FAQ Category : Choosing Your Picks

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Which picks work best?
If you're strumming your banjo, there are literally hundres of picks available from dozens of manufacturers. Standard thicknesses include light (thin), medium or heavy (thick). A heavy-gauge pick produces the loudest sound because it flexes least when brushed across strings.

Buddy Wachter, one of the foremost tenor and plectrum (4-string) banjo players in the world, prefers a medium-gauge pick.

For decades, bluegrass banjo players have relied on National or Jim Dunlop brands for fingerpicks and thumbpicks. Most use a plastic thumbpick, and metal fingerpicks for the index and middle fingers. Over time, though, the plastic becomes shorter with wear, so it must be replaced periodically. We prefer a metal thumbpick because it doesn't suffer significant wear, and maintains its length for a very long time.

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How do I know what size thumbpick to get? Small, medium, or large?

Use this as a rule-of-thumb (no pun intended) for men, and of course there are exceptions:

• 50 - 100 pounds = small thumbpick
  
• 100 - 150 pounds = medium thumbpick
  
• 150 - 200 pounds = large thumbpick
  

Rule-of-thumb for women's sizes:

• 50 - 110 pounds = small thumbpick
  
• 110 - 160 pounds = medium thumbpick
  
• 160 - 200 pounds = large thumbpick
  

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Whats the difference between picking and strumming?
Bluegrass 'pickers' use a thumbpick and two fingerpicks. Fingers are always in motion, picking individual notes. Strummers use a single heart-shaped guitar-style pick and grip it between the thumb and index finger. It can be used to pick individual strings or strummed across all strings.

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How do Bluegrass "Pickers" hold two fingerpicks, and a thumbpick while hitting different notes at the same time? How do they hold the picks?
Please view this photo in our online catalog:

Dunlop Pick Set - Photo

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What is the best (one finger pick only) to use for frailing when your natural nails are brittle?
Most frailers put the picks on backwards so that the pick goes over your fingernail and they usually use lighter gauge picks (for example .015).

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How do I know what size thumb pick & pick guage to choose for a beginner?
The majority of guys use a large thumbpick. If you like the pick a little tighter, you could use a medium. It really depends on the size of your hands. The pick guage is the thickness of the metal in the pick. We recommend using the .018 or the .020 guage picks. It really is about what is going to feel best to you.

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I''d like to learn the banjo but I don''t understand the importance of pick gauges and the thumbpick sizes. What would you recommend?
Dunlop makes a light gauge (.013) fingerpick which flexes slightly when striking the string. The .015 gauge flexes less, the .018 even less, and so on. The .025 gauge hardly flexes at all. For maximum volume, the .025 is best. For new players, we usually recommend medium gauge (.020).

Thumbpicks are usually available in small, medium and large sizes. Small is for players under 100 pounds. Medium is for players 100-150 pounds. Large is for players 150 and up. The plastic thumbpicks can be reshaped by dipping the curved end in medium-hot water. Just dip it in for a few seconds, then take it out and hold it in the position that fits your thumb best. You want it to be a little tight so it doesn't fly off when you play.

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