Various guitar picks. From top going clockwise: A normal plastic pick; An imitation tortoise-shell pick; A plastic pick with high friction coating (black areas); A stainless steel pick; An equal-sided pick; and a "shark's fin" pick

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Picks

A guitar pick is a type of plectrum designed for use on a guitar. Over time people have made picks of various materials, including nylon, plastic, rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, and stone. more...

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The most often take the shape of an acute isosceles triangle with the two equal corners very rounded and the third corner rounded to a lesser extent. This shape is, however, merely one of many used by manufacturers.

Thickness

Guitar picks come in varying thicknesses to accommodate the different playing styles and kinds of strings. Thinner plectra are more flexible and tend to offer a wider range of sounds, from soft to loud, and produce a "click" that emphasizes the attack of the picking. However, some argue that heavier picks produce a brighter tone.

In rock and metal music, while playing electric guitar with hi-gain amplification or distortion, it is generally assumed that thinner picks produce muddier, heavier, less controllable sound and thicker picks produce more delicate, more controlled and well-shaped tone. Thus, thinner picks are usually used in extreme genres, such as death metal, black metal or punk rock. Thinner picks also tend to rip or tear more often if used too forcefully, whereas a thicker one is more likely to wear down over time. Thicker picks are generally used in more discreet genres, such as heavy metal or power metal. However, there are many exceptions to these stereotypes.

Jazz guitar players tend to use quite heavy picks, as they also tend to favor heavy gauge flat-wound strings.

Whether there is truth in either judgement is up to the individual's opinion, and the choice is entirely a matter of personal preference.

Most manufacturers (Jim Dunlop, Alice, Teckpick) print down the thickness in mm or thousands right on the pick. Some other brands (Gibson, Fender, Peavey, Ibanez) occasionally use a somewhat cryptic system of letters or text designations to mark the thickness. Approximate guidelines to thickness ranges are presented in the following table:

Materials

Most common picks are made out of various types of plastic. Most popular plastics include:

Celluloid. Historically, this was the first plastic ever used to produce picks, and it is still of some use today, especially for guitarists that want to get some vintage feel. Ocassionally, guitarists who smoke have accidently discovered the extremely flammable nature of this material.

Nylon. Popular material, has a smooth and slick surface, so most manufacturers add a high-friction coating to nylon picks to make them easier to grip. Nylon is flexible and can be produced in very thin sheets. Most thin and extra-thin picks are made out of nylon. However, nylon loses its flexibility after 1-2 months of extensive use, becomes fragile and breaks, so guitarists that use thin nylon picks should have several spare picks just in case.

Tortex / Delrex. Special plastic, designed to simulate tortoiseshell picks. Has a smooth, silky, opaque surface, surprisingly easy to grip even with sweaty fingers. Due to nature of material, there are usually no thin grade picks made out of Tortex.

Delrin. Has a glossy, textured surface, easy to grip by itself, no high-friction coating applied usually. Delrin is pretty cheap to produce and pretty durable material, however, specific textured feel doesn't appeal all the guitarists.

Lexan. Glossy, glass-like, very hard surface, though it wears out relatively fast. Barely bends at all and it's commonly used only for thick and extra-thick picks (> 1 mm). Usually has a high-friction grip coating. Best known example of Lexan picks are Jim Dunlop Stubby series.

Modern plastics can be ranged this way from the easiest to bend to the hardest: Nylon, Delrin, Tortex / Delrex, Lexan. This means that the same medium (for example, 0.70–0.80 mm) pick would be fairly flexible if made out of nylon and very solid if made out of tortex.