Your pick technique may be your weakest skill. It’s great that you know all the chords. Having a grasp of notes and scales is handy but your rhythm and arpeggios fall apart. You may be missing one or more of these techniques and losing control of your pick. Once you have chosen your pick, let’s dig in and get a handle on this thing.
Take a close look at the picture above. From my forearm to the tip of my pick. Compare this to your own arm and pick. Notice any differences? This is not the only way to hold a pick but it sure can help!
3 pivot points
Notice three pivot points demonstrated in this picture:
- Elbow
- Wrist
- Pinching the pick
Picking and rhythm should come from your wrist. That is why you need to learn to anchor your forearm on the upper bout of the rear of the guitar. Use your arm as a coarse position for your pick. As you move down to the strings, the finer the movements will be and your accuracy with it. There are times when you will use your entire arm in a strum. But if your entire arm is stiff, you will have difficulty with accuracy and speed. Think about how much mass is moving for each string strike. There is a lot of momentum going when your entire arm is involved.
Finally, your fingers should be holding the pick in a way to allow your fingers to move the pick in and out from the strings. Good strumming technique requires your arm to keep moving and the pick will move in and out as you need to strike the strings. A video by Rick Beato, where he is demonstrating some playing skills, mentions this. This is so important to keep in time.
Palm position and muting
Next, we must consider the need to mute. Good pick technique requires your ability to choke the strings for tight rhythm and to quiet strings on single not runs. This can take a bit of practice as you will need to learn how to strum and pick while the heel of your hand sits on the bridge. Additionally, your hand may move forward or back to increase the mute or decrease the mute as needed. All while keeping the beat going.
Another trick to learn is to strike the muted strings and lift off the bridge immediately causing the strings to choke. This is where the mute is not complete and the strings vibrate just a bit to give a low volume hum of the chord. More gain on electrics enhance this effect and can really give a moody feel to a chord.
Establish a reference
Notice how the fingers of my hand are touching the pickguard. For single note runs and combination chord/arpeggios, this allows me to accurately hit the strings I want when I want them. Playing a strum with a few picked notes can add a dimension to your playing rarely ever heard with most guitarists. I picked it up from Alex Lifeson of Rush. The album, A Farewell To Kings, seems to use this technique frequently.
Trying chords and notes without some sort of reference by feel may require staring down at your guitar – not a good look! I use my pinky to touch the pickguard and give me a feel for where my hand is without having to look down. My brain knows intuitively where my fingers are in relation to each other and I capitalize on that fact.
Expose only as much pick as you need
The more your pick sticks out from your hand, the harder it is to control. First, you will get more flapping with more pick hitting the strings. Second, digging in for a big chord will fall flat as the pick will not be stiff enough to withstand the stroke. As your pick moves in and out from the strings, the pivoting action will automatically expose more of the pick. A small move of the hand in combination will enable you to more firmly grasp the pick or loosen up for softer or more aggressive attack. Exposing just the tip with your hand in its closest position to the strings is a good way to start.
Pick Technique Improved!
Put these simple things into practice one at a time to get confident with each change. Like in golf, you don’t change entire stroke and stance in one shot. Take each in turn and build confidence. Get a feel for how the changes effect your sound and style. Begin to incorporate these in your playing as you go.
We have a full course on rhythm that will go into this in more detail at Just 2 Play Guitar. Sign up today to reserve your spot and lets get cracking!