Picks and picking

[k1w1]

I have over the years sorted to an average level, being able to strum a guitar with a flat pick, use finger picks on 3 fingers on flattops, archtops and resonators, and use bare fingers. But damn I am having a nightmare using a thumbpick as a pick.

I know Tsuken has sorted this, and it is basically practice. Still working on it.

Only recently found out what alternate picking was (but have been doing it for years anyway) and chicken picking is a thing I can't do. How is your style developing? Me the thumbpick as a be all would be great.

[Tsuken]

Have you trimmed the thumbpick down a bit so what sticks outis the same as a flatpick? That made all the difference for me. (Praise be to Scotty Anderson)

[Hot_Grits]

I started actively pursuing playing with flatpick and fingers a couple of years ago, and it's totally changed the way I play. I totally recommend exploring it.

For years I worked on my alternate picking, and I never got to where I wanted to be with it. I always found it hard to change gears on the fly or play phrases that didn't match whatever picking patterns I had worked on before. I found it was something of a barrier that kept me playing what my technique in that area allowed me to play rather than what I wanted to play.

Once I started to get a hang on hybrid picking all of a sudden my playing became more about what I wanted to play. As a technique it's kind of allowed me to get past technique. It's also allowed me to play wide intervals comfortably and play multitimbral stuff much better than I could have with just a pick. Some of the stuff I did on the Rebecca LeHarle ep would have been impossible for me a few years ago.

Like any technique, it has it's strengths and drawbacks, but for me it works great.

Funnily enough my alternate picking has improved as a result of all this work in another direction. I used to grip the pick mainly between thumb and bird finger and changing to gripping with thumb and pointing finger as a result of keeping the bird finger free made me work on getting a feel with the new grip. Along the way I discovered that I could get quite an accurate picking motion happening if I kept my thumb low to the strings to the point where my thumb's side was brushing the string above the one being picked. My theory is this provides a physical touch point for my hand to reference the strings better, similar to anchoring my pinky on the body, which is a method many very good pickers use and I've never been comfortable with.

I've never tried thumbpicks aside from putting them on and considering them weird. Though Brent Mason is killer with one.

[k1w1]

Have you trimmed the thumbpick down a bit so what sticks outis the same as a flatpick? That made all the difference for me. (Praise be to Scotty Anderson)

Oh yes, tried a lot of different ways, have one called an Acripick that I have shaved down, it is a a brass body with a plastic pick attached, great but not quite right (I am going to graft a new plastic bit on), best so far is a 1960's pick I got with a vintage guitar I bought, really nice.

I've settled on hybrid picking (ie. pick, middle and ring fingers). Got nails too for full fingerstyle (I hate that term). I had a thumb pick that I got a long time ago when I broke my thumb nail. I chopped it down, and file it so the attacking edge was sort of soft and curved, but sharp where it meets the other side, so you can change angles for a bit more bite. Did the same to a little flatpick on both sides and it works pretty good. I don't understand why you would specifically want to use a thumb pick for flat picking unless it was in conjunction with some sort of involved finger-style. See: Sonny Landreth.

Yeah tried that too, but found full thumb and fingerpicks suited me, and then not for electctric, the thumb only really seems the best. Not so much specifically using a flat for picking, more for electric work using a fingerpicking style without the finger picks.

[k1w1]

BTW, this is not about me, wanted to get some input from people about what they do....

[Tsuken]

I don't understand why you would specifically want to use a thumb pick for flat picking unless it was in conjunction with some sort of involved finger-style. See: Sonny Landreth.

For me it allows flat-picking without the pick slipping out of my fingers, which used to be a regular occurrence

But also it's like hyprid picking except easier, as I have one more finger free, and I also find there's less tension in the right hand, as I'm not holding onto a flatpick between thumb and index finger.

All in all I've found it really good - and makes everything feel more natural. The only real downside is that pick harmonics pretty much don't happen any more

[slash-ed]

Funnily enough my alternate picking has improved as a result of all this work in another direction. I used to grip the pick mainly between thumb and bird finger ...

Haha, was this an EVH-related decision, the old way you used to hold the pick?

[Hot_Grits]

Funnily enough my alternate picking has improved as a result of all this work in another direction. I used to grip the pick mainly between thumb and bird finger ...

Haha, was this an EVH-related decision, the old way you used to hold the pick?

Very possibly. So long ago that I can't tell you whether it was chicken or egg. I do know it allowed me to free up the tapping finger. I liked the look of bird finger for tapping, but that felt uncomfortable.

[slash-ed]

Do you still do much tapping at all? I'm trying to actually learn how to tap properly (phrases across the fretboard rather than just simple single string arpeggios/licks etc), and EVH looks like a great place to start. I think I'll have to start wearing my guitar higher if I do, seems to be an awkward angle standing up for the right hand wrist, although Nuno seems to manage just fine with guitar around his knees. But then again Nuno is a monster.

