certain _type_ of attack they want-not all pick attack sounds are the right ones.

Later Edit:
I watched the vid, I like the first way of picking WAY better, I'm no stranger to pick attack but I don't like the 'skrunch' as he calls it.
Also I play with higher gain and pick harder than he does-he doesn't seem to be digging in AT ALL.

I used Donlop tortex picks, blues an' purples an' greens.


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## smackhead999 (Jan 5, 2013)

I picked up a couple of the tortex sharps and they work really well for picking one string at a time... very precise. But I do not like them at all for chord stuff... I find it hard to play through several strings because it is so sharp and narrow at the end, it just gets hung up and makes me look retarded.

There are some nice picks called Picboy that I have used... they are small jazz style picks. But I have big fingers and they tend to get lost in my grip. I end up doing most of the work with my index finger.


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## All_¥our_Bass (Jan 5, 2013)

^I use the 'normal' ones, not the sharps for the same reasons as you, and I didn't even like them on single strings, *WAY* too bright/harsh' sounding-in a _BAD_ way.


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## Overtone (Jan 6, 2013)

Intune xjj might be for you. One of my faves! Very clean but a strong enough attack to get full saturation easily.


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## Metalrulz (Jan 6, 2013)

See I use dunlop tortex jazz 3s. I did notice a bit of sound difference when i made the switch from the regular jazz picks. I notice the sound when im playing slow,fast, whenever. It just really gets on my nerves sometimes, Im going to try playing softer see if that helps any.


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## Overtone (Jan 6, 2013)

Try the angle too! Usually if I pick with the angle facing up and towards the nut instead of down and towards the nut (so from where you're sitting, if you held your hand up in front it would look like this \ instead of this /) it'll clear a lot of the scratchy noise and you get a really pounding low focused tone. It feels awkward at first but my first teacher/mentor was an old school thrasher who can play really fast even this way. He was using regular nylon Dunlop 1.14s.


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## Maniacal (Jan 6, 2013)

I play with my pick totally flat to the string, gives me a very clear sound. 

Hard, pointy pick, flat position = smooth tone

I am not a fan of the Gilbert style scratching. Each to their own.


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## Aghasura (Jan 7, 2013)

Deja vu....I just posted something similar in another thread, but basically - for me - I change the angle depending on what I'm playing. Definitely gotta experiment. If you're not liking the tone, see if you create the same tone on another person's guitar/amp. See if another person creates the same noise you are on YOUR guitar/amp. I'd first want to figure out if it's my gear or my hands (where much of your tone comes from). That'll help you narrow it down.


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## peldikuneptun (Jan 7, 2013)

Experimorph said:


> From another point of view, kinda along the lines with skeel:
> 
> Devin Townsend on creating the 'heavy sound' - YouTube



you beat me to it, instant flashback of the vid once I saw the thread title. So not always a bad thing, this pick scraping noise, depending on the desired outcome.


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## Spooky_tom (Jan 8, 2013)

Try the jazzIII Ultex.


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