Roughing It

[Bob Farmer]

"The first glance at the pillow showed me a repulsive sentinel perched upon each end of it--cockroaches as large as peach leaves--fellows with long, quivering antennae and fiery, malignant eyes. They were grating their teeth like tobacco worms, and appeared to be dissatisfied about something." Mark Twain in Roughing It

I'm always on the lookout for stuff that is used in other areas that can also be used for magic. My latest discovery is this product:

https://pickersgrip.com/products/pickers-grip

It's made for fumble-fingered guitarists (like me) who can't seem to maintain a hold on a guitar pick, but oh my brothers it's fantastic for roughing playing cards--possibly the best stuff yet. Only a dab does it. I know some industrious magic dealer is going to repackage this as "Rough and Ready" and sell it for thirty bucks, but before that happens get some of this stuff and experiment.

[Leo Garet]

Looks good, but I've never have any bother holding onto the plectrum-pick. My troubles begin when I try to hit the appropriate string. And when I do, my finger is usually on an adjacent string. Never had this problem back in my bass-playing days. Back then, as it happens, I used a thumb pick, not because I was afraid of dropping it, but it came in handy during any hand-clapping moments. Didn't have to worry about the pick.

I don't think it's only beginners and fumble fingers who might benefit from the stuff. The number of axe-wizards who have spare picks wedged into the scratchplate is quite high.

The guy in the photo looks like one of the on-line guitar tutors whose ads crop up regularly.

[Anthony Vinson]

Interesting. It appears to have similar characteristics to VI's Roughing Sticks. My wife, a one-time SoCal surfer girl, swears she recalls the stuff as some kind of surfboard wax. Dunno, but they work well.

[Richard Hatch]

Thanks for posting this. I'll give it a try. I got interested in the concept and wonder if anyone has checked out these products with a similar function (I'm inclined to buy "Gorilla Snot" based just on the name!):
https://www.amazon.com/BuyGifts-Gorilla ... 00H38AVQ0/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WY8GF4G/
The latter is made from beeswax. Both are more expensive than Bob's recommendation. Just curious...
I also wonder whether this might be helpful in doing a strike second deal if applied to the thumb?

[Bob Farmer]

The owner of Picker's Grip, Billy, wrote me this morning:

Hello Bob,
I woke up this morning and check my website and notice a bunch of hits from genii magazine forum. Being curious I searched Picker’s Grip and found the link to us. When I saw your post and noticed you purchased Picker’s Grip. Thanks for mentioning us! I never would have imagined my product would have alternative applications. Very interesting indeed and very cool.

I noticed somebody mentioned roughing stick. That item cost around 20.00 which imho is very high considering the amount of product and my guesstimate of cost of ingredients ....

Billy

[Bob Farmer]

Leo: My guitar playing isn't what it used to be, but neither am I.