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Last updated: 10 Feb 2021

Check-out these Guitar Picks on Amazon

Best Medium-Gauge
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Fender 351 Shape Guitar Pick
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Best Celluloid Pick
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D'Addario Assorted Pearl Guitar Pick
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Best for Beginners
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Donner Celluloid Guitar Picks
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Best Variety
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Jim Dunlop Electric Variety Pack Guitar Pick
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Best Thumb Picks
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Frienda Thumb and Finger Guitar Pick
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Jack Stoneybrook
By Jack Stoneybrook
Published 12:49 pm
Show contents
  • 1 Fender 351 Shape Guitar Pick
  • 2 D’Addario Assorted Pearl Guitar Pick
  • 3 Donner Celluloid Guitar Picks
  • 4 Jim Dunlop Electric Variety Pack Guitar Pick
  • 5 Frienda Thumb and Finger Guitar Pick

The shape, quality, texture, and thickness of your guitar pick, among other factors, can have a huge impact on your guitar-playing experience. In fact, if you are a beginner, you still have to figure out the type of pick that suits you the best, hence why you should start with a variety pack. The following best cheap guitar picks have been chosen by our team for their excellent build quality, durable well-gripping design, gorgeous colorful appearance, great shape, and offer an excellent variety so you have a pick that perfectly matches your needs. Check out these guitar picks on Amazon for our top picks.

Best Cheap Guitar Pick

1

Fender 351 Shape Guitar Pick

– Best Medium-Gauge
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Key Features

Almost every guitarist in the world knows the comfortable grip and feel provided by the 351-shaped guitar pick, making it a great choice for both beginner and professional guitarists. The surface of the pick is exceptionally smooth, providing a well-rounded sound that elevates your playing experience. 

THE SCOOP

A medium-gauge guitar pick with a comfortable grip and twelve picks in the pack.

Pros
  • Includes twelve picks in the pack, so you always have a backup if you lose one
  • Picks are medium gauge, making them phenomenally flexible for easier playing yet producing a warmer tone
Cons
  • Might feel a bit slippery on sweaty hands
2

D’Addario Assorted Pearl Guitar Pick

– Best Celluloid Pick
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Key Features

Whether you need a guitar pick for strumming or articulate-picking purposes, this medium gauge one is a great choice. Made with top-grade celluloid material, this guitar pick provides an exceptionally warm tone and a comfortable feel, allowing you to easily produce your desired sound output. 

THE SCOOP

A top-quality guitar pick with a comfortable feel and eco-friendly packaging.

Pros
  • Environment-friendly packaging includes ten multi-colored picks for long-term use
  • Has a standard shape that is suitable for use by all types of guitarists 
Cons
  • Picks don’t have an embossed text to provide enhanced grip
3

Donner Celluloid Guitar Picks

– Best for Beginners
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Key Features

There are sixteen picks in this pack of high-quality guitar picks, offering four thicknesses including thin, medium, heavy, and extra-heavy picks, allowing you to discover the perfect thickness size that helps you produce the best sound output.

THE SCOOP

An assorted pack of sixteen picks with varying thicknesses.

Pros
  • Features eight gorgeous colors to match your guitaring style
  • Comes in a circular tin box to keep the picks securely in place, making them easy to carry
Cons
  • Players used to a particular pick thickness might not find much use for some of the picks included in this pack
4

Jim Dunlop Electric Variety Pack Guitar Pick

– Best Variety
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Key Features

If you have a dynamic guitaring style, these guitar picks offer you a great variety of shapes, thicknesses, and material quality, so you can play with one that best suits your needs. Also, these picks are specially designed for use with electric guitars, allowing you to produce the best sounds with them.

THE SCOOP

An excellent variety of twelve guitar picks with varying shapes, textures, and thicknesses.

Pros
  • Includes twelve picks in the pack, potentially lasting you a long time
  • Colorful picks, easy to choose the thickness from the bunch
Cons
  • Offers less variety in thicknesses than required by some guitarists, especially in thin picks
5

Frienda Thumb and Finger Guitar Pick

– Best Thumb Picks
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Key Features

This gorgeously-colored pack of twelve guitar picks ensures you always have a pick on hand that matches the rest of your look. Also, the picks come with a sophisticated white-colored storage box so you can keep them safe and secure in one place. 

THE SCOOP

An intelligently-designed guitar pick made with durable high-quality materials.

