I took a workshop with John back around 2009. He was playing with Joan Baez around then and was a friend of a fiddler I was in a trad group with. He's a sincere guy with no pretense. Got us backstage to meet Joan and showed me a lot of this stuff up close to compare with the jazz approach to the guitar I had at the time. Another great Irish guitarist to check out is Robin Bullock. Not as rhythmic, but he has a lot of great recordings and a very clean style for melodies.
I think he's describing a Jim Dunlop vinyl pick (which read "USA Nylon" on the back). They have a textured grip, and are not as hard (solid? brittle? unyielding) as an acetate pick. Vinyl is gentler than acetate, I'd say it 'slides' off the strings more freely, the trade off is a small loss of sharpness. For acoustic steel guitar: ... 0.60mm is "moderately soft". 0.73mm vinyl is firmer, and (I find) the minimum necessary to play with moderate attack, without taking skin off your knuckles. They do go lighter but I couldn't recommend: on steel strings, the smaller gauge just folds around your finger. (But I guess it prevents a blister). I've been using Jim Dunlop vinyl picks for years for acoustic strumming. You'd need min 0.73 Vinyl for 'clean' electric picking, but I think acetate comes into it's own when you can moderate aggression by winding back the amp.
That makes infinitely more sense. None the less, my friends are gullible and I'm going to continue telling them that their guitars are strung opposite in the UK to match the driving.
@@jaystretch01 well thatvis Elizabethan English, we didn't go with what the court dictated, so when you slag first understand what you are talking about
