Golden Gate MP-12 Guitar Picks (GGMP-12)

Great picks for mandolin or guitar, and I'm sure bass as well. There is a hint of tackyness for grip. Neutral tone. A bit warmer and less aggressive and less click than primetone, but nearly as loud. Good attack. Also not quite as fast feeling as the primetone or ultex, but feels more controlled and with a fatter sound. I use these with fresh strings and switch to primetone or ultex when my strings are dead.The closest I've found to real tortoise shell, which I've been able to try on several occasions, coveted by older pickers I've met.I've tried Wegen and Blue Chip picks and they are fine, but I prefer the slightly more mellow attack and tone of these.

I watched "Belltower Lesson 11 - Picking" on YouTube before buying this pick and was intrigued by the possibilities (no financial interest). It was worth it. The complaints against the pick are probably due to improper technique, as I found it to be almost an ideal jazz guitar pick, capable of considerable speed and beautiful tone. Advice: hold it loosely and incline the forward edge (toward the tuners) slightly upward about 15 degrees, George Benson-style, to make it work. Don't dig in while playing. Stay on the surface of the strings and keep the dynamic range in reserve. When doing scale passages you will encounter almost zero resistance, as long as you grip it lightly. Don't worry --- it will stay in place. I am not familiar with the material, but it sounds and looks like natural tortoise shell and has a "sticky" feel in spite of its glassy smoothness. There is almost zero string noise. It is extremely strong and will last a long time. You can incline the rear edge of the pick slightly more downward on downstrokes to reduce the traveling distance to the next string. Incline it slightly upward for an upstroke. Makes it easy to do economy picking. It is NOT a shredder's pick. If you want a hornlike, Wes Montgomery sound, go for it. Give yourself a little time to adjust and watch the Belltower video. I'm pretty sure you'll like it.

I have used all sorts of picks in the year or so that I have been playing the mandolin, some of which cost a fortune and some of which are dirt cheap. And right now, this is the pick that is creating the sound I love. I am lucky enough to have a Gibson F-9 so it sounds good more or less whatever I do, but this pick really brings out its deep, warm tones, and my mandolin teacher, who has a Gibson F-5 says this pick seems to have opened up the sweet spot on his mandolin. Also I have noticed that this pick helps the mandolin warm up very quickly. However, as my instructor showed me, you need to experiment with slight changes of angle on the unwound strings to get the warmth and volume. He taught me to pick a string while changing the angle forward to back until I get the sound I want.So because things like this are personal, these are my thoughts on other nice picks I have:V-Pick Tremelo: light, really fast and a great beginner's pick. It creates a light, bright sound and is great for learning tremolo as the name suggests. I am still trying to develop my tremolo, but I do feel the V-Pick Tremelo has helped. It has also helped me play faster. Comparatively the Golden Gate pick is louder, stronger, bolder and warmer but not as fast or as sweet in the unwound strings.Wegen TF 120: the pick I started on. It is easy to hold, solid and a good all rounder - the V-Pick Tremelo is not as good on the wound strings but much better on the unwound strings and the Golden Gate is richer on both.BlueChip TAD 1R 50: yes, I splashed out a fortune on the cream of picks, and guess what, I prefer my Golden Gate at the moment! The BlueChip is fast and strong and a good all rounder but doesn't have the woodiness or warmth of the Golden Gate and the sound just isn't as rich for what I am doing (intermediate bluegrass). Maybe if I had been playing longer I would feel differently, and I am not going to give up on the BlueChip, but right now it is sitting at the back of my pick box.