How to Fix Silent Notes

Have you ever been practicing scales, playing a melody, or shredding a solo and noticed that the pick hit the string, but no sound came out?  Chances are you have wore an edge into your pick that allows it to slide over the string instead of pluck it no matter how hard you try to get sound out of every note.

We’ve been told many times to keep your fretboard (and pickups, if you have an electric guitar) clean and change your strings often to preserve a quality sound, plus other tips for the rest of your gear, but no one has ever mentioned keeping your picks fresh.  There’s a cool trick to eliminate the silent notes without paying nickels for a new pick.

With light pressure, I ran my pick across an emery board that I had placed on a flat surface.  I made sure that I started midway on one side and rounded the bottom to the next.  I then flipped the pick over and repeated the procedure.  After doing this 3 or 4 times, I had a rounded tip with a flat edge.  I then buffed the pick out with the same emery board to round out the edge like you’d find with a brand new pick.  I played a few scales and a couple melodies to test it out and it worked!  It was almost better than a new pick!  Every note was crisp and clear.

While you can buy multiple picks for dirt cheap and toss the old one when it wears out, if you’re miserly like I am, you’ll find this trick impressive.  Give it a try.  If you don’t like how it sounds, buy a new pick and get back to practicing.