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Have I been holding a pick wrong all this time?


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Posted

I've been playing for a couple years and I want to tighten up my playing and speed.

 

I was looking at a couple of videos on youtube and I noticed the guitarists I was looking at hold the pick slightly different, except the camera doesnent focus on them close enough to see exactly.

 

Normally I hold the pick thumb and forefinger, like if you were to leave dust on it you would get a decent fingerprint of my fingers.

 

But these guys seem to curl their forefinger in a little more, suggesting the pick is being heldmore against the side of the forefinger than the tip.

 

Is this what I should be doing? Its not entirelt comfertable.

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Posted

You should hold the pick so that it can be held rigidly and tightly within your grasp. If you have too much run out, exposed pick, then it will torque out of your control too much, and if you have not enough run out, then your fingers will be hitting the strings all the time.

Maybe you could try just playing with your thumb and forefinger together without a pick, and see what feels natural for you, and then just put the pick between them to make it work harmoniously with your approach to things.

There are many ways to hold a pick, and each has advantages and disadvantages. It takes years to recognize the subtleties. For this reason, many an experienced guitarist relearns how they want to hold a pick years after they've taken up the instrument.

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Posted

The way you hold it is (if I understand your description correctly) the way I hold the pick as well, and is also used by George Benson, Shawn Lane, Hendrix, and others...

I really agree with nylon rock about it taking years to recognise the subtleties of picking, so here's my experience:

When I first started learning guitar I played the 'fingerprint' way, then, after a couple of years, saw videos of guitarists playing the other way you described (side of index finger), and thought I'd be better off doing that. After 16 years of struggling with right-hand speed, I finally switched back, and the improvement was very dramatic - massive increase in speed, control, tone, phrasing... If I were you, I'd work on exercises with your current picking method.

For exercises, I'd recommend Troy Stetina's Sped Mechanics for Lead Guitar, as well as Auggie's speed series and book 'Raising the Barre'.

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Posted

This is no wrong or right way: just the way that works for you :thu:

There are many different styles which may require slightly different techniques, but nothing you do while playing the guitar is actually 'wrong'

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Posted

Ok after a little testing I feel a lot faster and more accurate with the side method.

But its still not entirely comfortable. I think I'n just going to try a mix of both, fingerprint for rhythm, side for solos/

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Posted

I hold the pick like in that picture, but my index finger is curled up (like in a fist).

I actually keep my whole hand in a fist, while others keep their hands open.

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Posted

I hold it in a similar way, but with the index finger curled, and thumb bent back - check out this picture. My thumb bends back pretty far, but you can still do it even if you only have a small range of movement. The Benson/Lane/Hendrix way is IMHO all about locking that thumb back, so if yours bends a bit it helps. With this method, there is no difference in grip between strumming and picking single notes.

My other fingers are just sitting wherever they are most relaxed, ready for hybrid picking when I want them.

I'm really happy with my way of picking (speed, accuracy, tone, versatility for alternate/economy/hybrid), so I hope the picture gives you some ideas, GDan.

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Posted

I used to hold it between my thumb and the side of my index finger. Then when I got into improving my picking technique, I ended up with it between my thumb and the "fingerprint" part of my index finger, pretty much like in Mike7771's picture. Except my fingers are a lot closer to the tip of the pick and I use a Jazz III pick. You don't want to get your fingers too close to the tip, otherwise you'll be getting squalie harmonics all the time, but as close as possible without causing that problem. Maybe 1/4" inch in my case.

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Posted
Originally posted by inlifeisdeath

I hold the pick between my thumb and middle finger. I think there's something wrong with me. (:



Something wrong with EVH then, too.

Eddie_van_halen.jpg

Watch out, if you keep using your thumb and middle finger, you will end up looking like this.

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Posted

Originally posted by dan_plus_o

I hold the pick like in that picture, but my index finger is curled up (like in a fist).


I actually keep my whole hand in a fist, while others keep their hands open.

 

 

Ditto. I make almost a complete fist, with just a little daylight showing between....and my other fingers are free.

 

Good thread. I had been wondering about this lately as well.

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Posted

Looks like there's lots of combinations! :)

1. A "Fingerprinted" or B "curled" position of the index

2. A Flat against the string, or slightly tilted B clockwise or C counterclockwise

3. Other fingers A loosely open, B outstretched, C closed in a fist, or D anchored to the pickguard/pick-ups

What I have been using myself in the last years is 1B 2B 3A :p
But I'm not really a fast player, so it's possible that my position should not be suggested often.

By the way, as a result of your picking position, what is the kind of wrist/arm movement that you are using? I think that the two things are strongly related to each other.

If you move the wrist for picking, do you rotate ("twist") the hand around the arms's axis, or do you instead "swing" the hand around the wrist's axis? Are you a "swinger" or a "twister"? :D

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