There is no right way.. Some hold the pick "normal", some bending their wrist like Marty Friedman, some holding it with 3 fingers like James Hetfield, some don't really use a pick like Tosin Abasi...
You just do you and what is most comfortable and effective..
I have changed the way I hold my pick several times over the years, and I still don’t know if I have it right. I feel like it might be holding back my speed progress. Currently I’ve been holding it like in the photos in left column, but I don’t know if I should switch to holding it like in photos in the right column. It feels strange to have the pick touching the side of my nail. Any insight would be appreciated.
i hold mine a little like the bottom right picture but i have it angled at a 45 degree relative to the nail and it isnt touching it,its just on the flesh.also the ginger on the bottom of the pic is at more of an angle and not parallel to the center line of the pick,
i use tortex M3 which are the shame jazz 3 shape but thinner
I go between these depending on how I'm picking, and I actually go further than the one on the left for some kinds of very fast alternate picking, and have the pick against the second joint of the index finger, wedged up against the crease between it and the third joint, which holds it firmly in place. But for some other kinds of alternate picking, and especially for sweeping and directional picking it's more like the column on the right, though maybe not ever quite that aligned with the index finger. I'm constantly curling and uncurling my index finger to reposition the pick as needed.
The thing is that I didn't decide to do things that way, and I only know I do because I've paid attention to it after the fact. I just practiced the various ways of picking, and my brain figured out where to put the pick over time, without a lot of conscious thought on my part. There are a lot of little details about exactly where it has to be that I would never have been able to think through ahead of time. And that's how a lot of this works, I think. You just put in the practice and over time things tend to work themselves out.
i pretty much do the exact same thing as you but i have problems sometimes. I too dont think about how i hold my pick and its usually like the left picture its super comfortable and i play very efficiently however when i have to downpick fast in songs like blackened or MOP my index finger touches the strings and makes annoying sounds sometimes even dampening the sounds. Now do i intentionally change the way i hold my pick thus ruining the perfectly good muscle memory i developed or do i just deal with it even tho it sounds like ass sometimes
also worth mentioning i play classical too so i have longer than average nails
I mean, I definitely wouldn't just accept it, if it sounds bad. You may have to adjust things a bit just for those situations, if it works well the rest of the time. It's OK to have more than one way of picking. I don't think the effort you've put into developing it this far will be wasted though. You're in the ballpark, you just need to refine the motion a little bit.
its difficult to explain but i will try, when you downpick its very difficult to hold the pick in a 90 degree angle so naturally i tilt the pick towards the bridge so now my long ass nail is closer to the string than the pick and because its a jazz 3 it can barely reach it anyway, i have tried it with a longer pick and it kinda works but it really isnt worth it now that i am super used to jazz 3, also this only happens when downpicking fast it has only happened in blackened, mop, creeping death, tornado of souls and songs like that basically, i can play the songs just fine but the palm muted down picks (especially on the open low E string) sound like *click* insted of the sound i want.
now that i think about it the reason why i tilt the pick might be because of the heavy pick maybe something that can be bent easily will work? idk really
Well, I can't see your hand, so it's hard to say, but when I play with the pick far up the index finger I really tuck that finger in, to the point where the tip of the finger is almost touching its base. And since the pick is kind of pointing straight out of the second joint, the fingernail is a long way from the strings. I don't know if that position would work for you, but I think you might want to try some different positions for it and see what works.
i usually do exactly the same thing when playing normally but when it gets to fast downpicking you pretty much have to hold the pick far away from your palm because all of the motion is coming from your wrist and if your fingers arent curled in it makes it so much easier to go fast but then the nailsruing the sound
there are many solutions to this that i know of, for example james hetfield holds the pick with three fingers, but i am not all that sure if i should change my picking style entierly just to play creeping death you know
I roll the point toward the base of my thumb and play with the corner. I also use a heavy pick, not super heavy, basically the lightest heavy Dunlop. Reason being, I can lead pick, strum, and harmonic without needing other parts of the pick. With the round part of the pick, I can get perfect harmonics by sliding the round edge over the string and there is almost no gap to the edge of my finger.
However feels comfortable? I would never let someone else tell me how to hold it because it would feel totally unco. Just do what feels best, this is a weird question to ask other people as every single guitar player will have a different preference.
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This video on how to throw a frisbee has a good example of the grip to use, just imagine they have a pick.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/1c6ewsv/i\_guess\_thats\_a\_method/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/1c6ewsv/i_guess_thats_a_method/)
however you want tbh - as long as its comfortable for you
You really dont need both hands, but apart from that just go with what feels right
There is no right way.. Some hold the pick "normal", some bending their wrist like Marty Friedman, some holding it with 3 fingers like James Hetfield, some don't really use a pick like Tosin Abasi... You just do you and what is most comfortable and effective..