[Hot_Grits]

Do you still do much tapping at all? I'm trying to actually learn how to tap properly (phrases across the fretboard rather than just simple single string arpeggios/licks etc), and EVH looks like a great place to start. I think I'll have to start wearing my guitar higher if I do, seems to be an awkward angle standing up for the right hand wrist, although Nuno seems to manage just fine with guitar around his knees. But then again Nuno is a monster.

Nope. That's mostly because of the hybrid picking thing: I can play a lot of the stuff I used to tap pretty comfortably without tapping the notes. To me tapping is just a way to play legato, and the only real advantageis you can hit a wide interval easily. In most cases it's just as easy for me to play a wide interval vertically across the neck than horizontally.

But it's also because I want to eradicate anything that reminds me of a tapping lick. Even when I was young I refused to do any of the classic Ed maneuvers and to this day I cringe when I hear someone doing that kind of stuff. That also extends to crazier stuff by dudes like Greg Howe and Vai and Nuno as well. Been there, done that, bored. If I played those licks now it would only be because I could, and I really can't think of a musical context where it would add something to do so. There is one exception to the rule, however: if i have a really crazy tone dialed up that pretty much isn't guitar any more then the tapping might come out. That's more to do with my love of 70s analog synthesisers than anything else, though.

But enough about me being bored with chops. If you want to get real good at tapping I suggest you hunt down Steve lynch's REH instructional video. There's a bunch of basic scalar licks he runs that can get you flying all over the neck if you so desire to. The trick to it is he uses a sequence that always starts with a tapped note whenever he moves to a new string, which allows you to ascend a scale just as easily as descend it. I got a copy when I was a kid and took to it really well, to the point where I could tap smoothly all over the neck for as long as I wanted. It became like a party trick. But I became really reliant on one sequence, and that became something to avoid, kind of like that left hand legato sequence that Vai and Satriani and Kotzen all lean on so much.

Here's Steve doing it (go to 1:08-1:20 for a slow breakdown of the sequence I was talking about above):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1SWXVXQ ... re=related[/youtube]

-how 'bout that soupy chorus/flange, eh?

If you were interested in fooling people into thinking you weren't tapping I'd suggest you look at Reb Beach. He has a crazy technique where he'll play four notes of a given mode, then hybrid pick the next note on the next string, allowing him to smoothly ascend a scale without breaking it into a sequence. And he can do it at pretty much any time, so there isn't that 'here's the lick' thing. you can do the same by simply hammering on with your left hand finger, but it's hard to make that not sound weak.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGjEaganMLk[/youtube]

[slash-ed]

Cool, thanks. That's helpful. I'd seen the Reb Beach vid before I think, but had forgotten about it. I think I tried it, pretty difficult too!

And I don't even know who Steve Lynch is. Google here I come...

[Hot_Grits]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEaxhLqb ... re=related[/youtube]

[RuBear]

How come hybrid pickers never talk about using their pinky? I reckon it definately handy for 4 note chords where you can get the in sync sound, rather than strumming.

Also the whole first finger tapping whilst holding a pick with your thumb and middle finger thing can be used for harmonics where the first finger hovers above the fret, usually 12 frets above what the left hand is playing, and you use the pick to sound the harmonic. Get real good and you could even do harmonic sweeps. Upstrokes using that technique are hard!

Hot Grits, any vids you would recommend for hybrid picking?

[Hot_Grits]

How come hybrid pickers never talk about using their pinky? I reckon it definately handy for 4 note chords where you can get the in sync sound, rather than strumming.

Also the whole first finger tapping whilst holding a pick with your thumb and middle finger thing can be used for harmonics where the first finger hovers above the fret, usually 12 frets above what the left hand is playing, and you use the pick to sound the harmonic. Get real good and you could even do harmonic sweeps. Upstrokes using that technique are hard!

Hot Grits, any vids you would recommend for hybrid picking?

I use my pinky fairly rarely, as it's a bit weak and unco. It's getting more useful but it's a slow process.

For hybrid picking:

Brett Garsed is the guy I've paid attention to. Here he is explaining his technique, then having a bit of a lydian widdle:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqZWL38IDkw[/youtube]

[DarcyPerry]

I never really got the hang of a pick. I used my fingers as a bass player, so when I moved to guitar I just shifted my right hand to use my thumb and fingers. A few years back I was getting acrylic on my nails (a flamenco guitar trick?) but I stopped that because I was starting to hit the strings like a pick and was losing the flesh tone I love.

I mainly use thumb, pointer and index. Often the ring gets some work on chords but never the pinky.

You can do a lot without a pick. Throw it away for a while and hear what happens.