Playing music with the help of gemstone guitar picks

Generally speaking, gemstone guitar picks are usually associated with luxury and things like that. The first thing that you will notice about a stone guitar pick is how good looking it is. That is the main reason why people classify them as novelty accessories. But they are not just good looking. They are in fact very good as guitar picks.

History

Plastic guitar picks were only starting to be used as late as the 1920's. Before that era, people used any types of rocks or shells to stroke stringed instruments, including the guitar. The sounds which were produced by plucking were unique to each material. This created a variation in the materials used.

After that came the use of modern material in the form of Nylon. This led to replacement of the tortoise shell and other similar materials. At that time, tortoise shells were the most popular materials for making picks for stringed instruments. But due to endangerment of these species, they were replaced by artificial materials.

Why Gemstone?

Much later on, gemstones were found to be the suitable replacement for shell made guitar picks. But they are much harder to make in large numbers. Regardless, a lot of people opted for the use of gemstone guitar picks. The reason being that sound passes very well through stone, and very little of it is actually absorbed by the stone.

It's density, durability and flexibility are perfect for making a guitar pick out of it. Different stores have started to devise their stones in such a manner that you can precisely control their tones as you want. An interesting fact is that plastic absorbs a certain portion of the tone when it is struck against a string. This is not the case in gemstone guitar picks.

Different types of Stone

Jaspers and Agates are the two most commonly used stones to make gemstone guitar picks. They are very hard and not easily broken or damaged in any way, making them durable as well. Stones like Obsidian, Tiger's eye and Turquoise are also frequently used to make stone picks. Prices also vary from picks which cost no more than a cent, to those that are priced well above $30.