I have always paid a good deal of attention to every aspect of my tone, from the strings on my guitar to the tubes in my amp. The one thing I never really paid much attention to was the picks I was using. YES they make a big deal and besides your fingers themselves, this is one of the most important aspects of your tone.
True story
About 5 years ago I was heavy into researching the tone of “The Edge” from U2. I noticed that even with great pedals, amps and guitars, there was still something missing from my tone. In fact it wasn’t until I was on tour in Europe when I bought a set of blue picks in a small music store in Amsterdam, that I finally found my solution. I remember my rig for this tour being far less than what the Edge would consider “less than basic”.
I was in a rush and started playing with the pick on the side that is normally used for grip. This side, has a rigged texture that was intended to make the feel better and reduce the chance of dropping your pick. The sound however was surprisingly incredible. By playing the strings with this side, I noticed that my attack was more chimey, raspy, and overall Edgy. This was what was missing and I had discovered the holy grail. After looking into it a bit more I found that The Edge only plays with these picks and plays them on the gripped side almost all the time, even on acoustic guitar parts. I was sold and for years I paid more to import these little blue wonders, till recently…
How something awesome, becomes better
While I was playing in Brazil a few weeks ago, my band mate (who was also hooked on the blue picks) gave me a gift. If was a little back tin can that changed the game once again. Coarse Picks based it’s picks off of the original blue ones the edge uses and takes it one step further into making a guitar pick that is like no other. They have an odd triangular shape but once you try them out tou understand why they designed them that way.
The presentation of the picks is both modern and beautiful. My picks are black and they come in a small black tin can that spells Coarse on the top with an sand grit finish. When you open the can you’ll find 10 picks neatly stacked over a small wrinkled tissue paper (The kind typically used for gifts). When you see this you immediately think, ” These guys are thoughtful”. I obviously deeply thanked my buddy Rich for the gift but the guys at Coarse made his job real easy.
How they feel?
The picks are like I said before an odd triangle. The long extremities are the ones you play against the strings. You have two options, the gripped side and the smooth side. This gives you the option to play as you normally would or with the gripped tone that sounds like The Edge. The original blue ones had an open round shape mostly because they never thought someone would play on that side. People who loved using the grip side to play would have to get used to not having a proper shaped pick. In other words they vastly improved on the design with the new shape.
While it looks weird all you really have to do is hold it with the tip of the pick facing the string like a regular pick. The shape also has one other very noticeable improvement, which is support. The design adds an extra extremity that naturally extends to the typical part where your fingers would support the pick. This helps so that you don’t drop them as easy. If you want to change what side you’re playing one all you need is to flip the pick over with minimal rotation and your done! Much faster than the blue one you’d have to fully rotate.
Want some?
The guys at Coarse Picks got their start with a “KickStarter” campaign which was fully funded by people like us, tone chasers. They pay a lot of attention to detail and its obvious in the product they deliver. If you’re looking for that “Edge tone” and love delay effects, this pick is most definitely for you. The selling price for 10 picks plus the tin can is merely $12.99 plus shipping. They are really nice, hard working guys and they will work to make you happy for sure.
Make sure to check out their website and check out they’re Instagram, that have a really cool page and some great original drawings!