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?
Comments
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.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
I am humbled that my good works have been finally recognised !
Feedback
Feedback
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.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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.