Eric Johnson: How Much the Pick You Use Impacts Your Guitar Tone

Guitar master Eric Johnson talked about the impact a pick has to guitar tone, describing plectrums as quite overlooked in terms of sonic difference they make. He tells “A lot of your tones come from the type of pick you use. “It’s really interesting; you can get 10 picks from a music store, and if you’re using enough distortion, each one will sound totally different.

“It can make you think you’re playing a totally different amp!

“When you think about it, the pick hitting the string is what initiates your sound. When you are using overdrive or fuzz, you have to find out where the threshold is, otherwise no matter how flawless your technique is, it can sound kinda trashy. “The idea is to determine the threshold on your pedal or amp overdrive to where you can go as far as you can before the sound starts pixelating – which can make your technique sound bad.”

Eric has a new album called “EJ. The effort marks his first ever all-acoustic record, you can check out the “Water Under the Bridge”.