I use Gravity picks and pick at a fairly steep angle. It can result in so much chirp that I feel like a Disney princess with birds flying around my head while I play.
Matthew that’s why I like guitar players who have a “rawness” to their sound. Gary Moore was a ferocious picker and you can hear this in some of his lines Same with Jimmy Page-some might disagree with me but I like the chirp and fretouts In his fast lines😂
@@tombstoneharrystudios584 agreed! When I was young, listening to LZ taught me how to appreciate that live-rough sound. The end of the solo to heartbreaker still gets me. There’s like this little pause where the Bass and the guitar sort of “inhale” RIGHT before the vocals come back in. Omg. Fan. Fucking. Tastic!!!!
Yeah, love it, and notice it most when playing Eruption. Or any early Van Halen solo really. Another one I always remember from being a kid was Motley Crue, merry go round and round-a gnarly chirp on a low string. 😝🤘🏻🎸🇺🇸
I got into a disagreement with a friend from high school cuz I could hear the pick noise in AC/DC’s Thunderstruck and he, going from the video, thought it was all hammer-ons and pull-offs. I don’t care about the video, you can hear the pick noise!
Angus even said in an interview that when he came up with the part it was all hammer-ons/pull-offs but when they were recording the producer had him pick it to add more clarity.
There’s a lot of wonderful technique and personality in their composition. It’s almost like they’re the gateway death metal group. They’re very accessible.
Excellent exploration, Troy, thanks! I've never really cared for chirp at all, and after many years (and money) spent on far too many plectra, I've arrived at the humble Fender Heavy 351, a plectrum I'd scoffed at in younger days. Nice attack, great for strumming or picking at speed, and relatively low chirp. Love all your videos!
Finally a video that goes in depth on an issue that I've had for years! This chirp sound has been bothering me for years. I've tried changing my picking technique so that the pick is flat against the string and it seemed to help, but I would still get a chirp on higher strings with faster alternate picking riffs. I finally gave up on trying to get rid of it since I assumed it was probably caused by my guitar tone, pickups, and bad picking technique. This video definitely gave me some more ideas to try and picks to test out. I really appreciate this video, you don't know how happy this made me. Hopefully I can finally take a huge step towards achieving the guitar sound I want.
Yeah, I've heard it. Yeah, it's annoying. Worse -- now I'll never be able to unhear this. I'm betting I'll hear this everywhere now that you pointed it out.
1:25 that's quite a revelation after 30+ years of playing. I have of course noticed this phenomenon before, but I've never really "listened" to it. Quite amazing the things you've discovered Troy... thanks again for your wonderful teaching and ability.
So, when Allan Holdsworth did his research (his goal was to make picked and unpicked note to sound the same) and finally chose the 1mm Dunlop to reduce the chirp and attack was, of course right and accurate. He was such a fine genius, it will take decades for the world to appreciate his genius and the depth of his discoveries and research: he did the same deep research about guitars, amps, effects, signal chain, recording equipment, recording technique and every other aspect of making music. Time will tell.
The flip side to this is that nylon abrades quickly, becoming scratchy. That’s not going to sound a lot like legato. But if you pick very lightly / not often, maybe he was able to limit the abrasion.
@@troygrady I suppose he used to change them frequently. Excuse me for the macabre quote, but when his daughter found him dead he had 6 picks in his pocket (she shared this story on Facebook and there was a picture of the picks, they looked all brand new)
The chirp appeared in my acoustic playing a couple of weeks ago (but not my electric). It has gotten worse despite my changing strings, picks etc. I am so happy I found your video. I had the pick rotated too much and was catching the edge. Thank you.
Thanks! After getting a epiphone hummingbird IBG, I was playing the other day and kept hearing a chirp and thought it was one of my smoke detectors or wireless doorbell, no amp. I thought i was losing my mind. I recorded a little on my phone and put headphones on for playback and there that chirp was! I dont remember which pick i was using. I normally use a dunlop .73 nylon or dunlop medium gel pick. Ive been playing over 40 years and just heard pick noises. After your demo, I have regained my sanity! Thanks soooo much!
