From: Ville Nummela Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic Subject: Re: Using a guitar pick writes: > I play classical style & want to learn to use a guitar pick. Lotsa' > "teachers" out there & all have different conflicting techniques on using a > guitar pick. Anybody recommend a good video of the proper technique? Like, > how do you get the pick to just hit certain strings & not others. And how > do you master pick placement..one pick, many strings..?? What style of > music is the kind people strum guitar to at summer camp, while the kiddies > sing along?? There is no one "proper" technique for using the pick. Just like the classical guitarist needs to master several styles and techniques, so does the flatpicking guitarist. Of course the classical players are generally much more disciplined about their stuff than flatpickers. Can't really help you much, I'm afraid, but I'll give you a few brief guidelines: - The pick itself: Thicker and tightef picks are more versatile, but harder for the beginner. There's a limit though; after a certain point thick picks beging to sound dull. For material I recommend celluloid. - Pick angle: should be fairly near perpendicular to the the strings, but does not need to be exactly so. The nut side can point either slightly upwards or downwards - your preference. Most people point it down, I point it up. But only slightly. The pick will last longer and you'll sound punchier. The pick should also be held as close to perpendicular to the top as possible. You are going to be doing both up- and downstrokes, and you'll usually want them to sound as alike as possible. During the swing, you can of course allow the pick to flex a little. - Grip: One extreme is a tight grip of the pick with the tip protruding no more than a few millimeters. If most of my playing is single notes or 2-3 strings at a time, I use this technique. If, on the other hand, I need to create wide, ringing chords, I push the tip further out. The main reason for pushing and pulling the tip in and out is tone, not volume. The shorther the protruding distance, the tighter the sound. One can produce extremely fast dynamical changes simply by varying the amount of force one uses to squeeze the pick in the hand. It is even possible to do this within a single strum. If I'm playing a chord, and wish to emphasize either highs or lows (but not completely exlude the other strings) I do it this way. Plus varying the strike angle a bit; see below. In general, this is the preferred way to control volume. Increasing muscle power or changing the pick position may be necessary, but only for larger and longer lasting changes. - Striking the strings: The driving power should come either from the wrist or from the entire hand. Wrist is generally used when you need to perform small, rapid motion. Picture mandolin leads and tremolo. The full arm (that is, the muscles in the full arm; the first moving joint is the elbow) gets used for strumming chords. And then there are, of course, several stages of somewhere-in-between. Whatever you do, hold your fingers still! You only use them to change or correct your grip of the pick. For steady, rhythmic and harmonic chord strumming, learn to swing your hand in a wide arc. Much wider than just the distance of the two E strings. This *will* improve your tone. For tight and punchy soloes, double- and triple-stop riffs, use a narrow arc only. Whether physical the power comes from the wrist or the full arm, depends on the situation. Neither is universally right or wrong - learn both ways. In general, hold your wrist around an inch (yes, a full inch!) away from the bridge. Learn to home on the right coordinates by the touch of the pick only. This is difficult to do, but essential to good sound. Sometimes, the wrist must be brought in contact with the bridge. This happens when you wish to use the right hand to mute some or all of the strings. This is a common electric guitar technique. The acoustic guitarist should learn it too, but with caution. Most of the time it's bad manners. You don't want to mute the guitar top - that's where the sound comes from. For muting, the best option is a fluent collaboration between both left and right hands. It is worthwhile to spend some time learning this, as muting is essential to bringing the rhythm and groove into your music. When strumming, your hand should approach the strings almost parallel to the top - but not quite. Slight variations of this angle can be used to control which strings one hits or emphasizes. But don't get carried away. Remember the grip thing. One more word of wisdom: A skilled pick-stylist can create just as many nuances than a fingerstyle classical guitarist. The pick ain't just for strumming and flailing.