I first heard of Red Bear guitar picks over at GuitarGear.org and I remember thinking who on earth would pay $20 for a guitar pick. Well in my never ending quest for the perfect guitar pick I finally succumbed to the nagging urge, I mean for $20 it has to be good right? I checked out their website and noticed that Guthrie Govan uses a Red Bear Big Jazzer Heavy pick and that was it, sold. I bought 2, just in case I lost one! I ordered the exact same pick shown on the Red Bear homepage with the Speed Bevel and Grips. I am always dropping my regular Dunlop Jazz III (I haven’t tried the Max Grip Jazz III yet) when I play with the band so I needed something that I can hang on to better and Red Bear have devised an incredibly simple but inspired solution, they drill 6 holes into the pick so that the skin from your fingers naturally pushes slightly into them and creates a natural grip, it also means you can use them as boutique buttons on your favourite shirt.

Red Bear’s original material is a polymerized animal protein (note: no animals are harmed in any way) that has many of the same physical properties as real turtle shell which makes it ideal for guitar picks. You could look at it as cultured turtle-shell. Many people who have tried picks made from this material cannot tell them apart from the real thing. Red Bear Trading Company is the sole manufacturer of these picks.

They are available in the following finishes: Black Onyx, Red Jasper, Coral, Jade (light marbled green) and our newest colors – Honey Amber and Fossil Ivory. I went with the Red Jasper but the Honey Amber looks cool too, maybe for the next one.

So how do they play and sound? Well Red Bear say they “Play faster and more accurately than with any other guitar pick.” and from my experience with the 10 or so different picks I have tried in the last few years this is definitely true. The pick glides from string to string in a similar way to the Jazz III with very little friction and the heavy gauge gives the pick plenty of tone. As you can hear in my demo above it is smooth, precise and full sounding. In comparison to the Medium V-Pick (another worthy contender) it doesn’t quite have as much of a full tone due to being a thinner pick but it is very slight and I imagine the Extra Heavy Big Jazzer pick would. As for playability it beats everything I’ve tried hands down, it is the perfect shape for me, has the grip I need and is smooth and articulate. I know it costs $20 but these picks aren’t going to wear down like regular picks so i theory they will last a long time as long as you don’t lose them. I have one in my pick keyring as a safe backup. I think of them like strings, I don’t mind paying extra money for Elixir strings because they last 3 or 4 times as long as a regular set, feel amazing and always sound consistent. When you think about it we spend thousands of dollars on the ultimate guitar, amp and effects and then use a guitar pick that costs less than a dollar when it is one of the most important components!

I didn’t get these picks as a freebie, I paid for them so that I could write a fair review and I was pleasantly surprised by the difference they made to my playing. Yes I can get a good tone from a Jazz III but they never feel totally comfortable to me due to their small size (I haven’t tried the XL Jazz III by the way), the Red Bear Big Jazzer allows my right hand to relax more and the pick is larger and more comfortable so less of my thumb is rubbing on the strings. The material they use produces a smooth rounded and full tone, I recommend you go for the Heavy which is between 1.30 – 1.65mm, they are sanded by hand so vary a little.

Would I buy another Red Bear pick? Absolutely, no hesitation. I see them as a worthy investment that make playing easier and more enjoyable. As you will hear in the video the tonal differences are more noticable with a clean sound than overdriven so for me it is more about comfort and making my picking more accurate and smoother.

Bear in mind that these picks are all made to order so you will have to wait 3-5 weeks for your picks to be delivered and you can’t buy them in the shops only through their online store – http://www.redbeartrading.com/cart