A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

The discussion on string changing made me start thinking again about another problem I have playing... Picks tend to jump out of my dry skin fingers when I play hard, and certain songs just demand it.

I've tried a lot of things, but for me picks just slide around between my fingers when I'm digging in on loud songs. To hold onto them better, I've tried putting a staple through them and hole-punching them. Both those approaches seem less than awesome. I tried thumb picks and just don't like them. I've tried a few fancy picks, but prefer the sound and feel of my cheap mediums.

Anyone else address this in other ways?

Have you tried Gorilla Snot?

I have and every so often use Gorilla snot/pick honey and it works good but have found that like my fretting hand, trying too hard isn't my solution. Honestly I try and then forget but re-remembered last night, "O'Keeffe's Working Hands" about and hour before bed.
I also generally like textured picks or scoring lines into picks or drilling 2 or 3 (but not 1) holes into a pick but no matter what I occasionally chuch a pick. Stiff velcro on one or both sides of pick (but then they feel weird).
Moisturize and relax.

glasshand wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:51 pm Have you tried Gorilla Snot?

I have not. Would it get on other stuff over time?

ID10t wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:58 pm I have and every so often use Gorilla snot/pick honey and it works good but have found that like my fretting hand, trying too hard isn't my solution. Honestly I try and then forget but re-remembered last night, "O'Keeffe's Working Hands" about and hour before bed.
I also generally like textured picks or scoring lines into picks or drilling 2 or 3 (but not 1) holes into a pick but no matter what I occasionally chuch a pick. Stiff velcro on one or both sides of pick (but then they feel weird).
Moisturize and relax.

Interesting. Never thought of such a product, I might give O'Keeffe's a try.

Not joking. Spray some Windex in the palm of your picking hand, make a fist, open your hand and and let it dry, and see the result. I'm not going to elaborate on how I accidentally made this incredible discovery, but let's just say it involves laziness and cat poop.

BatUtilityBelt wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 5:26 pm

ID10t wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:58 pm I have and every so often use Gorilla snot/pick honey and it works good but have found that like my fretting hand, trying too hard isn't my solution. Honestly I try and then forget but re-remembered last night, "O'Keeffe's Working Hands" about and hour before bed.
I also generally like textured picks or scoring lines into picks or drilling 2 or 3 (but not 1) holes into a pick but no matter what I occasionally chuch a pick. Stiff velcro on one or both sides of pick (but then they feel weird).
Moisturize and relax.

Interesting. Never thought of such a product, I might give O'Keeffe's a try.

I like Gorilla Snot and if I played for 2 hours, I would use it more often. But I am a play 5-15 minutes and back into the kitchen and it does stick and a PITA to get off (Dawn works best or Dawn and Lava bar). Just a tiny bit and keep far away from the tip. I hope you try O'Keeffe's and not trying to sound like an infomercial. I used it while working on ambulance. Just a dime or nickle at most, takes 5-10 minutes to absorb AND if you swim 4 days a week, you will note a white residue, just so you are aware. It isn't cheap but once a day and in less than 3 days my hands are much better. Like taking care of a baseball glove, helps with my fret hand too.

I was going to suggest Super Glue (sounds a lot better than Gorilla Snot!)


But I don't really like straight picks.

Never had that problem when i was younger, but now i drop them all the time. I got some with ridges and dots and they seem a lot better.

toomanycats wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 6:18 pm Not joking. Spray some Windex in the palm of your picking hand, make a fist, open your hand and and let it dry, and see the result. I'm not going to elaborate on how I accidentally made this incredible discovery, but let's just say it involves laziness and cat poop.

Sure, I'll give that a shot too, but wouldn't that dry out your fingers more?

How do you get the Gorilla to stay still while you harvest the snot?

Monster Grips!
I use Dunlop Big Stubbies which have a concave depression on each side, so I have to use two Monster Grips for each one, but they really work well. If they start loosing their function, just wash them in soap and water and you're good to go.
Only thing I can't do with them is, if your pick is completely flat, you can stick it on your guitar when you switch to fingerpicking and grab it up quickly when needed. Good job I don't do much fingerpickin'
Eventually they might start to curl at the edge, but you get 16 to a pack ...

Oh, and first time I bought them I got a free t-shirt!

https://www.monstergrips.com/

I tried @toomanycats Windex trick this morning, and it did something to help, but on one insane song of mine, still did not do enough. It makes sense in that context, because the song is literally about losing control!

t100d wrote: ↑Fri Jul 16, 2021 12:20 am Monster Grips!
I use Dunlop Big Stubbies which have a concave depression on each side, so I have to use two Monster Grips for each one, but they really work well. If they start loosing their function, just wash them in soap and water and you're good to go.
Only thing I can't do with them is, if your pick is completely flat, you can stick it on your guitar when you switch to fingerpicking and grab it up quickly when needed. Good job I don't do much fingerpickin'
Eventually they might start to curl at the edge, but you get 16 to a pack ...

