Using a Pick
Posted on August 2, 2007
Filed Under Beginning Guitar |
yes i would like to know what is the guitar pick for? I’ve been trying to learn how to play the guitar and i can’t get the hang of using the pick. For some reason my hand feels weird when holding it! Is there any right way to hold it? Please help me,
THANKS. Katie
Katie,
Here is an excerpt from my book, “Foundations for Great Guitar Playing.” I hope you find it helpful:
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Playing with a Pick
If you want to impress your friends refer to your guitar pick as a plectrum. It comes from a Greek word, which means, “to strike.” Early plectrums were made of tortoise shell or bone. Today picks are made of everything from metal to polished stone, but the vast majority is made of plastic. They come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and thicknesses, all designed to do the same thing - set the strings in motion. Buy several different kinds of picks and see what works best for you.
Think of a pick as an extension of your fingernails (thumb and index finger). Don’t hold it so that a lot of the surface area is exposed, this can be unwieldy and difficult to control. Don’t hold it too tightly. Hanging on with a “death grip,” will fatigue the muscles in your forearm and you will be too tense to play smoothly. When holding a pick with the correct amount of pressure a person could pull it away from you fairly easily. But don’t hold it too loosely or, you’ll need to develop an effective method for removing the pick from inside your guitar!
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Here’s a little more info not in the book: The pointed end of the pick is the part that is used to put the strings in motion.
Using the pick to rhythmically put all the string in motion at once is called strumming. Strumming can be broken into two motions: a downstroke and an upstroke.
The part of the pick that strikes the string can be thought of as a “trailing edge.” That’s a fancy way of saying when your hand is going down, the small end of the pick should be angled up. When your hand is going up, the small end of the pick should be angled down. It’s a pretty natural motion.
Happy pickin’
John
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<p>The pick goes between your thumb and index finger, with the thumb horizontal and the tip of the index finger perpendicular to the thumb. It kind of forms a cross. The pointed tip of the pick strikes the strings. The wrist should be loose and relaxed to play, not tense. Hope that helps.<br />
Jenn</p>
Jenn,
Yes, that’s a good description. One way I like to think of it is that the pick works as extension of your index finger. The tip of the pick should be a little (1/8″) beyond your finger tip with enough of the pick between your thumb and finger to keep it from flying inside the sound hole (Do you thing there is some type of magnetic pull that draws picks into soundholes:-) In any case,the pick should keep the strings from “shredding your fingers nails as well as providing a nice bright sound and allowing pinpoint accuracy for picking out melodies.
Thanks,
John