Cool Cats

This is a quick post about one of my favorite and biggest necessity products - Cool Picks "Cat Tongue" guitar picks.  Seriously, these things are fabulous and they're the only picks I use and have used now for years after finding them.  The story was that I received a handful of these as an Xmas gift about a decade ago, and I really thought it was an off gift at the time...until I actually tried them out.

I originally used Fender Mediums, just the plain jane ones, of which I purchased a gross of back around 1990.  Believe it or not, I think I still have half a bag left.  I used them for years but always had issues with them, one of them being that they're kind of large for guitars and the other simply being the lack of grip.

Let me explain that one of my many issues in life is sweating heavily.  It's a terrible trait, I tell ya, and causes a decent amount of grief all over the place.  For example, my first good acoustic guitar, of which I didn't polish daily back then, had the finish evaporate/fall off on the back of it due to extensive sweat being placed on it, mainly from my stomach area since I stand when I play.  Back then, I lived in Arizona and it's a known thing that many people try to save some dollars on a/c bills by keeping their homes warmer than expected, and for me this meant I would sweat pretty heavily when I'd practice daily.  I was heartbroken when the finish developed a cloudy spot and eventually flaked off.  Luckily, Breedlove was able to respray the back of it and I've pretty much never NOT polished my guitars daily ever since.

Guitar picks were no different for me.  As odd as it may seem to say, my fingers and thumb would sweat as I played and so the pick would always slowly rotate in my grip.  It was terribly annoying and really slowed down my progress on guitar in general.  Around the early 2000's, I discovered the Gator Grip picks which are normal plastic but have this powdered coating on them to help keep them from moving around.  I used these for years and thought they were pretty good until I found the Cool Picks "Cat Tongues".

Seriously, these picks don't move - period.  I've heard some people say that they stick too much for them but for me personally, again someone with sweat related issues, these were the exact solution I was searching for.  And, to make it even better, those original Fender picks used to break all the time, as did the Gator Grips.  These Cool Picks literally almost never break, in fact I'd say that I've only ever replaced 1-2 in the nearly 15 years I've been using them.  So, yes, they're pricey but they're built to last as well, including the grip.

Just thought I'd share!  I'm a definite believer in these picks but they're not widely available, for whatever reason, but you can certainly find them if you dig just a bit.  If nothing else, Amazon usually has at least one seller offering them.