Hi.
Just want to know, if anyone has any advice regarding how to prevent the pick slipping when playing fast accompaniment (full chords)?
Having mostly played electric guitar before, I’ve got no problems with fast picking when it comes to one or two strings, nor playing chords more slowly.
How do you make it work yourself?
Thanks for any help.
Go to a good guitar shop and check out lots of different picks. There are some textured ones designed to give you a better grip.
Hi.
I’ve tried more grip-friendly plectrums, and even though I get a slight improvement, it still slips.
The slipping is sideways, meaning the pick rotates. After one tune, I tend to find myself holding the pick upside down.
I play with thickness of about .7 mm.
I believe there are people playing standard picks, at that thickness without a problem. So my question is mainly: how do they do it?
I could start playing with .2 mm, and friction-enhanced texture, but I still would be interested in how other people do, and learn from that.
Gorilla Snot!
Seriously, Google it. Cheers,
Rob
I know about gorilla snot. 
I also know about drilling holes in the pick, and some other tricks and kinds of picks.
I could go for things like that, except for the fact that I would like to be able to play well in situations where I do not have access to gorilla snot or any special picks. Versatility.
I might rephrase my question a bit differently:
What picks are you people using for fast accompaniment? Is there anyone using standard picks about .5 to .8 mm, without pick slipping? Can you tell how you do it, in that case?
Thanks
Rhadge … Yes a 0.70 mm pick is too heavy. That’s a celluloid medium, or a Tortex yellow. Fine for single note playing (or electric guitar), but too stiff for Irish acoustic accompaniment. You want to approach the guitar percussively as well as chordally, and you need a pick with some “snap”.
A 0.20 mm is too thin, like paper. John Doyle uses a Dunlop nylon 0.60 (gray color), and so do I. For a lighter sound, Tortex red 0.50. For arpeggiated accompaniment or counter melodies, I switch to a Tortex orange 0.60 - which is heavier than the nylon Dunlop of the same gauge. Or use any similar “medium” pick.
With a heavy pick, you have to grip it very loosely or near the top to get “snap”. And with a loose grip, the pick will rotate. With a lighter pick, you can grip more firmly and allow the pick to bend. Gorilla Snot is fine (and a bit messy), but I’ve never found it to be necessary with the picks I use, even when I play vigorously.
Of course, you can also control the effective thickness of a pick by “choking up” - holding it near the tip - for more stiffness, or holding it near the top for more flex. The Dava pick is designed specifically for this technique, but you can get the same effect with a normal pick and some experimentation.
Hope that helps!
Also … Remember that for Irish accompaniment, you seldom strum full chords across all 6 strings. Most players I know use a “zone” approach - voicing chords across 3 or 4 strings at a time. The other strings you allow to ring as sympathetic strings (like Hardanger fiddle!), or use them for embellishing the voicing. When you’re not “slashing” the chords up and down across all the strings, but using smaller, controlled movements, it’s easier to keep good control of your pick.
Good luck!
Thanks MTGuru, great help as always. 
I thought John Doyle played 0.7 mm, but I must remember wrong from when I saw his tutorial DVD.
0.2 mm is like paper indeed, more of a “figure of speech” from my part.
I’ll see if I can get a hold of Dunlop 0.6 and Tortex 0.5 then. Not copying you, but it sounds like a good combination. I can play Dunlop .46 mm in an okay manner (but it sounds too light), so about 6.0 might be a good compromise.
Yeah, I tried the Dunlop 0.46, and it’s really thin like paper; you have almost no control.
Like everyone, I’m sure John Doyle uses different picks at different times. Also, remember that he has a very heavy bass string setup on some of his guitars, so he can use a heavier pick. But the last I heard from my friend Zac Leger, who plays with him sometimes, John does use the Dunlop 0.60. It gives a good combination of “snap” and control, and the smoother attack of the nylon material.
I use those .60’s sometimes, but what I really like is a .73 that’s been well broken in. That’s a problem, because I have to suffer to get one into that condition. Once it’s there, though, I hang onto it for dear life. I remember pulling whole seasons in Ireland on the same couple of picks. That’s a lot of strumming! Alas, I also have mates who are real bums, cutpurses, and/or pick-snatching miscreants. One in particular is an unrepentant, serial pilferer of my pick-stash. Why do I tolerate these indignities?
Rob
Is that a Dunlop nylon 0.73? Yes, I can see that, it probably has similar flex to the Tortex 0.60. Have you tried pre-filing the edges to your typical wear pattern to shortcut the break-in time?
It’s a flex thing, not a profile thing. They start stiff and end up with a nice flex gradient towards the point. Laundering accelerates the softening, but produces a pick that’s uniformly looser, which I’m less fond of.
I’m actually more complex on this issue than I conveyed; I usually carry a new and an old example of .60, .73, and .88 in the Dunlop nylon series, plus some 1mm black ones if there’s going to be some extracurricular activity (swing guitar or mandolin, etc.). That plus two thumb-picks (D’Andrea, small black, o.o.p.) and a capo (Shubb) equals the usual contents of my left front pocket. Be prepared!
Rob
That looks soooo familiar, Rob. If you stick your hand in my pocket 
you’ll find a Dunlop Tortex red and orange, nylon .60, celluloid 1.00 heavy, white National thumbpick, and Shubb.
I’ve recently taken to filing standard 351-style picks to jazz points for a crisper attack and faster string crossing. Also good when the strings are getting dull and I’m too lazy to change them.
I got rolled again last night for a .73, confound it. I’m going to start playing flamenco, I swear.
Rob
You need to start using these.
Dunno, MT, this malcontent might just go there with me.
Rob
p.s. Meanwhile, have you seen my axe?
If you’ve played lead, or single/double string-work on guitar without a problem holding onto a pick, then it’s really just a matter of getting used to fast chord work, not a matter of gorilla snot or fancy picks. I played guitar for years - lead electric, mostly, but also fast rhythms and acoustic, too - long before I ever considered ITM (I never transitioned to ITM guitar, as I fell in love with flute) - but I don’t remember the last time I dropped a pick. I have seen plenty of others drop picks, though, usually early on. I use any medium gauge hard plastic pick and toss them away as soon as they get chewed up enough to start catching strings. Just keep playing and don’t think about your pick - if it falls, grab another one. Eventually, you’ll stop dropping them.
Man, are those gorillas ever going to be mad at you!!!
Rob
No, that’s actually how I met the gorilla my dreams.
Just kidding. S’not.
As previously mentioned, don’t strum all 6 strings.