Oh, and first time I bought them I got a free t-shirt!

https://www.monstergrips.com/

The Monster Grips look like they'd do the trick without leaving any kind of residue anywhere else, so I just ordered a set of those. Thanks for that! I also added one of these to the order, because it also looks like it might do the job:
https://www.amazon.com/Fender-Musical-I ... B00JER27MO
I had even been thinking before if I had to make something to address the problem, it would look like that.

I used to use some picks with a little circle of cork glued to them on one side.
Then I switched to some that had the texture of a cats tongue.

Then I had a teacher convince me to use a certain thumb pick, it was kinda like a jazz xl/sharp shape, it definitely ended up helping my picking technique, I wouldn't mind picking one or two up again now that I think about it.

Anyway then I got turned onto the Dunlop Jazz and Jazz XL, I'm a huge fan of both.

Then I saw the ultex picks one day and tried em out, really liked the feel and they have a nice little "clink" to the sound, they don't wear down as much as tortex did for me and I don't have any issues with them sliding or slipping when I don't want them to.

These days, I think I only have ultex sharps and maybe a few Jazz XLs, I need to restock on picks and strings and pretty much all of my gear stuff again lol.


But I would say, I've tried a few of the V-Picks options and they're reeeeally easy to hold onto. They had a decent variety of shapes and styles when I tried them a few years ago, so I'm sure they've only got more offerings now.

A few years back, I even made myself about a dozen of these. They seemed to solve the grip issue pretty well, and give a pretty interesting sound. But they don't flex at all (of course), and can do some serious damage if they contact a top. The latter being the reason I stopped using them.

Wow. Ok, so the Mojogrips arrived today. I swapped the pick out in one of them so that I would be trying it out with a pick I otherwise know the exact feel of, and I played the songs that give me difficulty in maintaining my grip.

The good news: I never felt my grip slip, not even once. That was great. And I heard no difference imparted on my tone - also great.

The bad news: I think if this is the answer, it will take some adjustment, and here is why. Quite a few times, I felt the cuticle of my index finger rake the strings. Apparently I play those parts so close to the strings that the thickness of the Mojogrip (less than 1/16") moved my cuticle into the danger zone. If I had a hangnail, that would hurt. Or leaving my playing this way, I'd develop a strange callous. If the Mojogrip turns out to be my best answer, I will probably change the angle of attack on those parts over time and just not worry about it. It was just weird to figure out I am often that close to raking with the back of my finger without realizing it.

t100d wrote: ↑Fri Jul 16, 2021 12:20 am Monster Grips!
I use Dunlop Big Stubbies which have a concave depression on each side, so I have to use two Monster Grips for each one, but they really work well. If they start loosing their function, just wash them in soap and water and you're good to go.
Only thing I can't do with them is, if your pick is completely flat, you can stick it on your guitar when you switch to fingerpicking and grab it up quickly when needed. Good job I don't do much fingerpickin'
Eventually they might start to curl at the edge, but you get 16 to a pack ...

Oh, and first time I bought them I got a free t-shirt!

https://www.monstergrips.com/

No free T-shirt for me, but my Monster Grips arrived and I had a chance to try them out. They work well too (at least so far). Also, the trick sticking the pick on a pickguard to fingerpick is a great add-on. I do switch between finger picking and pick on a few songs, so that's pretty cool.

BatUtilityBelt wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:57 pm

t100d wrote: ↑Fri Jul 16, 2021 12:20 am Monster Grips!
I use Dunlop Big Stubbies which have a concave depression on each side, so I have to use two Monster Grips for each one, but they really work well. If they start loosing their function, just wash them in soap and water and you're good to go.
Only thing I can't do with them is, if your pick is completely flat, you can stick it on your guitar when you switch to fingerpicking and grab it up quickly when needed. Good job I don't do much fingerpickin'
Eventually they might start to curl at the edge, but you get 16 to a pack ...

Oh, and first time I bought them I got a free t-shirt!

https://www.monstergrips.com/

No free T-shirt for me, but my Monster Grips arrived and I had a chance to try them out. They work well too (at least so far). Also, the trick sticking the pick on a pickguard to fingerpick is a great add-on. I do switch between finger picking and pick on a few songs, so that's pretty cool.

Glad to be of service, mon capitaine!