Esotropiart

Up until Wednesday, over a year after starting to play guitar, I had never earned my Broken Guitar String Badge [of Courage]. Granted, I don't play every single day, nor do I hammer on my guitar. I think I pick relatively gently. In fact, I don't even use a pick at all. I never liked the feel of a pick in my hand.

Interestingly enough, the break coincided with my discovery of a new type of pick. In reality it's not a pick at all, but rather a creative implement. Just out of curiosity, I have several times tried small pieces of plastic that are not "ordained" as picks just to see if they work just as well. For example, the other day I was strumming with a strip of old credit card. It worked alright. My new discovery is a CD spindle washer. It is one of those translucent plastic rings that often tops a cylinder of 50 or 100 blank CDs/DVDs as bought at a retail store.

One of the main reasons I don't like standard guitar picks is their cumbersome shape. Their triangular configuration dictates being held at a specific angle - so the point of the triangle is toward the strings. Since everyone instructs not to hold too tight to the pick, it naturally starts rotating in one's fingers - ANNOYING! I also don't like how the pick can catch strings very roughly if not held at the correct angle when striking. In addition, I don't like the slapping sound the pick makes as it strikes each string. Nor do I like the fact that it puts your hand a bit farther away from the strings, making it harder to create rhythms by partially muting the strings with the side of the thumb or hand. So there are many reasons I don't like picks. I realize all these annoyances can be mostly overcome by diligent practice. However, I don't see any particular reason to try to overcome what I see as an annoying and cumbersome implement. Especially since I like the sound and feel of strumming with my fingers. Maybe there's not as much "volume", "brightness" or "clarity" to the sound with fingers, but I find it easier to create a variety of sound, even if it is slightly muted.

My great discovery - the CD Ring Guitar Pick

That said, this CD ring pick is by far the best pick I've found so far, and I'm inclined to use it. It's shape overcomes a couple of the annoyances of a traditional pick. It doesn't matter at all if it rotates in between the fingers because it is round (the same from any angle). The large hole in the center makes it easy to grip several different ways. It can be gripped by the far side of the ring so much of it strikes the strings, or held so just a small bit of the plastic edge is exposed beyond the hand. When held close like this, it more closely resembles the motion of strumming with the fingers and allows easy motion to string muting and other hand striking because the hand is much closer to the strings. It's circular perimeter also makes it less likely to grab a string with too much force. Nevertheless, the CD ring pick certainly has a different sound than a standard guitar pick or fingers. My ears forgive whatever difference, as I don't know if it is a "better" or "worse" sound. Probably accomplished guitarists wouldn't like the sound, but I don't care much. I see it as simply different, not so much qualitative.

A grip that allows the hand to be close to the strings

The Wednesday break occurred on the first string, near the third fret. When I looked at the string closely, I could see it was quite worn at that spot. Probably due to my playing a lot of G and D majors (I keep to the simple stuff). I decided to replace all the strings in what was also my first guitar stringing experience. I still had the pack of strings that came with my guitar. The only hitch that accompanied my first stringing was losing the bridge. The small white plastic (bone?) piece simply fell out when I removed the old strings, and I only noticed the next day when I started re-stringing. It ended up in the bin of the paper shredder, blending in perfectly with the white strips of paper. Phew!

It is absolutely amazing how new strings can so drastically improve the sound of a guitar. It had been so long since I had new strings that I had forgotten what my guitar sounded like when I first bought it. The new strings breathed new life into my playing. It's quite a nice realization. I'll likely not replace my strings extremely often, as I tend to use things as long as possible (still have my first digital camera!), but I will certainly remember the benefit of new strings.

I couldn't help but take a few pictures of my guitar.
Click the image to see them on Esoshow