Suggestions on problems with holding the pick correctly

[DBF]

I've never been comfortable with picks so am seriously considering starting this course using my fingers (thumb for downstrokes and index finger for upstrokes). Would this limit me, or is it perfectly acceptable?

 

[KurtTrampler]

Depends on you! Seriously ... I don't think Albert King used a pick. Could be way wrong here, but there are others.

If you plan to use a pick, start doing it now. If not, you're fine, but you will have a tough row to hoe trying to 'convert' some of the picked lessons to fingers.

It's okay to mix it up in your lessons and practice. Play with fingers but set aside 3-5 minutes for pick practice.

Also ... what kind of trouble? Single note or strumming? Analyze what's going on, look at Griff's hands. Are there differences in hand mechanics?

A friend of mine broke his arm just above the elbow in '96 ... he had been arm wrestling. Don't arm wrestle.

Anyway, he is a pro, that's how he makes the $$, and he was in trouble. The only thing he could move was his thumb.
Fingers? No.
Wrist? Just a little.

So he started to play with his thumb, sitting down, es335 vertical in his lap.

He's healed and has been voted best overall musician in Savannah 2 out of the last 3 years, and you should see his thumb technique. He uses a pick as well, he's 100%, but that thumb is crazy good.

 

[KurtTrampler]

Cool! I dimple mine with a nail set. Fender heavy. I tried little dots of G2 glue on Tortex and it was okay, but I've played Fender picks too long to change now.

I took a decent photo but haven't figured out how to share yet

 

[KurtTrampler]

I dunno if I'm posting in the right spot.

I truly believe HAND POSITION is the biggest contributor to pick rotation.

If your pick rotates the same way all the time ... and mine did ... you need to find and correct that issue.

Disclaimer: I admit to dimpling my Fender heavies with a nail-set but I play flat ones, too.

Anyway ... if your hand is too low ... toward the pick guard ... the pick will rotate away from your palm. This is most of us. Too high, and it rotates into your palm.

It happens b/c of which edge of the pick strikes first. The pick is like an inclined plane, and the string slides up the plane and rotates the pick opposite direction.

Truth

 

[Jay Dee]

I super glue a piece of sandpaper on the fat end of the pick......works for me

 

[Eblues (AKA - Herm)]

the ones I use are by big dog or red dog or something like that, available at guitar center, since I usually use 1.0, they are orange if you swing by one and look, they are textured and it helps a lot

Could you mean Snarling Dog? Decent, inexpensive picks. I like these too, but I ended up on the other end of the thickness spectrum, finding very thin picks work better for me until I rid myself of both bad habits described by PapaBear above. The Dog picks go down to .53. I've been using Dunlop nylon .46, currently the best compromise that allows me to both strum and pick. Hoping to work my way back up the thickness scale in time.

 

[Eblues (AKA - Herm)]

I dunno if I'm posting in the right spot.

I truly believe HAND POSITION is the biggest contributor to pick rotation.

If your pick rotates the same way all the time ... and mine did ... you need to find and correct that issue.

Disclaimer: I admit to dimpling my Fender heavies with a nail-set but I play flat ones, too.

Anyway ... if your hand is too low ... toward the pick guard ... the pick will rotate away from your palm. This is most of us. Too high, and it rotates into your palm.

It happens b/c of which edge of the pick strikes first. The pick is like an inclined plane, and the string slides up the plane and rotates the pick opposite direction.

Truth

Sounds like something worth experimenting with... is this applicable to pick turn while strumming, picking, or both? I only lose pick control while strumming, and it turns in on me, always.

 

[EllenHarvey]

I'm back to this thread and I seemed to have missed a number of very good suggestions. But while I was gone and was still trying to solve this for me I ran into a brand new pick out there. Its by Bog Street. They are rather unique and they came in today so..... I immediately tried one out, figuring I would just get my disappointment over with right away. They work amazingly well. I do wish they were a little thinker but for now its the best I've found to solve this for me. They are a little $$$. Cannot seem to add a picture.

 

[CaptainMoto]

That's interesting.
Hop you like it

https://bogstreet.com/

 

[Rad]

My kind of different take, yes the pick is important, but not as important as an experienced grip.

From me, a guy who coached for a few decades, It is like teaching hitting in baseball or softball. Until someone gains a lot of experience they don’t know how to have a light grip on the bat and still have control so it does not move around.

It comes down to muscle memory in your fingers. You stick with it enough you will be able to have a light touch and your fingers will keep the pick in place.

Yes pick material helps. For me I also lick the tip of my index finger(Yummy) and then rub my thumb and index together as grab up my pick. That moisture really helps me control the pick.

Your experience my vary

 

[snarf]

I've always played with the side of the pick, and recently been noticing that, in trying to get faster, the amount of pick hitting the string was slowing me down. So I tried going to a smaller pick and trying to play with the point. I had all kinds of trouble. I sanded the pick to try to get a better grip, but it still wasn't working for me. I resigned myself to going back to playing with my old picks just like I had always done. Then someone gave me a sheet of Monster Grips. They're little pebbled pieces of adhesive that you put on your pick. I tried several variations, and found that sticking one of the stickers a little off-center on the thumb side only was exactly what I was needing to have the pick stay in place without it becoming immovable since I'm always tweaking how I'm holding it. A sheet is like $10, or about $0.65 a sticker. After my experimenting with them, I only have a couple of the stickers left. Whenever I buy new picks, I'll probably be getting another sheet of them. ymmv

https://www.monstergrips.com/shop/

 

[sdbrit68]

View attachment 9719 I'm back to this thread and I seemed to have missed a number of very good suggestions. But while I was gone and was still trying to solve this for me I ran into a brand new pick out there. Its by Bog Street. They are rather unique and they came in today so..... I immediately tried one out, figuring I would just get my disappointment over with right away. They work amazingly well. I do wish they were a little thinker but for now its the best I've found to solve this for me. They are a little $$$. Cannot seem to add a picture.

I was just getting ready to order these

 

[sdbrit68]

My kind of different take, yes the pick is important, but not as important as an experienced grip.

From me, a guy who coached for a few decades, It is like teaching hitting in baseball or softball. Until someone gains a lot of experience they don’t know how to have a light grip on the bat and still have control so it does not move around.

It comes down to muscle memory in your fingers. You stick with it enough you will be able to have a light touch and your fingers will keep the pick in place.

Yes pick material helps. For me I also lick the tip of my index finger(Yummy) and then rub my thumb and index together as grab up my pick. That moisture really helps me control the pick.

Your experience my vary

For me, the damage in my shoulder is taking its toll on my hands and I am losing grip strength every year so some of the gimmick things I think are in my future, either that or a key-tar

 

[artyman]

I drill a series of holes in my picks, one in the centre then five more in a penta pattern around that, really helps in it not slipping