Which type of coin does Queen’s Brian May use as a guitar pick?
Some guitar players are incredibly particular about their gear. They have to use an exact brand of strings and change them in a rigorous and set-in-stone routine. Or perhaps they’re sensitive about who handles their guitar, wanting to be the one person touching it or tuning it up. Plenty of players have a certain time of pick they like to use, making it so they’re only truly at ease playing it when they have their favourite time of plectrum in hand. In Brian May’s case, that’s a coin.
For most, their choice of pick would come down to thickness or material. Different players like their pick to have different levels of give and flexibility. Some like a super thin, flimsy pick that bends around the guitar strings and feels like nothing in their fingers, allowing for fast, easy and free movements.
But others like the way a thicker, more solid plectrum feels as it hits the string. It feels more structured and certain, making them feel like they have more control over what they’re doing and can feel their way around their instrument easier.
So much of it all comes down to how a person learns to play. Chances are, the type of pick they started out with will always feel more comfortable as it comes down to the way people were taught. However, for Queen’s guitar player Brian May, there was a level of trial and error, and also, the weirdness of essentially having to admit to himself that he preferred a more left-field approach.
As his guitar skills advanced, he thought he should be moving to a thinner pick that’s more designed for fast playing and technical riffs. “I went through a whole journey,” he said, “I used to make really flexible picks as i thought that was the way to become kind of fluid or fast or whatever, because it wouldn’t effect the way you move your fingers backwards and forwards.”
“I found I didn’t like it,” he admitted, “I liked the harder picks because I could feel more of the action in my fingers.” Then, one day, he stumbled across the solution that he’s now famous for as he plays around the world, on the biggest stages there are, but with a coin as a guitar pick.
But what coin does he use?
“One day, I supposed I just tried this,” Brian May said of his rogue choice of guitar pick, adding, “Everything that happens at the strings, I will feel in the fingers. So, this is giving me zero flexibility.” Showing the coin to the camera during an interview with Premier Guitar, May revealed that he uses a sixpence coin as his guitar pick during his Queen shows.
“I love this. I feel everything. I’m in total contact with the strings,” he said, liking how the metal choice felt as it hit against the string. But the benefits go beyond just how it feels to play with the coin. He also said, “They don’t wear out. They don’t hurt the strings because this is a softer metal than steel,” praising their protective nature. He said that it’s also cost effective to use money rather than paying for plectrums as “They last forever.”
He also thinks it helps keep his playing smooth and stress free, adding, “They don’t get stuck under the string. This will never do that because its round,” so he doesn’t need to worry about a slip up causing the point of the pick to ruin his flow.
But while his choice is more surprising than the specific type or thickness of a typical plastic guitar pick, May is still particular about the point. He opts for “Pre 1950s sixpences”, claiming “they cheapened the composition after that.”