For anything I want BRIGHT, like acoustic or EVH style riffage I use Dunlop Ultex 1.0mm picks and when I play in my heavy metal band I switch to Dunlop Tortex 1.0mm and Troy just explained this PERFECTLY! I myself didn't even know why. Thanks for this Troy!
Thank you so much for this video! Over the years my taste in picks has changed and more recently I've started to hear so much chirp all the time playing high gain leads and it drove me CRAZY today to the point of trying to research the cause! Looks like I'll have to get some nylon picks to try out. I'll use them for recording at the least. I started on dunlop nylons back in the day, which now explains why I don't remember the chirp being such a problem before...
An experienced players knows and uses all those small "noises" to make diferent sounds for expresion and dynamics. Its about "knowing" your sounds, and how to produce them when you want them. Thanks for this vid, a lotta players dont even hear/ recognize notes, much less such delicate influences, music is about waking your ears up and thinking faster than u play.
I'm sure its been mentioned, but the amount of chirp is also directly related to how hard you squeeze the pick. ..probably due how the energy is distributed.
I think Mike Stern's technique of playing from the pickguard outward, using a large amount of surface area from either the edge or the flat face of the pick, does a great job of eliminating chirp. He also uses a thin or medium pick
Great explanation! Thank you so much. I've been using the Petrucci jazz 3 and thinking the chirping was an annoying digital artifact from my Kemper. Now switched to green Tortex T3 0.88 and have a good balance of brightness and greatly reduced chirping. Also now make an effort to reduce the pick angle during fast playing to further reduce chirping.
Chirpies, it's a canarial disease and the worst thing about it it's untweetable...unless you get a new pic. LOL Troy, you are the ultimate analyzer of the guitar and we love your videos. Just had to put the above joke in there.
Thank you so much for this video. I was going insane after recording a fast trem picked riff with this noise droning in the background. I’m going to try some nylons and re-track it to see if it is lessened along with the different picking patterns I picked up through your other video.
When I first started playing again after thirty years, this sound drove me bonkers. Everyone thought I was nuts, and had no idea what I was talking about. I was trying to find answers on Ultimate Guitar and one other person had posted a query about the same issue. No one had any answers for them. Now I use it when I need to, and avoid it when I don't, but to this day I call it 'picksqueak' like pipsqueak, probably to make it seem less annoying to myself. I use the John Petrucci Jazz III picks because they're nice and hard for higher speeds (and I need the extra help), and also bigger than the regular Jazz IIIs so they're easier to hold onto. My husband prefers the Ultex ones...the big yellow, standard-shaped picks. They grip nicely, but the so-called point is too round for me. I toss my picks when they get dull. He's more for rhythm playing, while I gravitate toward lead...unsurprisingly.
Nice to see the bluechip pick. I've been using the same Bluechip TD100 for over 12 years now (mostly used on an acoustic with 12 gauge strings). Given I pick hard, theres hardly any wear (after the initial tip wear that causes the pick tip to better form to your picking movement/technique). Amazing the stuff was used on the space shuttle. I'll have to dig out the electric and check out its chirp-tastiness ..I guess you could use 'the chirp' as a tapped note. Getting high notes beyond the fretboard (treating the pick like an inverted fret) and extending arpeggios beyond the fretboard :).
What? No course on how to harmonize your chirps with each note??? ;) Awesome stuff, Troy! Always so inspirational. Makes me wonder if it was the particular "chirp" sound that Brian May got from the sixpence he used might have been another reason for using it. I actually find the chirp sound appealing.
So, we've not all been individually crazy hearing this stuff and then choosing our picks which noise was more pleasing in what ever we were playing at the time. We're collectively crazy. Good to know.
