As guitarists, picking is something that we're pretty much all going to be called upon or required to do, at least at some point. While there are many, many different methods of picking, both finger style and pick style, a strong picking technique is necessary to them all. We're going to take a look at some basic tenets of pick style playing here, and give a sort of overview of different things to look out for and ideas to keep in mind (most of which are usually overlooked by most guitarists), so that we can make our overall picking technique as efficient and effective as possible.
Relaxation is key to the entire process of guitar playing, and there are few areas of technique where this is more immediately relevant and noticeable than our picking attack. We want to be relaxed, not stressed, but this concept is often misunderstood, especially by less experienced players, and the misunderstanding is unintentionally promoted by many guitar teachers and methods.
Yes, we want to be relaxed. No, we don't want to be comatose. Any physical action requires a degree of tension within the body: this is how we move and do things. Instead of trying to remove all tension from the body, what we are really going for is a lack of stiffness, and being "forced" with our movements. Understanding where to apply more tension, and where to remain loose is a critical element to building effective picking technique.
We should avoid excess tension and stiffness in the back, shoulder, elbow, and throughout the arm down through the wrist and hand, but maintain the necessary degree of tension or pressure between the parts of the thumb and hand that grip the pick. Something that I often repeat to students is "Pay attention to your body and what it's telling you", because you will know if you're too tense and feel "locked" in any particular area, but if you don't pay attention to these signals, you won't notice them as much, and likely won't do anything to fix the problem, either.
Another obvious way to tell if you're gripping the pick too tightly and using excess tension is to really be aware of the quality of sound coming from your pick, not just whether or not you're playing the "right" notes. This is something I see a lot of with not only beginning guitarists, but also with more experienced players as well. Part of it comes from what I call the "Old Guy" school of guitar playing (no offense to old guys intended), which basically amounts to playing most everything really "hard" and loud, which is not only unnecessary, but also undesirable.
If you want more volume, grip the pick a bit tighter. If you want less volume, loosen up on your grip. It's really pretty simple, yet many of us take a sort of universal approach here, and the result is that most everything played sounds pretty much the same.
Practice picking a single note repeatedly with varying degrees of tension in your pick grip, and really notice the difference in sound and how the pick feels between your thumb and finger(s). This helps immensely by developing greater awareness and essentially forces you to pay attention to seemingly "smaller" aspects of your playing that usually go unnoticed. If it feels too tight or tense, it probably is, and will probably sound like it, too. Listen to what your body is telling you.
The type of pick and the angle at which the pick attacks the strings are important as well, although it's not so much what you use as it is how you're using it. Generally speaking, a heavier, thicker pick will give you a more controlled and dynamically rich sound, but it's not a good idea to simply rely on a particular pick's material or thickness when working with a good picking technique.
If you don't work with the pick itself in areas like dynamic shading and overall control, you'll always be limited by your technique, and limited to whatever inherent qualities are found within your pick.
Practice playing more lightly and softy with a heavier pick, and work on playing more aggressively and with greater volume when using a lighter pick. This helps develop solid, fundamental picking technique and awareness, rather than just grabbing something and hitting the strings while hoping for the best, based on your chosen pick.
One question many, if not most, guitarists have is whether their picking movement should come primarily from the wrist, or the elbow. While there are different opinions on this (some with very sound reasoning, and others based on impractical and unrealistic ideas about playing) my personal view favors picking mostly from the wrist, while letting the elbow guide or propel your movement from one string grouping to the next.
I find that this naturally reduces unnecessary tension while keeping your picking movement small, as the primary point of movement (the wrist) is closer to the strings than the elbow, and allows for less accumulation of tension between muscle groups.
I remember reading several years ago that GIT (the Guitar Institute of Technology) did a study that showed picking speed is slightly optimized when picking from the elbow, but I've found that most students are too tight and tense when deliberately trying to pick from the elbow without much use of the wrist.
In the end, what's most important is finding something that works for you personally, then drilling that again and again until it becomes automatic. We don't want to change our picking attack too much when we're developing our technique, because chances are good that we'll never stick with anything long enough to make it effective. Find what works for you and stick with it.
Economy of movement is a big part of an effective picking technique, and this basically means that we don't move any more than necessary to produce the desired result. Keep your movements small, and over time, they'll be far more clean and precise than if you were to exaggerate them and lose focus and accuracy. Speed is a byproduct of accuracy, so by focusing specifically on accurate movements and attack, we're better suited to build increasing levels of speed as we go along, and the we'll retain that accuracy even at much faster tempos.
Pay attention to your movements and the sound you're producing, relax, and notice any areas of excess tension. Work with these areas intentionally, and you'll find that they become more automatic as your playing becomes more fluid, precise, and enjoyable.
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