Hi Griff, much of the music that I am working on have both picking and strumming. Right now I’m working on Layla from Clapton‘s unplugged concert ‘92. Lots of picking and strumming both, Do you have any technical recommendations as far as right arm/wrist/hand position on the guitar and/or any drills that would be helpful for improving my picking accuracy? Thanks much and take good care, Jay.
Picking accuracy whoas....
- Thread starter jnejedlo
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Silicon Valley Tom
It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
Well, I am not Griff, but if you do not mind, I will give you a bit of advice regarding the use of guitar picks.
I have found that about 85% of guitar instructors are incompetent. Do it my way or the hiway is their moto.
In the end you will have to find what works for you, but you are going to have to do your homework!
Holding and using a pick while strumming and picking are a bit different. You even get into what thickness pick to use for these two very different techniques. People with such suggestions may not realize that the piece of music you are playing could require both techniques, and it is not "easy" to change a pick in the middle of a piece of music!
There are several factors to consider:
1. The guitar you are using.
2. The pick itself.
Try looking at several YouTube offerings about using a guitar pick. Attempt to emulate what is shown and use what works for you.
Pick control is very important. My suggestion is to use a major or minor scale, or even a part of a scale to begin with. Start with open strings and work your way up the neck, over a period of a few days.
At first use all downstrokes. Then add alternate strokes down - up. Finally, add triplets. You want to get the "feel of the pick and strings".
Practice and see what works best for you.
Some "pickers", like Jerry Reed, develop his/her own style of holding a guitar pick. Find what works for you, and with a good deal of practice you will be comfortable with what you are trying to accomplish.
Tom
I have found that about 85% of guitar instructors are incompetent. Do it my way or the hiway is their moto.
In the end you will have to find what works for you, but you are going to have to do your homework!
Holding and using a pick while strumming and picking are a bit different. You even get into what thickness pick to use for these two very different techniques. People with such suggestions may not realize that the piece of music you are playing could require both techniques, and it is not "easy" to change a pick in the middle of a piece of music!
There are several factors to consider:
1. The guitar you are using.
2. The pick itself.
Try looking at several YouTube offerings about using a guitar pick. Attempt to emulate what is shown and use what works for you.
Pick control is very important. My suggestion is to use a major or minor scale, or even a part of a scale to begin with. Start with open strings and work your way up the neck, over a period of a few days.
At first use all downstrokes. Then add alternate strokes down - up. Finally, add triplets. You want to get the "feel of the pick and strings".
Practice and see what works best for you.
Some "pickers", like Jerry Reed, develop his/her own style of holding a guitar pick. Find what works for you, and with a good deal of practice you will be comfortable with what you are trying to accomplish.
Tom
Hi how’s it going? Thanks for your response however I think I probably wasn’t very articulate in describing my issue. I’m having is not playing scales but rather when playing a song where after a set of strums I need to hit a base note or a quick run of notes. My problem is to reliably hit the correct string after a strum sequence. Thanks again for responding!
Well, I am not Griff, but if you do not mind, I will give you a bit of advice regarding the use of guitar picks.
I have found that about 85% of guitar instructors are incompetent. Do it my way or the hiway is their moto.
In the end you will have to find what works for you, but you are going to have to do your homework!
Holding and using a pick while strumming and picking are a bit different. You even get into what thickness pick to use for these two very different techniques. People with such suggestions may not realize that the piece of music you are playing could require both techniques, and it is not "easy" to change a pick in the middle of a piece of music!
There are several factors to consider:
1. The guitar you are using.
2. The pick itself.
Try looking at several YouTube offerings about using a guitar pick. Attempt to emulate what is shown and use what works for you.
Pick control is very important. My suggestion is to use a major or minor scale, or even a part of a scale to begin with. Start with open strings and work your way up the neck, over a period of a few days.
At first use all downstrokes. Then add alternate strokes down - up. Finally, add triplets. You want to get the "feel of the pick and strings".
Practice and see what works best for you.
Some "pickers", like Jerry Reed, develop his/her own style of holding a guitar pick. Find what works for you, and with a good deal of practice you will be comfortable with what you are trying to accomplish.
Tom
OG_Blues
Guitar Geezer
It's the same as they teach in race driving school. The car will go where your eyes are looking and focused.