My FAVORITE pick material is stainless steel .080", or thick, because it is SOOOO slick on the string, but it chirps TOO much, and I have to make them myself:) The compromise is the 3.0 mm Big Stubby:) Most picks are too soft and bind on the string, hurting your speed:) However, when your picking is optimal depth, which is in fact minimal depth, the chirp becomes a part of the note:)
Don't lose heart, Brian May has used coins as picks for decades. When I saw ZZ Top Billy Gibbons was playing on 7 gauge strings and sounding articulate and great. Music will go on.
ive always loved the chirp, it defines notes during fast runs. The best chirp pick by far is the new dunlop flows, the 2.0 is the sweet spot. More chirp than gravity picks. The Petrucci dunlops are 2nd place, and the ultex (milky clear color) 1.5 are a close 3rd.
The first time I ever heard/noticed chirp was when listening to Tony Iommi playing in Black Sabbath. Once I heard it, it was hard to un-hear it because I would notice it in a lot of their songs :D. It was kinda cool though too ;). Listen to "Thrill of It All" or "The Writt" and you'll notice it bigtime!
Interesting, Troy, your observation regarding cancelling out the pick chirp the closer you get to the pickup - watching Allan Holdsworth with Soft Machine cerca 1979?, when he still had his white SG Custom, you can clearly see him picking almost over the last fret - and of course this reflects in the warmth of his tone. It’s a shame you never invited Allan to participate before his passing, because he not only had a flawless legato technique, but was also phenomenally good at alternate picking. This can be heard on the acoustic guitar solo he recorded on the Bundles album with Soft Machine. I’d love to see a video of that!
Chirp is the main reason I've stuck with the red jazz iii. It's the heaviest pick I've found that doesn't chirp for me. I've tried hundreds. Can't even listen to players that chirp anymore. It's all I hear. It's like touching a filling with a fork.
@@troygrady is nylon hard?? I need the hardest material. what is the hardest????? I posted my question here somewere with my explanation. we need a video on the hardest material pick for faster picking. faster than on the video.
@@troygrady What do you think of the dunlop flows? they make the 4.20 dank flow, not a joke actually a real flow pick. Best chirp in the game right now, better than nylons
Been playing with Ibanez Vai picks for almost a decade now. For the sake of comparison, I've tried several other material/profiles but this one feels like the ultimate pick with all-round best performance characteristics. Never paid attention to the chirpness though :)
My left hand is as good as yours. No prob. Any time. May right hand is slower than your elbow!!! Man, you're the best! Oh, and chirps in studio while recording... Oh, my!
I found the Fender Mediums by accident (were a gift, half a handful of them) and they immediately reduced the terrible scraping pitch at around 2800Hz that occured with heavy single note muted rhythm playing when using any of my JD Nylons (It occurs everywhere from 0.88 to 1.14 in different variations). I proceeded to do a little test as I noticed that the edges of the Fender mediums were completely soft and in one piece whereas the JD Nylons had a very pronounced scratchy edge. Originally I thought I liked that sound but in time it turned out it wasn't the scrapyness of the edge but rather the scraping of my playing angle and the material gripping itself. I then proceeded to file my JD Nylons smooth. They feel and play amazing now :)
Dunlop 1mm picks are my current go to for fast rhythm playing, funny thing too about how dead they are with chirping, I remember years ago trying to play the solo to Joe Satriani's "Mind Storm" and I had to break out my Tortex picks for the pick tapping part.
Excellent explanation! I'm not a guitar player, but I've wondered what that sound is on the solos from "Mr. Crowley" and Van Halen's "You Really Got Me." I assumed it was a deliberate effect (and maybe it was).
Great call. You're talking about the effect where you hit the string with the pick while a note is sounding, and stop the sound while also making that little chirp? Yep, that would be chirp!
was playing with dunlop flow 2.0 picks and loved them, but hated the chirp. then dunlop came out with the tortex version of the flow (almost like a jazz 3XL, but i like the shape better) and the chirp is much much softer. love that pick.