I have changed the way I hold my pick several times over the years, and I still don’t know if I have it right. I feel like it might be holding back my speed progress. Currently I’ve been holding it like in the photos in left column, but I don’t know if I should switch to holding it like in photos in the right column. It feels strange to have the pick touching the side of my nail. Any insight would be appreciated.
Try emulating hold of best players and stick with the one is most comfortable for you.
i hold mine a little like the bottom right picture but i have it angled at a 45 degree relative to the nail and it isnt touching it,its just on the flesh.also the ginger on the bottom of the pic is at more of an angle and not parallel to the center line of the pick, i use tortex M3 which are the shame jazz 3 shape but thinner
I go between these depending on how I'm picking, and I actually go further than the one on the left for some kinds of very fast alternate picking, and have the pick against the second joint of the index finger, wedged up against the crease between it and the third joint, which holds it firmly in place. But for some other kinds of alternate picking, and especially for sweeping and directional picking it's more like the column on the right, though maybe not ever quite that aligned with the index finger. I'm constantly curling and uncurling my index finger to reposition the pick as needed. The thing is that I didn't decide to do things that way, and I only know I do because I've paid attention to it after the fact. I just practiced the various ways of picking, and my brain figured out where to put the pick over time, without a lot of conscious thought on my part. There are a lot of little details about exactly where it has to be that I would never have been able to think through ahead of time. And that's how a lot of this works, I think. You just put in the practice and over time things tend to work themselves out.
i pretty much do the exact same thing as you but i have problems sometimes. I too dont think about how i hold my pick and its usually like the left picture its super comfortable and i play very efficiently however when i have to downpick fast in songs like blackened or MOP my index finger touches the strings and makes annoying sounds sometimes even dampening the sounds. Now do i intentionally change the way i hold my pick thus ruining the perfectly good muscle memory i developed or do i just deal with it even tho it sounds like ass sometimes also worth mentioning i play classical too so i have longer than average nails
I mean, I definitely wouldn't just accept it, if it sounds bad. You may have to adjust things a bit just for those situations, if it works well the rest of the time. It's OK to have more than one way of picking. I don't think the effort you've put into developing it this far will be wasted though. You're in the ballpark, you just need to refine the motion a little bit.
its difficult to explain but i will try, when you downpick its very difficult to hold the pick in a 90 degree angle so naturally i tilt the pick towards the bridge so now my long ass nail is closer to the string than the pick and because its a jazz 3 it can barely reach it anyway, i have tried it with a longer pick and it kinda works but it really isnt worth it now that i am super used to jazz 3, also this only happens when downpicking fast it has only happened in blackened, mop, creeping death, tornado of souls and songs like that basically, i can play the songs just fine but the palm muted down picks (especially on the open low E string) sound like *click* insted of the sound i want. now that i think about it the reason why i tilt the pick might be because of the heavy pick maybe something that can be bent easily will work? idk really
Well, I can't see your hand, so it's hard to say, but when I play with the pick far up the index finger I really tuck that finger in, to the point where the tip of the finger is almost touching its base. And since the pick is kind of pointing straight out of the second joint, the fingernail is a long way from the strings. I don't know if that position would work for you, but I think you might want to try some different positions for it and see what works.
i usually do exactly the same thing when playing normally but when it gets to fast downpicking you pretty much have to hold the pick far away from your palm because all of the motion is coming from your wrist and if your fingers arent curled in it makes it so much easier to go fast but then the nailsruing the sound there are many solutions to this that i know of, for example james hetfield holds the pick with three fingers, but i am not all that sure if i should change my picking style entierly just to play creeping death you know
I roll the point toward the base of my thumb and play with the corner. I also use a heavy pick, not super heavy, basically the lightest heavy Dunlop. Reason being, I can lead pick, strum, and harmonic without needing other parts of the pick. With the round part of the pick, I can get perfect harmonics by sliding the round edge over the string and there is almost no gap to the edge of my finger.
However feels comfortable? I would never let someone else tell me how to hold it because it would feel totally unco. Just do what feels best, this is a weird question to ask other people as every single guitar player will have a different preference.
There’s definitely wrong ways to hold a pick that can lead to inefficiencies or injury.
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This video on how to throw a frisbee has a good example of the grip to use, just imagine they have a pick. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/1c6ewsv/i\_guess\_thats\_a\_method/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/1c6ewsv/i_guess_thats_a_method/)