Do you chew your picks too?

]-[@n$0Ma☩!©

Zombie Zero, DFZ
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Aug 1, 1985
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My mom always admonished me for chewing my guitar picks when I was growing up. Seems like I always had a pick in my mouth. Surely she understood that a pocket was the #1 place to lose a pick. Tell me you've never heard one rattling around in your dryer. I still have to fish them out of the washing machine's plumbing from time to time.

My mom had a friend who choked on a guitar pick and (as she tells the story) almost died. Her warnings fell on deaf ears. It was better to chew the pick than risk the pocket. Even today, you are likely to find me with a pick in my mouth after playing.

As I was digging through my picks for a separate discussion (about picks) I realised that all my picks, like my writing implements, are replete with teeth marks. While it has the benefit of making them easier to hold when things get sweaty, chewing the part that contacts the strings is never good. That's when I have to bust-out the old 'rub-it-on-the-carpet' trick. You know what I'm talking about.

I'm guessing I'm not alone. Do you chew on your picks too? Ever hear of someone choking to death on a guitar pick?
 
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I used to. As I've gotten older I've also gotten somewhat more germaphobic. So no more picks in my mouth.
 
EEEEWWWWW!
I'd rather risk losing a pick. I palm them while playing if I switch to fingerstyle, and set a couple on my amp when I set up.
 
OY...I saw it first hand...Middle school...Franklin, in Reisterstown...YEARS ago. Good friend of mine would walk around and hold a smaller jazz-type pick loosely in his lips, breathe in, and the pick would flutter.
By the time he got to the nurse, he was literally blue. He was sore for days after the amount of Heimlich-ing they did. Thankfully he's still around...and a Great guitar player, to boot.
Yup...never in my mouth, for that reason alone.
 
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didn't EVH blame his cancer on always having a guitar pick in his mouth? More likely from smoking I would think though.

He did.

I don't chew them, but I'm constantly putting them in my mouth when I need my hand free.

And I have never heard one rattling around in my dryer. I'm far more conscientious than that - I don't go near the thing.
 
I don't chew 'em, but I had a long-time habit of finding them between my lips. I think I've gotten away from that recently.

Back in college, the other guitarist I played in my first band with went storming around our practice room one day, swearing out loud about not being able to find his pick. It was between his lips the whole time.
 
Guilty myself! My mouth is the only place I don't loose them and the dryer thing has happened more than once. I'll admit since covid I'm more conscious about not doing it. The pick stashed away in my wallet like an old condom gets more use than that condom ever did! lol
 
Is that why you bumped all of the pick threads?

Nah. I was just having a laugh with DTR.

I guess if I were going to have to chew a pick I'd want it to be my own.


Now this is where the habit gets gross. NEVER loan me a pick. It will almost certainly end-up in my mouth when I stop thinking about it.
 
Nah. I was just having a laugh with DTR.
And I have somehow been sucked into the vortex. :eek: I tried. I really did. Yet somehow I ended up posting in every one! You got me again! Sometimes I just can't help myself. :( :D

Now this is where the habit gets gross. NEVER loan me a pick; my my good or your's. It will almost certainly end-up in my mouth when I stop thinking about it.

Agree. I really don't chew on them, was just saying if I had to chew on one, I'd want it to be mine, for exactly the reasons you cited. Well, mine or Julie Bowens. I'd gladly... wait, nevermind.
 
Nah. I was just having a laugh with DTR.




Now this is where the habit gets gross. NEVER loan me a pick. It will almost certainly end-up in my mouth when I stop thinking about it.

You can pick your friends
and you can pick your nose
but you can't pick your friend's nose

My boogers are sacred. I refuse to share/lend/loan them to anyone! Picks, on the other hand.....I'll give them away
 
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