Mikael Akerfeldt's picking technique

[Lateralus14]

Wow, you guys are missing the point. The point is that anchoring your right pinky has no fucking effect on your playing whatsoever and is thus completely irrelevant to music. It's entirely an issue of comfort. Doesn't mean a fucking thing if Petrucci does it. I'm sorry but...wow what a bunch of dumbass responses

 

[antipunx13]

it does have an effect. Like I said before, playing arpeggios or skipping strings is a lot more seamless and natural when you're not resting your pinky on the guitar. But if you can manage it and play well, then it doesn't matter.

 

[burntoast]

Wow, you guys are missing the point. The point is that anchoring your right pinky has no fucking effect on your playing whatsoever and is thus completely irrelevant to music. It's entirely an issue of comfort. Doesn't mean a fucking thing if Petrucci does it. I'm sorry but...wow what a bunch of dumbass responses

I misunderstood what you said. My mistake. Crutch is usually construed as being something negative, so I thought you meant it wasn't good.

But I wasn't trying to make the point that Petrucci is somehow better because he anchors his finger. My point is that saying it's poor technique isn't really fair since Petrucci and a lot of other players have had great success using it.

 

[Lateralus14]

Yea, I should have said habit.

 

[de_aztec]

the guy asked a question and i tried to answer him...what's the big deal? why does it matter if it's not a technique?

hes right about arpeggios, especially if you hybrid pick, since youll have to take off your pinky to pick the e string anyway

 

[Tom_Vou]

i was just curious, hybrid picking is where you hold your pick with thumb and index fingers, whilst your other three fingers are free to pick the rest of the strings? is that correct?

If so, does anyone use this technique? i've tried the technique i described above and find it easier than full finger picking (which i absolutely suck at).

 

[de_aztec]

yeah thats hybrid picking. i do it sometimes, it has its uses and its drawbacks (u got a pick so its easier to shred, but also you only have 4 'fingers' rather than 5 to play with.)

alot of jazz guys do it, like scott henderson, allan holdsworth. guthrie govan does it quite a bit, as did jason becker. im sure there are many others

 

[Windward]

I use hybrid picking in a chord of "Coil".

 

[HemeHaci]

I understand how the opener feels and he is absolutely right. The styles you develop yourself may, most probably, affect your playing in a worse manner even if it feels comfortable at the start. What I do is, imitating Petrucci in every aspect, which helped me a lot sincerely. His one flaw he mentioned was the pinky of his left hand which doesnt stay poised but rather curls under the fretboard.. And dont mind about Mikael that much his technique is mediocre at best, most the players of metal scene is already on his level. So I guess you can imitate Petrucci or make a mixture of great players like Angelo Batio, Gilbert, Petrucci and Buckethead and so on, adopt whose technique is most suited to you. Developing on your on may haunt you afterwards as you put it, but you never know some pioneering may came up too

Edit: By the way, after Björn Gelotte of In Flames, Mikael, imho, has the best style of playing guitar (visually appealing).

 

[Words of Credence]

I like how some people think it's either "you anchor or you not". Bullshit. You can do both things depending on what you're playing at the moment.

 

[Navras]

The real question is: are people that 'anchor' limiting themselves? They may be better than a lot of people that don't, but would they be even better if they also didn't?