Chicken Picks vs V Picks

V-Picks "chicken picker" is a popular plectrum that we have reviewed in the past -- quick summary: wears out fast and is plagued by an incessant chirping sound that you either love, hate, or passively endure. It ended up not being a pick I stuck with. Not only did the picks have issues that I couldn't live with but both times I bought picks directly from V-Picks via their online store my credit card was hacked in less than a couple of hours. Never again.




A new competitor is the Chicken Picks line (pictured above is the "Shredder" coming in at a whopping 3.5 mm). They do offer thinner picks but nothing thinner than 2.2 mm in the Original Series of picks -- to get thinner you have to live with a triangle pick -- a shape I have never liked.

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What's the verdict on the Chicken Pick Shredder? In general, it feels like holding onto a light-as-air piece of styrofoam and it imparts a chalky, raspy, scraping sound against the strings. They claim that after hours of playing the scraping sound will diminish ("break in") but that hasn't been my experience at all. I think your brain just begins to filter out the noise after a while. The pick is more durable than the V-Pick but this pick left a lot to be desired in my opinion.

What's better than both of these? Still my favorite is the Wegen Big City 1.8mm (the one with the holes in it in the above photo). The Big City is durable, sounds fantastic, has a nice, positive attack, with no weird artifacts -- they more or less sound like your fingernails on the strings.

If you're looking for a great teardrop or jazz-styled guitar pick, my highest recommendation goes to the Wegen. You might also try the Winspear Shiv we recently reviewed.