Same with your picking - when you identify a troublesome spot, just before that beat, look and focus at the spot on the string where you want the right hand / pick to go and it will go there. After a while, you will probably no longer need to look.
snarf
making guitars wish they were still trees
Admittedly, I have no interest in being a shredder or playing blazing fast technically challenging runs, and I have been accused on more than one occasion of being a sloppy player. That said, I actually play around with that version of Layla occasionally, and know enough of it that I could probably fake it through most of it. For me, the problem isn't always being super accurate and hitting only the strings I want to hit, it's muting the strings I don't want ringing. That way I don't have to worry quite so much about hitting one string and one string only. I can hit half the strings but the only one ringing is the one that I want. Don't forget that sometimes the technique you want isn't necessarily in the hand that you think it should be.
ymm-definitely-v
luckylarry
Student Of The Blues
I don't have a horse in this race but Snarf seems to me to have a great look at the issue.
brent
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
My recommendation is to slow down. Way down. Break it down to the point where you are only playing one note or strum every 2 or 3 seconds and count out loud. That may seem too easy at first and a waste of time, but it's the only way to correctly get the movement and timing down WITHOUT mistakes. If you practice mistakes, you will keep making them. Once, you can play it this slowly a few times through without ANY mistakes, you should be able to gradually start increasing the tempo. You may surprise yourself how quickly you can speed up after this exercise.
When I was in Tae Kwon Do classes, we used similar technique. You have to learn forms in Tae Kwon Do (an most other martial arts for that matter). When you are new and learning your first forms, you need to slow down to the point of paying attention to whether your wrist is straight, your punch is pointing in exactly the right place, your hips are square, your footing is right, etc. This is painfully slow to a beginner, but getting these factors correct in the beginning is the foundation for getting all else right as you progress. Soon, those fundamentals become automatic, but won't unless you practice them that way.
Crossroads
Thump the Bottom
I'm with Smurf on this one, not only on being sloppy but on the muting thing. Several courses I've taken from good instructors stress the importance of muting, especially when playing high speed runs emphasize muting is more important than accurate picking Use the tip of your finger to mute the string(s) above and no pressure on your finger on the strings below. Can also use right hand palm muting. If you play high-gain amps, or ever plan on playing slide it's all about the muting.
You’re right I do need to slow down and not skip right to playing at speed. Thank you for calling me out on that!
QUOTE="brent, post: 355385, member: 760"]My recommendation is to slow down. Way down. Break it down to the point where you are only playing one note or strum every 2 or 3 seconds and count out loud. That may seem too easy at first and a waste of time, but it's the only way to correctly get the movement and timing down WITHOUT mistakes. If you practice mistakes, you will keep making them. Once, you can play it this slowly a few times through without ANY mistakes, you should be able to gradually start increasing the tempo. You may surprise yourself how quickly you can speed up after this exercise.
When I was in Tae Kwon Do classes, we used similar technique. You have to learn forms in Tae Kwon Do (an most other martial arts for that matter). When you are new and learning your first forms, you need to slow down to the point of paying attention to whether your wrist is straight, your punch is pointing in exactly the right place, your hips are square, your footing is right, etc. This is painfully slow to a beginner, but getting these factors correct in the beginning is the foundation for getting all else right as you progress. Soon, those fundamentals become automatic, but won't unless you practice them that way.[/QUOTE]
QUOTE="brent, post: 355385, member: 760"]My recommendation is to slow down. Way down. Break it down to the point where you are only playing one note or strum every 2 or 3 seconds and count out loud. That may seem too easy at first and a waste of time, but it's the only way to correctly get the movement and timing down WITHOUT mistakes. If you practice mistakes, you will keep making them. Once, you can play it this slowly a few times through without ANY mistakes, you should be able to gradually start increasing the tempo. You may surprise yourself how quickly you can speed up after this exercise.
When I was in Tae Kwon Do classes, we used similar technique. You have to learn forms in Tae Kwon Do (an most other martial arts for that matter). When you are new and learning your first forms, you need to slow down to the point of paying attention to whether your wrist is straight, your punch is pointing in exactly the right place, your hips are square, your footing is right, etc. This is painfully slow to a beginner, but getting these factors correct in the beginning is the foundation for getting all else right as you progress. Soon, those fundamentals become automatic, but won't unless you practice them that way.[/QUOTE]
Thanks very much! I believe you are correct and I do need to make sure that I am muting properly. I appreciate your help. Thanks.