How do you hold the pick?

monquixote · January 2014

I've always held the plectrum between my thumb and my index and middle fingers. It was too ingrained to change by the time I realised it was a bad habit.

The only time it annoys me is when I need to hybrid pick as I have to do it with ring and pinky only.

I've always considered it a flaw in my technique which might explain why I'm not an especially fast player so I was quite heartened to discover that Steve Morse plays this way (so I have no excuse).

Recently since getting my PRS singlecut my usual picking technique has started to make my thumb hurt so I've started holding the pick with just my thumb and middle finger. Apparently this it now EVH does it (keeping the index free for taps)

Anyone else have weird picking?

ThePrettyDamned · January 2014

I hold mine... Okay, I'll describe.

First finger is hooked around fairly tight, thumb presses pick against the side of the first finger/nail. By rolling my thumb, I can adjust the tone I get from picking (typically flatter for a hard, heavy attack with lots of brightness and angled more for a 'rubbed', softer attack, useful for smoother sounding solos, chords and fast stuff).

That's not to say I can play fast... :S it's more of a tonal decision for me. I find the pick attack, and the type of pick (I have now settled on Jazz III Ultex) affects the tone in a huge way, much more so that something like a different saddle material. For more strummy songs, I use a Jazz III Nylon, because it has a brighter 'snap' to it, which helps make my warm, slightly dully eq'd Bandit clean channel get a bit more sparkle (dull so it can take a boost nicely).

axisus · January 2014

There are quite a lot of well known unconventional players, I remember seeing a thread on another forum about it. The only one I recall off the top of my head is Marty Friedman - So whatever works for you really!

I'm a bit weird in that I don't use a plec for electric guitar. I use my index fingernail as if it is one. Plectrums have always felt like a barrier to feel for me, something in the way. I used to find that they were OK for general alt picking etc, but very difficult for strumming, they always seemed to ping off. I started off without them, but was hampered by my nail getting thin and breaking all the time, so went to plecs on and off. The big breakthrough for me was about a year ago when I discovered that you could use acrylic to strengthen your nail, since then it has been no plec all the way.

I like to strum with my fingers, I like to fingerpick, I like the softness of a note if you pluck upwards with the flesh part of your finger, or down with your thumb, I don't have to put the plec anywhere if tapping, I can play two adjacent strings simultaneously without the ones inbetween - they all feel like 'extras' that I can't do with the plec.

EricTheWeary · January 2014

Thumb and index finger,use the next two fingers for a bit of hybrid picking. My main problem is around not being able to relax my picking hand enough, especially live or even just rehearsals. I can bend a 1mm pick from holding it too tight, whereas on a good day I hold the pick (plectrum, what ever you prefer) quite loosely and this is less stressfull on the old joints and much smoother and quicker.

Nothing very clever about my hybrid picking, I tend to bring in a spare finger where somebody else might use a better pick technique so it is quite lazy and awkward.For example, a basic blues turnaround ( these things are hard to describe from memory, hope this makes sense!) like:

-4----3----2---1--0--------------
------------------------------------
4-4-3-3-2-2-1-1-0h1---------2
-----------------------------------1
------------------------------0-1-2
-------------------------------------

I would use the pick on the G and my 3rd finger on the high E, whereas it would be smoother using alternate picking, and then pick, middle, 3rd on that little chord at the end rather than a strum.

There is a cool variation on this lick that I remembered from somewhere the other day:

---4----3-----2---1----0--------
------------------------------------
44--33---22--11--0h1-------2
----------------------------------1
-----------------------------0-1-2
------------------------------------

if you mute on the double notes on the G string and give a good upwards pluck on the high E string notes it becomes chicken pickin and justifies my lazy arse technique.

Roland · January 2014

Conversely, I keep my first finger straight, and place my thumb across it at right angles. This is because I often play without a pick, and it is natural (to me) to use a similar finger position whether there is a pick there or not.

mike_l · January 2014

Between first finger and thumb. Finger curled round, and pointing back towards my wrist. Middle/ring/little finger clenched tighter for faster/heavier picking, looser (or splayed) for lighter strumming.

carlos · January 2014

Index and thumb extended grip, like the grip you'd use to pick up a pencil off a table. Believe that's how George Benson, Tosin Abasi and a few others hold it too. My thumb bends backwards at nearly a right angle which helps.

Roland · January 2014

As @Jalapeno would say: "This thread is useless without pictures"

monquixote · January 2014

Good point

My normal 3 finger grip

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/monquixote/IMAG0273_zpsaa0e0227.jpg

My new 2 finger grip

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/monquixote/IMAG0274_zpsb28e0b26.jpg

Interestingly my finger points down at the pickups. It had never occurred to me that it should curl back, but all the pics on google of people seem to show that grip. Feels very unnatural to me.

Jalapeno · January 2014

Roland said:

As @Jalapeno would say: "This thread is useless without pictures"

I am humbled that my good works have been finally recognised !

Jalapeno · January 2014

monquixote said:

Good point

My normal 3 finger grip
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/monquixote/IMAG0273_zpsaa0e0227.jpg

My new 2 finger grip
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/monquixote/IMAG0274_zpsb28e0b26.jpg

Interestingly my finger points down at the pickups. It had never occurred to me that it should curl back, but all the pics on google of people seem to show that grip. Feels very unnatural to me.

That means your scope for pick & finger style is limited .......

monquixote · January 2014

Absolutely.