Excellent analysis as always. Perhaps an analysis of chirp tones and harmonics generated by fingernails/pads/coins etc. in the style of David Gilmour, Brian May, and Angus Young would be interesting to your viewers also.
I've always called it how "Clickly" a pic was. One of the reason I tend to always come back to nylon pics. Pics make a bigger difference in not only overall tone but how you play than I think most realize. I sometimes bring multiple style pics to shows with me if I'm not really sure what I want for the night. Also just ordered some Tusq pics from Graph tech, just being curious how this material is going to sound and feel.
Thanks for this video! The song we're currently recording is driving me nuts because of the loud chirps in the lead parts. It's not even a difficult part, but the notes are all 8ths and you can hear that percussive chirp every time. Trying a few different suggested picks and retracking.
I first noticed this audio phenomenon when I bought Vinnie Moore's "Speed, Accuracy, and Articulation", way back in 1980-something, only I didn't call it the "chirp". I call it the "kiss" because it kinda sounds like the pick is kissing the string. The "chirp" Vinnie gets in that video? I won't buy a guitar unless it has THAT particular "chirp". Pinch harmonics are easier too.
I have actually never gotten these kinds of noises before, maybe I just wasn't doing it right haha. Still sounds like something i would like to try to get more common, because it sounds cool!
I’ve been noticing and wondering about this for years! Fabulous explanation. I’m currently on a rabbit hole trying to figure out how to remove icepick type frequencies from my guitar amp. I’m tired of splitting my ears open. Just want a warm tone, man!
I tried a lot of picks, and casted one out of brass, like a 3mm chubby. The plucked tone is brilliant and has lots of overtones, but the chirp was unbearable loud. But if the position on the string was choosen right and the chirp blends in with the note, the effect is quite nice. Maybe training with the "chirpiest" pick could help almost eliminate that sound later with softer picks...It's a matter of how hard or soft you bang on the string right before the stroke...My favorite pick at the moment- .86mm Celulloid
Nylon can chirp if you pick with the corner and it's a model that has rounded edges instead of beveled. I've been playing bass with a 1.5 mm max-grip, and I get plenty of chirp with it. The tone is like a chirpy version of the 2 mm gator grip.
was actually trying out the americana a little bit before watching this video and noticed how much i hated that sound it was making lol. now i know a little bit more.
This has driven me nuts for the best part of a decade. Once i started recording it I'd hear it all over my leads, particularly on slower parts and if i noticed it I'd kind of focus on it and it would drive me nuts. A flatter pick attack gave me more of a sizzle which was worse. I like the feel of pointy, thick picks which doesn't help. I like the feel of the Dunlop Petrucci, but it chirps badly. I started using my fingers for slow parts. I used to use gator grips but they got hard to find. I think i need to find more of them. Can't stand the nylons, they start catching on a string.
Yet another amazing video from Troy! Troy, are you an engineer? Your analogy about the snowshoes struck me as a very thoughtful and intelligent way to translate a dry physics/engineering concept into something people can understand. That is to say that you are an excellent teacher. The pick I love is the hard Dunlop Delrin 500 1.14 (or .96 for a little give) due to the total lack of drag when it goes over the string , BUT I play in my bedroom and am usually playing with a JCM800/1980s level of gain. Years ago when I played live and had my soldano astroverb cranked up to 8 and was playing a lot of clean stuff at high volume through strat single coils the chirp was not just noticeable, but overbearing and unbearable to me, so for playing live I went back to my previous pick, the Dunlop Gator Grip 1.14 to get rid of that chirp that is so severely amplified when playing clean.
During a Steve Vai's show I get his pick up. I used it on my guitar and I fell confortable on playing. I used other pickups some times but Steve Vai is better... for me of course!
