Music

Review: Jim Dunlop Gator Grip 1.14mm picks – are these the best guitar picks ever?

I think most guitarists will just use whatever pick is handiest, but when we can, we do get quite picky about what we use.

Do you see what I did there?

Anyway, I’ve used all kinds of picks throughout the years, and this is my current favorite. Jim Dunlop is a brand synonymous with guitar-playing accessories, and everybody likes his picks.

When I first started playing I used fairly light picks, usually less than 1amm. Then I used the regular black 1mm ones for years for electric playing, and still used thinner ones for acoustic playing.

Before we begin, make sure you’re ordering Jim Dunlop from a legitimate retailer, NOT from a counterfeit seller. For your convenience, here is the Amazon link to an authentic Jim Dunlop retailer.

One time, outside a bar in Manhattan, I gave a guy a cigarette in exchange for a pick, and I ended up with one of these.

And I loved it, and I’ve been using these pretty much exclusively ever since.


Review: Jim Dunlop Gator Grip 1.14mm picks - are these the best guitar picks ever? 1

Specs

Jim Dunlop Gator Grip 1.14mm picks

I’d normally go through the specs at this stage of a guitar gear review. There are usually tonewoods and electronics and stuff to chat about.

Obviously, in this case, it’s a tiny piece of plastic, that will someday be sacrificed to the guitar pick fairies.

However, even with a humble pick, a brand like Jim Dunlop will want you buying theirs, so there are a couple of features in the design of this particular pick that make it worth spending a few words on.

Unlike 99.999% of guitar picks, the Gator Grip comes with a matte surface. The idea here is that it’ll reduce friction, so it’ll be more difficult to lose grip of the pick. That’s the kind of thing I imagine taking a little more processing in the manufacturing stage, but I’m no expert on that end of things.

The other design perk of this pick is the bevelled edges. This subtle feature definitely increases the comfort of the pick.


Use

Jim Dunlop Gator Grip 1.14mm picks 2

For those of you who venture onstage to play guitar, you know how hot and sweaty it can get up there. And look, we’ve all done it at some point in our playing career: dropped a pick and scrabbled around looking to find it, on a dark, dirty stage, fingering around years-old stale beer and generic dirt, because who mops stages?

There have been all kinds of solutions to dropping a pick through sweaty hand throughout the years, everything from simply having a towel to wipe your hands in between songs, to a thing called Gorlla Snot, which is a small tub of gunk to dip your fingertips in and alleges to prevent the pick slipping.

But what if there was one simple solution to rule them all?: just using a different type of pick. No additional stuff needed onstage, and most of us carry them around constantly anyway.

That’s pretty useful, I think you’d agree.

The the other feature, the bevelled edge, is also really great, especially if, like me, you’re a player who really grips that pick and lays into the strings. It can get uncomfortable after a while.

It’s not mentioned by Jim Dunlop in their marketing spiel, but one of the other things I really like about these picks is that they’re flat on both sides. To me, that just makes it more comfortable.


Review: Jim Dunlop Gator Grip 1.14mm picks - are these the best guitar picks ever? 1

Conclusion

I really am such a big fan of these Gator Grip picks. I highly recommend the 1.14mm ones, but obviously, they won’t be for everyone, but they do come in a selection of other sizes, both thicker and thinner.

The design suggest they’re aimed at players who will be playing for long periods of time, on a hot sweaty stage. Even though I don’t really do that anymore, there’s still no other pick I’d rather use, even just at home recording some ideas.

 

Jim Dunlop Gator Grip 1.14mm

Quality
Durability
Reliability
Value for money

The lest friction and most comfort

BUY NOW FROM AMAZON
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