Jazz III

[Richard O'connor]

anyone use the jazz III picks? now that im learning to hold the pick the right way i dont no which pick is best to use. i cant get comfortable with anything at the moment. the jazz III’s were my main go to pick before as they are great for alternate picking, but now i dont no.

 

[Ed Seith]

I started with Jazz Stubby 2.0mm about 27-28 years ago. Used them for over 20 years, then I started looking for something different. I tried some faux turtle shell picks from Red Bear. The first one was amazing, and it lasted over a year (for ~$28, it better), but they’re handmade, and none of the replacements I bought were as good as the first one, so I stopped and looked for something more dependable.
I went to the carbon fiber max-grips, and found they felt great, and the riffing was spectacular, but there was too much pick noise for lead playing. I then bought a dunlop sampler, and it was a close match between the yellowish Ultex and the John Petrucci signature picks. In the end, I stayed with the Ultex – they feel great, have some good grip to them, last a long-ass time, and sound just right.
Every single pick through that whole process was a Jazz-style pick, and I stayed there. Some people are surprised I can do light strumming and relaxed-sounding playing with it, but it just feels natural to me. All a matter of personal taste.
The JPs are ultex, too, and size-wise, they are slightly larger than a jazz III, but not even close to a standard-size pick. If the Jazz feels a little too small you to, try the JPs.
Good luck on your pick journey!

 

[idssdi]

I do. I use Ultex jazz III 2.0 and they work great for me. Even with that way of holding the pick

 

[Christopher Lonski]

Yeah, those petrucci picks might be the most functional pick Ive ever used because of the sharp Jazz III tip, the stiffness of Ultex, and how smooth the playing surface is. My big gripe with those is that they have no real grip whatsoever. They just slide around in my hand. Ive been on a quest to find the perfect pick recently. For over 10 years now, Ive been using gator grip 2.0 and I think they have some of the fullest and biggest tone to them, but they kind of cause a litte sloppiness to my playing(my fault, not the picks) and they wear down way too fast for my style. The sloppiness I think comes from the pick being too thick and chunky and it cause me to hit other, unintended strings but it also adds to how “big” notes sound, or rather the mass of the pick does. So I think Im stick with about 1.5mm for now. I also started trying different pick materials for different sound.Some are darker, some brighter, some notes clearer, some more harmonically complex. Dunlop T3 are great. Its a large Jazz III style made with tortex, so they are the same size as the average pick, with a Jazz III sharp tip, and made with a harmonically complex sounding Tortex. They have great harmonic overtones. Pretty solid combination. I wouldnt say they are the best if youre doing super shreddy stuff because the overtones can muddy up fast flurries of notes. Ultex is a much more clear material and lends itself to playing lots of fast notes as you can hear the note separation a bit better. Supposedly, the perfect pick and material is made by blue chip picks. They are also expensive at around $30 a pick, but they are nearly indestructable and last well over a year. I heard Red Bear can be great, but they fall apart if you get them wet and youre supposed to condition them frequently with oil.

 

[Guest]

I’ve always used Jazz IIIs. I think over time I realised you don’t need so much pick when you hit a string. It really does depend on your style and your approach on the strings though obviously. I’d say its all practice, and sticking to a pick for a few weeks and see if you become comfortable with either a small pick, large pick, thick pick or a thin pick. If you’re saying you are learning to hold a pick the ‘right way’, then bad habits are easily tackled. Just keep adjusting until you find a pick that’s right for you – even if this does take a few weeks!

 

[Chris Robertson]

Hey Richard – I use Jazz III picks from time to time myself. I also use the regular sized Dunlop picks, and keep everything from the .50mm to 1.14mm laying on top of my amps to use. I’ll use a Jazz III or regular size for days or weeks at a time, but find myself switching when I may have trouble practicing a particular exercise or riff. It’s not that the pick itself is the trick to successfully playing it, but something in my brain will approach the music differently if I’m using a different pick. Maybe it’s as simple as giving my mind something different to focus on (the size of the pick) to let muscle memory take over. Kind of like a Jedi mind trick, lol.