Crucial Picking Flaw

[marrkus]

Hi guys,

In my quest to build up my right hand I've noticed a huge picking flaw I've had since the day I started playing. I'm sure most people have not had this problem, but a few probably may be making the same mistake that I have and maybe others have some advise.

Anyway, this is how I've always held the pick:

http://www.twistedkite.com/ug/wrong.jpg

After some research I found this is not correct.

So this is hold I how the pick now.

http://www.twistedkite.com/ug/right1.jpg
http://www.twistedkite.com/ug/right2.jpg
http://www.twistedkite.com/ug/right3.jpg

I'm not necessarily talking about the way my fingers extend, I'm really talking about how I actually HOLD the pick. I used to hold it between my thumb and index fingers... with the "pads" of each. This worked fine, but really hindered my speed. Even playing at 100bpm would cause my picking to be sloppy. I would miss the string occasionally, play with uneven tone.

So I figured out what 95% of you already know.

I've recently learned to curl the index finger and kind of pinch the pick between the two. (see the last 3 pictures). This was VERY awkward for the first week but within that time I was able to increase my right hand VERY quickly. I had a hard time even playing 16th notes at 120bpm (in fact, that was my goal) but after changing my picking hand, I can almost effortlessly playing 16th notes up to 200bpm and higher once warmed up. With very little stress on my hand. Of course, my left hand can't keep up but I can say, within a week, my right hand is playing at speeds I thought would take an other 5 years to achieve. Now I just need to sort the left.

This is the first big breakthrough I've made with guitar in awhile. And I think will be the key to making progress. And very humbling because I have always wondered "how can someone NOT know how to hold a pick?" In fact, I've seen it demonstrated correctly before and just didn't do it because it was uncomfortable. I thought my way was "also" correct. Really, I was probably lazy.

The problem is, the rest of my playing sounds like garage when I play this way. It's much more difficult for me to downstroke, gallop, play power chords, strum barre and open chords, etc... almost anything not related to single notes. Also, all the songs I learned are very difficult to play with the "proper" right hand technique since I have been doing it wrong for the 2.5 years I've been playing.

I think once I can relearn my right hand and really get it up to speed, it will create HUGE progress for me. I have no idea how long it will take though.

Anyone else have to do this or have any tips?

Also... anyone here holding the pick the way I used to? It would probably feel uncomfortable as hell to change it, but I think it really limits your speed an control (at least for me it did).

[Darkman]

I hold the pick in the "incorrect" way. I'll try the "correct" way and report back :)

[marrkus]

Good. Don't give up on it if it feels uncomfortable or like a big step back in your playing.

I think you really don't see the flaws in the improper picking technique until you start to play faster or more advanced material.

I have spent the last hour applying it to my galloping technique. I am already making improvments here. Holding the pick the incorrect way, I can gallop up to 130bpm (and I struggle some that point). At 150bpm, it falls apart and doesn't resemble a gallop at all. The speed is not great. And 170bpm is really were I'd like to be with this.

After only a couple days of working on it with the proper technique, I play it cleanly at 100bpm. So yeah I've taken steps back. BUT.. when I really push myself to 150bpm holding the pick properly, what I am playing sounds a LOT more like gallops. Sure, it's not clean yet and the tone is choppy, but the point is, after a couple days of doing this, I can see that I will be able to break 160bpm within a couple months. Until now, I have been stuck playing them between 120-140bpm the entire 2 years I've been working at it.

[DuB]

Actually, I started out holding the pick in the way that you deemed "correct," and played like that for a few years. I eventually found that the way you deemed "incorrect" worked better for me, and I switched to that, which is roughly what I still use.

I've said it a million times but I guess I cant say it enough: There is no definitive "right" way to hold the pick. Some people would have you believe otherwise, but if you survey all of the highly technical, proficient guitarists out there, you will find that they don't all use the same picking technique. They use what works best for them.

So congrats on finding a picking technique that works better for you. But to be using words like "correct," "incorrect," "proper," etc, is just not appropriate.

[Sentinel]

There really is no "incorrect" way to hold the pick. Eddie Van Halen holds his with his thumb and middle finger, and it seems to work for him. :) You just need to try different things to see what works best for you.

[KenParkerRules]

I play the first way. So does George Benson. If you can learn to hold the pick firmly enough without causing tension in the wrist it works great. I like it also because it allows for hybrid picking and tapping without switching positions.

[DuB]

I like it also because it allows for hybrid picking ... without switching positions.A big plus for me as well. I use hybrid picking extensively.

[forgottenking2]

I use hybrid picking as well but I hold my pick with the side of the index, not right at the joint but more towards the tip. This is something that happened along the way while I was learning to hybrid pick. I echo what everyone else has been saying. There's no real "right" way and it's better to find what works best for the tone/style you're looking for.

Beware of changing too much though. Many get so focused in the road that they forget the destination.

Rock on,

-Jorge

[Crossroads]

Yes, we've had this discussion many times before, and clearly there’s no absolute right or wrong way to hold the pick ... famous players like Petrucci, Gilbert, Batio, Timmons, Henderson, Govan, Vai etc. all hold it slightly different.

Imho the most obvious & simplest grip is the one the OP ruled out as wrong lol! But for really fast alternate picking I personally found it better to hold the pick at a fairly extreme angle following the advice of Paul Gilbert (lots of chat here on that, try a search for hundreds of posts about it)…for me the key part of that is to have the pointed tip of the pick angled back towards the bridge… but I only do that for really fast picking, for all else I hold it in what I think is the most natural way ie rather like the “incorrect” pic, above.

Of course you could follow Knopfler, Beck and countless others using the fingers alone (no pick), although maybe you’d be fractionally slower than Gilbert. :)

Ian.

[chrismatson]

I guess, according to you, I don't know how to play guitar at all then..

... Is this some kind of a joke? Did I miss the punch line? :D jk

Yeaa, that's cool man. Glad you found something that worked out for you, however, I think I'm a little too deep into my current picking technique to
change it according to how I'm 'supposed' to play. I haven't run into any limitations at all, other than my natural ability perhaps.