I wish I could play with the index finger, but it just feels weird.

dafuzz · January 2014

You *can* change your picking! (Sounds like the world's crappest self-help book but it's true). I picked the same way for about ten years, realised it was holding me back, and made a change. My thumb wasn't used to it and it hurt for a bit but I got there. Within a few weeks I was as good as before and just kept on improving after that.

At the start - as with any habit that needs to be broken - you need to consciously make yourself do the thing differently. It soon becomes second nature though.

Also: I can go back and do it the old way whenever I want.

viz · January 2014

Look at evh - he has the best pick action of all of em.

monquixote · January 2014

From what I understand the second picture is how EVH holds his pick.

viz · January 2014

Yes though sometimes he puts his index on it as well. Holding between thumb and middle helps him do his unbelievable fluttering wrist action swivel flurries.

monquixote · January 2014

viz said:

Yes though sometimes he puts his index on it as well. Holding between thumb and middle helps him do his unbelievable fluttering wrist action swivel flurries.

I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, but I want to be able to do it as well

I have always found it very easy to tremolo pick so maybe that's something to do with how I hold it.

I could quite fancy learning some EVH tricks at some point.

How do you hold it?

viz · January 2014

Not him but:

ChrisMusic · January 2014

dafuzz said: You *can* change your picking! (Sounds like the world's crappest self-help book but it's true). I picked the same way for about ten years, realised it was holding me back, and made a change. My thumb wasn't used to it and it hurt for a bit but I got there. Within a few weeks I was as good as before and just kept on improving after that.
At the start - as with any habit that needs to be broken - you need to consciously make yourself do the thing differently. It soon becomes second nature though. Also: I can go back and do it the old way whenever I want.

I certainly agree that you can re-learn a lot of aspects of playing, whether that is bad technique or picking. It just takes going back to basics and putting some serious time into concentrated practice and use of the new technique, until your synapses have built new pathways and are so used to it that it becomes second nature, and is easily and subconsciously performed. (if that makes sense)

@dafuzz, I am curious, you didn't say what your pick holding technique was, or what you changed it to. What was the restriction that made you change and what benefits did you see from the new way?

dafuzz · January 2014

ChrisMusic said:

I am curious, you didn't say what your pick holding technique was, or what you changed it to. What was the restriction that made you change and what benefits did you see from the new way?

Basically I angled the 'front' of the pick (ie the edge closest to the neck) towards the ceiling. My thumb was bent into a kind of u-shape. It always held me back from sweeping and fast alt picking, but far and away the worst side effect was that I had to hang my guitar a lot higher than was cool when I played standing up!

Tone was fine though.

It was a tad annoying that early on in my playing I took some lessons from a teacher at school and another privately. They both commented on my picking style but did the usual thing of saying "there is no right way to pick, whatever works for you" etc. Trouble is it didn't bloody work for me.

So, eventually, I learned to angle the pick down towards the floor in a more typical Paul Gilbert fashion (it was Intense Rock I & II that really brought it home that my style had to change) - now I can play with the pick angled 'flat' against the strings, or I can slice it 'upwards' or 'downwards' depending on what I'm doing and the tone I'm after. *Everything* is easier now

I know this is a thread about picking, but the same holds true of fretting. In order to minimise travel I *really* slowed down the pace and concentrated on having my fingers float above the strings as close as possible at all times and only do the minimum amount of movement requireed to fret the note and them lift back off to the starting position as soon as the next note is fretted (see Troy Stetina's Mechanics book for a better explanation). Again, it hurt at first! After yonks of doing that I can still go back and have my fingers flap wildly around the place if I want to, if the style calls for it, but now it's a choice rather than a restriction.

stickyfiddle · January 2014

I used to hold my pick as Monq describes, then moved to index finger only and now play more with just pads of fingers than pick, at home at least. If I'm playing lots of chords or stacato riffs then a pick can't be beaten, but for a lot of lead lines fingers only can make things far easier.

Bellycaster · January 2014

Like this

My finger behind the pick would look like this, it's straight rather than curled back toward the palm, not sure if this is Orthodox

Sometimes when 16th strumming I default to this, this is unadvisable, I know.

Conclusion: I can do Bunny Shadows, I couldn't be arsed to get the guitar out and yes, I should stop biting my nails.

d8m · January 2014

My pick holding has been on my mind alot lately so its good to read this to help me realize:

A) Its not to late to change

Better ways of holding

Bucket · January 2014

This is my most commonly-used technique for rhythm and lead, which is the way I was taught was most efficient for alternate picking.

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/DSCF1691_zpse99f945b.jpg

This one is useful for economy picking, allows the hand to move faster and more fluently when crossing strings quickly:

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/DSCF1692_zpsf2983bcf.jpg

This is what I use for sweeping - allows me to easily adjust the angle of the pick depending on whether I'm going up or down.

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/DSCF1693_zps9683d548.jpg

Hertz32 · January 2014

I'm the same as @bellycaster with the addition of curling my entire fist behind my forefinger to provide support for faster playing, whilst completely relaxing my entire hand for rhythm. it's a veritable finger flapping fest

I leave barely any pick area exposed, it's super quick and super easy just to twist my wrist as I pick to create a harmonic. Probably the thing I do best actually, shame i'm bloody useless at finding tracks I want to learn with them in, and never really improvise with them...
Having so little pick exposed means it's difficult to use anything other than Jazz III's. I am thinking about getting a couple of Hufschmid and Winspear picks though

Gonna try that EVH style hold though, I can't tap for Sh*t.

57Deluxe · January 2014

Here are a couple of Techniques you may want to try too... I apply these and teach them as they provide massive flexibility and good tone...

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How do you hold the pick?

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