Pros
  • Has an intelligent design that protects your fingers against injury even after consistent guitar-playing 
  • Made with excellent-quality highly-durable celluloid materials 
Cons
  • Might seem a bit too thick to players used to thinner guitar picks

Best Guitar Picks Buying Guide

Any veteran guitarist knows that a guitar pick makes playing a guitar so much easier. We know that with so many options on the market, however, it can be hard to know which one to choose, so our buying guide is here to fill you in on everything you need to know.

Most important features of guitar picks

There are some important considerations you need to make before purchasing a guitar pick. You’ll need to consider what material you want your guitar pick to be made out of. The most common materials are celluloid, delrin, and nylon. Celluloid is a type of plastic and probably the most commonly used material for guitar picks, so you can’t really go wrong with this one. Delrin is also a type of plastic, but it has a slightly duller finish than celluloid, which makes it a little easier to grip and use. The last commonly used material for guitar picks is nylon. The raised grooves can provide an even more stable grip than delrin, so if your hands get sweaty while playing, a nylon pick might be ideal for you.

While delrin and nylon might offer you a better grip, there can be a trade-off with having a more-textured guitar pick because it will change how the pick comes off of the strings. With picks that have a smoother surface, the tone is a more natural and cleaner one. Picks that allow you to have a better grip will likely create a rougher tone that has more grit to it.

You will be able to find guitar picks that are made out of other materials, but these are more so for professional guitarists and special occasions. On the hard end, you’ll find bronze and steel. On the softer end, you might encounter picks made out of felt, leather, and even rubber.

Guitar picks are not only generally made out of three different materials, but they typically come in three different sizes as well: small, large, and standard. Small picks are ideal for those who are looking to use a guitar pick for speed. They are sometimes referred to as jazz picks because of the speed and accuracy that their size makes you play with. Large guitar picks are easier to hold, while standard guitar picks are the most common type of pick out there.

There are also different guitar picks based on thickness, but they typically come in four different sizes: thin, medium, heavy, and extra heavy. Thin picks produce brighter tones because their thinner striking surface emphasizes higher frequencies. Because thinner guitar picks are more flexible, the volume you can achieve using it becomes limited. This smaller dynamic range also makes it ideal for playing an acoustic guitar. 

Because thicker picks are, well, thick, they tend to produce mellower tones by emphasizing more of the bass and less of the treble. As opposed to thinner picks, they offer a greater dynamic range by giving you more control over volume. Thicker guitar picks are also great for electric guitars not only because you can play with greater speed and accuracy during fast solos, but because they’ll help produce distorted sounds with the separation and clarity they provide between different notes.

You’ll also want to be aware of the ends of your guitar picks: are they rounded or are they sharp. The difference can be very noticeable. Guitar picks with rounded points create a mellower tone and are ideal for strumming. Picks with sharper points tend to create a brighter tone that work great for solos.

What works best for you will ultimately depend on your hand size, style of playing, and what’s most comfortable for you, so make sure to consider each of these important factors before choosing a guitar pick.

Why should you buy a new guitar pick?

You can buy a new guitar pick whenever, really, but the general rule of thumb is that if you play your guitar regularly with a pick, you should change that pick every two or three weeks. This might change depending on the quality of your guitar pick and how you are using it, but we recommend changing it at least a few times throughout the year if you’re planning on truly sounding like a rockstar. Required here to decide if you should get a new guitar pick is an understanding of your budget, the type of pick you have, and how comfortable and easy your picks are to use after they’ve become worn down.

What is the price range of guitar picks?

Prices can vary for guitar picks because they aren’t all exactly the same. With that being said, guitar picks tend to be relatively inexpensive and are probably the cheapest thing you’ll buy when it comes to playing the guitar. Some, however, can be relatively more expensive because some manufacturers might utilize proprietary material that requires highly precise milling, which is more expensive. Overall, guitar picks tend to be on the lower end of the price spectrum, which is good because you might have to invest in a few. If you frequently misplace your picks, then having a few spare ones on hand is a good idea. If you’re looking to change your pick a few times throughout the year, you’ll have to consider that into your final expenses. Even though your budget might not be a big factor when it comes to choosing a guitar pick, it is something you might want to keep in mind when making your final decision.

Jack Stoneybrook
By Jack Stoneybrook
Jack has been a touring guitarist for almost 20 years, playing in a number of country music and rock bands. Jack loves the road and defines himself as a never-ending student of the guitar and other important instruments or tools that make a musician.
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