JoshHeartless

SurfBandBill
Oh man, Shaun, you're killing me! Those giant triangle guys are crazy. I couldn't play with one to save my life. How do you do it?!??!

all downstrumming. i find it difficult, too. i remember when we first started to play our instruments, i would try to get him to double strum and stuff and he never caught on, probable on of the reasons being those huge-ass picks. i started playing guitar a couple months before he started on bass, so i thought i was eons above his level, and i still am. now his downstrumming is a staple of our sound!

Yep, all downstrumming. I hit the strings hard and fast, so I need a huge pick so it won't fly out of my hand.

I am super sweet
www.myspace.com/thetremblors

I actually do have a pick that is regular size that is the same thickness, but I just can't keep a grip on it, and it has grip tape on it.

I am super sweet
www.myspace.com/thetremblors

Yeah, it's pretty weird. I hold my neck with a death grip, yet cannot hold onto a small pick. Thanks for the suggestion anyways.

I am super sweet
www.myspace.com/thetremblors

pfft, i could do that. my nickname(that i gave myself) is the <b>amazing</b> josh heartless, after all.

shaun cant double strum on a regular pick, so i can be on his back. well actually, he can, but its always fun to pick on him. haha...pick on him, we're talking about picks, its funny!!!

we've been playing together ever since we first picked up our intstruments. everything we know is built around each other's playing style. maybe i'd be better if he wasnt holding me back, har har har.

The Tremblors on Facebook!

The Tremblors on MySpace!

WR
you guys are _so _ imageimage

well all we do besides jam is sit and play video games, i guess thats comparable to watching music videos. we need lives...haha.

we always bicker too. shaun found out a little bit ago that when you touch someone while your holding your guitar you shock 'em, because your on different grounds and he's been using that to his advantage ever since. i kick him every time he shocks me, haha.

damn, this is getting off topic.

The Tremblors on Facebook!

The Tremblors on MySpace!

Speaking of RSI, after years of standard medium-gauge picks, I just recently had to make the switch to heavies due to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I never woulda guessed that there'd be that noticeable a difference in effort between the gauges, but sure enough, it's a LOT less wearing on the arm with the heavy picks. I miss that extra bit of snap from the mediums, but whatcha gonna do... It does make double-picking somewhat easier, too; my strings run 12-52 or 13-56, depending on the guitar, and those medium picks were kinda outgunned, I guess...

I trick I've just started doing has been to drill a smal hole through the center of the heavy picks. This was done mainly to make them easier to grip (RSI issues again), but also gives a slight bit of available flexibility if you need (variable by how much of the pick you "choke up" on), and best of all, it helps me tell 'em apart from alla the old medium picks I have floating around the joint. I made a crude little jig for drilling the holes about 20 picks at a time, and I'm telling ya, it was minimal effort that was vey well spent...

As far as brands go, I was using Musician's Friend generic celluloids, till I discovered Webstrings' even cheaper celluloid picks. It's still a bit of sticker shock for me, coming after ten years of buying picks 12-for-a-dollar at the tragically now-defunct Abney's Music Center...

Gibson heavy wedge. I find I get a firmer grasp on its wide surface area that allows me to tremolo pick with confidence.

I'm having a lot of breakage with my gels too. I do really like them though, so I buy a couple dozen at a time from Keary at

www.ballewsmusic.net

home of the internet's only surf guitarist specific music store page.

I use the purples.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

I used to use Jim Dunlop .88 (you know the normal grey ones) or thereabouts.

Last practice I showed up with Jim Dunlop 'Stubby' 2.0 mm pick, which is smaller in size than the old ones. It's a revelation:
- the smaller size seems to encourage better technique, because if you don't hold it right you drop it..
- the thickness of it means very little contact with the string is needed to get sound, meaning far smaller movements are needed.

As a result I think my playing has instantly got 50% faster and more accurate.. the biggest improvement in my playing for years for only 65p!

P2gee
I'm using that blue pick that comes in the Blue Stingrays CD.

nu-uh!...for reals?

that Blue Stingray's pick is super cool: all blue and super-heavy...

does it help you get "that surf tone" going?

what if you lose it?

-dp