Please tell me I'm not weird...

[Michael Martin]

...or maybe confirm that I am. I keep a guitar pick in my mouth most of the time (when not eating anyway). I think I do this as a leftover compensation for my oral fixation--quit smoking years and years ago, but still like having something in the mouth. Tried toothpicks, but they stick out and my wife thinks it's tacky.

 

So today at work I took out the Dunlop at lunch and a colleague saw it--he's also a player--and he said that was very strange. But hey! I take care of my fixation, and when I have a guitar at hand I never have to search for a pick! Also, they sort of work as toothpicks when needed--especially the thinner guaged ones. Just be discreet.

 

The Dunlop ones with holes are best, in case in inadvertent inhalation of the pick--no blocked airway. Just being safe.

[Kap'n]

I'll sometimes stick one in my mouth, if I go to use my fingers, while playing, but, no, never as a pacifier.

[chiro972]

I have one in my mouth at times, but I worry about the inhalation of one. I have had to cough a couple of times and the sudden inhalation right before the cough has almost sucked the pick down.

[Jimi71]

If you are weird then so am I.

I find myself putting the pick in my mouth while I am fingerpicking. Then I just walk around until someone points out that there is a pick hanging from my lips.

Like you, I think it is a throwback from my smoking days...just goes to show what a pain in the ass smoking was...9 years without a smoke and I still have a toothpick, pen cap or guitar pick in my mouth.

[babablowfish]

Not to be downer, but the risk of choking is very real. You aspirate that thing and its lights out.
I am not joking. Be careful.

[d03nut]

Lucky you're not a drummer then......haha........

[theGOOCH]

Reminds me of those guys in prison who hide razor blades in their mouths.

**Suspicious glance at Michael Martin**

[Queequeg]

[Sweb]

Yea, that's weird. Just thought I'd confirm that for you. But, guitar players are weird people so the pick thing is normal to the circle.

[bjorn-fjord]

Obviously you were not weened properly. You should have a word with your mother.

[tiger roach]

I've never had the urge to hold a pick in my mouth.

I see golfers that have a tee in their mouth all the time. That's even grosser, considering tees get stuck in the dirt. I don't put tees in my mouth either.

As a practical matter, how can you drink beer if there is a pick in your mouth?

[deevee]

Originally posted by tiger roach As a practical matter, how can you drink beer if there is a pick in your mouth?

I think the final stage of ending your oral fixation is to kick the pick ...

[Michael Martin]

Originally posted by tiger roach As a practical matter, how can you drink beer if there is a pick in your mouth?

Believe me, it's quite do-able. Also possible to chew gum on one side and have the pick on the other. It's even possible to eat with the pick in place, but kind of complicated. Singing with a pick in the mouth is no problem at all. I think it enhances tone.

It's amazing what the mouth can be trained to do--I was reading about baseball great Reggie Jackson once--in the dugout, he would "process" sunflower seeds through his mouth. He'd store a handful of shells-on seeds in one cheek, move them one by one to the front of the mouth to bite off the shells with his incisors, move the shell pieces to the other cheek, and chew the shelled seed before swallowing it. Somewhere in all that he'd also bring the shells forward to spit them out. I remember watching him when he was on-camera during a world series game back in the 70s. It was quite a system.

I realize the risk of choking is real--so the ones with holes are preferred. The orange ones have the best flavor.

Brass picks probably not a good idea for people like me who have fillings.

[theGOOCH]

Hey I can do the Sunflower seed thing! I didn't know I was talented. I don't understand why they are so big with baseball players though.

I've been known to carry a pick in my pocket a lot just in case I end up at a guitar store, but never the mouth unless I'm fingerpicking then switch to strumming in the same song ..."Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica for one

[Pablo]

Originally posted by Michael Martin The Dunlop ones with holes are best, in case in inadvertent inhalation of the pick--no blocked airway. Just being safe.

 

I was going to say, you'd better be careful not to choke on the thing! I don't usually keep a pick in my mouth, but at one time I carried around at least a dozen in my pants pocket.

[jackwr]

I save the oral fixsations for the proper things. Bud, Green Bud and bush........not the political type.

[8mileshigh]

I'm used to stick my pick on my fore-head when not using it, so don't you worry.

[STEELSTRINGS]

I'll never bum another pick!!!! lol

[gotboostvr]

I do the sunflower thing, it's no bigge at all among most baseball players, they teach you that day 1 in tee-ball

here's a trick, try chewing tobacco (not dip), keeping the whole thing toghter, and not swallowing the juice, or little bits of tobacco.
also, not a big thing for most seasoned baseball players.

side note, for those that do dip, how the hell do you guys manage with fine cut? *shudders*

[kanaka]

Im afraid to ask where you keep your slide....