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Using a Pick
I would call myself a somewhat basic/intermediate player. I can use a pick but it wasn’t something I used when I initially started to learn guitar many years ago. With that said, part of the reason I joined this program was to really make an effort to use the pick and use it cleanly, with the goal of hopefully incorporating some lead/picking techniques into my repertoire.
As I’m going through the initial blues tutorial, I find myself wondering how people learn the “spatial awareness” of the strings when they use a pick to hit single strings. Obviously it likely just comes with time and practice, but are there any tips/tricks/techniques y’all use to “feel” where the strings are? Does your picking hand pick the strings without any part of your hand touching the guitar? Do you have some sort of your palm anchored to a part of the guitar top to “feel” where you are?
Would love to hear how anyone goes about learning that spatial awareness.
Cheers!
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5 Replies
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It certainly helps to have the hand anchored. I’m used to use my pinkie finger on the pick guard and will still use it for tricky songs that require a lot of precision string skipping. My in-person teacher has been teaching me to use my curled fingers and have them resting directly on the strings that I am not playing. I pivot the hand up and down depending on whether I am playing the upper strings or the lower strings.
As for improving accuracy I practice picking every single day. I have routines doing all down picks, all up picks, inside picking (up on top string, down on lower string), outside picking (down on top string, up on lower strings), string skipping, etc. I initially started at 60 bpm and am now up at 120 bpm for most exercises, It is a difficult skill to get good at.
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As far as anchoring, both of my teachers had me basically anchor my palm on the bridge. This keeps your hand in a stationary position, so it’s easier to know where each string is every time. I tried to learn the pinky anchoring method, and it just didn’t work for me. I see a lot of folks using that method. One advantage I find with the palm on the bridge is, if I’m only playing say the low E, A, D strings, I can use my palm to mute the G, B, and E strings so they don’t ring out while picking. I’m sure you know this, but if you pluck one string, the other 5 will also ring out due to vibration. This can make the strings you are actually playing be less clear since the other strings are also ringing out. By muting those, you get much clearer tone. I’m struggling with muting the low E, A, D while playing the high G, B, E strings. Not as proficient there.
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Both Moose and Skyman cover the ways to anchor your picking hand while “picking” notes. If your are a finger picker you probably anchor your pinky on the guitar top or anchor your palm on the bridge while picking out each string. Now you just need to learn how to use a anchor point while using the pick for single or double string picking. Check out the Hybrid picking lessons in the Skills section located on the left hand side of the opening site page and add some practice time for that to learn another way to pick the strings.
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Simple exercise to help you with pick use. Form an basic A minor chord – index on B/1(B string 1st fret), ring finger on G/2(G string 2nd fret) and middle finger on D/2(d string 2nd fret). Then with picking hand Down stroke D string, upstroke G string, Down stroke D string, upstroke B string, then stum the chord with an up and down stroke. Change/rotate your picking pattern on the 3 fretted notes and do your basic up and down strum again. Do the same thing in other chords in the key of C using the B,G, and D string for fretted notes.- 3 note F chord, open note G chord, 3 string C chord. Some times you will need to use the pinky on the treble E string, usually at the 3rd fret G note on this exercise. You can walk this 3 string fret positions on up the neck and practice your picking and strumming patterns at different fret board positions or put a capo on every 2 frets or so to repeat the pattern. Enjoy
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Moose408, Skyman911, jorgemac – Thank you all for the fantastic thoughts. These are great ideas that I’ll play around with while I practice. Much appreciated!
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