I think I pick strangely

[He's Dead, Jim]

Not totally recording-related, but hopefully you guys can offer some advice anyway.



I'm about 60% self-taught and I've been playing for a long time, but most of the time I pick with my hand in a fist shape. I can pick with my fingers stretched out, but as you can see here, it makes certain parts (especially legato runs and sweep picking) much more difficult. I'm trying to practice so I'm less sloppy when I record, so it's kind of hampering me. Does anybody else do this, or am I just a freak of nature?

 

[LeSedna]

I'm the opposite, I can't pick without my other fingers touching somewhere on the guitar body or the higher strings (if picking on the low ones). Because otherwise, when playing while walking or moving, I cannot keep my marks.

Also :

 

[Jaymz]

My finger position changes from fist to stretched depending on what im playing.

 

[Wishx]

My finger position changes from fist to stretched depending on what im playing.

me2:Smug:

 

[lanky noob]

I always have my fingers out,with my pinky rested underneath the bridge pickup, kinda like John petrucci

Also marty friedman has the weirdest fucking picking style i've ever seen

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Huh, interesting. Sounds like there's some variation. Also, while I'm at it, when you guys sweep pick, do you really rest on the next string when you're going back up again at the end of the arpeggio? I.E., in the commonly used major sweep pattern that goes:

E 12
B 13
G 12
D 14
A 15
E X

When you're sweeping back up, from the high E to the A, do you actually rest the pick on the low E when you hit that final A before starting the phrase again, or do you sort of just hover in-between the strings? It's tripping me up and I'm not sure if it would be helpful to learn or totally useless.

 

[LeSedna]

Friedman also uses (used ?) a lot of alternating picking, probably by choice, which made a lot of his sound in his megadeth era. His solos are a bunch of notes all over the place that sound so good together with his own touch.

To answer the last question : you shouldn't touch the last E since the A 15 should be the first note picking down as opposed to being picked up like it was the last note. It is the first note of the beginning of the arpeggio (and is usually played as the first note of the measure for example). Subject to the particular case or preference of course, but to me it feels way more natural once you master it, and usually that's how people teach it.

I can't play it so fast but I feel very very comfortable with this technique and would just need practice to make it fast.

To make it clear : you should be playing :

12
--13
----12
------14
-
-

downstroke, and

--------12h15
------13
----12
--14
15
-

upstroke

it would feel weird though, and I would play downstroke

12
--13
----12
------14
--------15
-

then

------------12
----------13
--------12
------14
-12h15
-

If you try it 5mn you will understand why. Same with the high note, I would play a 15 or 17 downstroke with pull off to start again downstroke.

Please bear in mind I'm destroyed right now and am doing this by memory and without a guitar but you should get what I mean !

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Thanks for the advice. I'm a piss-poor player when it comes to shredding and I'm trying to be less awful in that regard.

 

[53Crëw]

Doesn't look strange to me. Some guys fan their fingers out, others tuck them in more like you. I don't know if there is really any technically correct way. My picking position varies, depending on what I'm playing... Sometimes my fingers are tucked in, other times they're fanned out and I sometimes anchor my pinky below the bridge pickup, so it really depends on what I'm playing. Never really bothered to figure out when I do which.

Marty Friedman's picking hand always trips me out. It looks so uncomfortable, but it seems to work for him.

 

[Plankis]

I play in the loosey goosey form like you all the time. I think the reason for that instead of the fist was that you can hybrid pick a little easier.
You're probably just unused playing without the tension that builds up when fisting, that's why you're more sloppy...
And don't get any ideas to start anchoring your fingers to the guitar body, it's just another unnecessary tension builder that leads one more step closer to carpal tunnel syndrome.

 

[Mm1066]

I always found the anchoring technique to be very strange indeed, surely you'd be able to control your picking without having to steady yourself via an anchor? I always think that it kind of restricts your wrist movement as well, which is a no no IMO.

 

[lanky noob]

I always found the anchoring technique to be very strange indeed, surely you'd be able to control your picking without having to steady yourself via an anchor? I always think that it kind of restricts your wrist movement as well, which is a no no IMO.

I only really use it for leads, as opposed to when i'm playing constant downstrokes etc.

I find that for lead it slightly restricts my wrist movement, forcing me to use finger/thumb movement more. This basically makes my movement smaller which is obviously more ergonomical for playing fast.
In tennis after every hit players return to the centre of the court so that whichever way they have to go, they're making the smallest possible movement, because there's no need to go any further, it's completely pointless. Sam with picking, once the string's been picked, whether you pass it by 0.5mil or 5 inches, it's still been picked, so it makes sense to use smaller movements so you can get onto the next note quicker and with less effort, and I find anchoring and using my fingers/thumb more than my wrist makes it much easier to do so, if anything because it restricts my movement.

Takes a while to get used to it, but once you do everything is so much easier. Plus using a mix of wrist/finger and thumb while downpicking reduces the strain on your wrist, making it easier to go for longer, in my experience anyway

 

[Plankis]

No. It's not better moving the up/down movement to the fingers instead of the wrist. You can do as small movements just from the wrist.

 

[lanky noob]

No. It's not better moving the up/down movement to the fingers instead of the wrist. You can do as small movements just from the wrist.

Well, it's what i'm used to and what I find easier
Horses for courses

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Horses for courses

This is my new favorite UK-derived idiom.