How Do You Hold Your Picking Hand?

[Stone]

I'm also trying the Bernth Technique its a little weird for me, but seems to offer more control, too early to tell just have to keep at it till i can see if its for me, Picking hand technique is another aspect that i need to work on
all part of the journey

 

[mavrick102000]

Mike, just remember don't crunch you unused fingers up tight, that's a tendency in the beginning for those of us who used to use some version of the "buckwheat" grip.

Keep them a little loose and you'll relax a bit more, also makes using hybrid picking technique a bit easier when you aren't making an arthritic modified fist.

Like most things, with practice it becomes a bit easier and you can feel how to adapt and it becomes second nature.

 

[la szum]

There clearly is no "right" way to do it.

 

[Stone]

There clearly is no "right" way to do it.

True dat, try a few different techniques for a couple of weeks and see what works best , its how i am approaching it

 

[scole]

Unfortunately, I’m calling for a slider out over the plate

 

[duzie]

There clearly is no "right" way to do it.

Sometimes I feel like this .

 

[Stone]

Sometimes I feel like this .
View attachment 7042

You know why huh Cheech? something is missing from the puzzle --->

 

[Orvillain]

Sometimes I anchor, sometimes I don't. Depends on the part, and just how it naturally feels best to play. I don't really analyse it much. As long as my hand or arm aren't cramping up or hurting, I don't really think about it.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Not an actual way to hold your picking hand but a great practising thing is to not contact anything with your hand. The only arm rest is happening at (or around) your elbow, the hand is free floating. Now do some picking with that (really just anything) for a while. Just a minute might be sufficient. Then return to your regular schedule (wrist/palm resting, finger anchoring, whatever might float your boat) and observe how comparatively easy that feels all of a sudden.
Variation #1: Do the same but when floating free, pick really hard. Return to normal strength picking when you return to your normal hand position.
Variation #2: Have your pick stick out as far as possible.

 

[Jarick]

My anchor point on the heel of my palm is right behind the low E string. I think that's because I do so much palm muting that I can easily shift over.

I hold the pick between thumb and pointer finger, and I tend to pick at a slight angle for more attack. I feel like that's a crutch I've been trying to get away from though.

My other fingers are curled in slightly and depending on what I'm playing, I'm often subconsciously muting the other strings. Or sometimes if I'm playing melodies on the low strings, I might anchor my pinky and/or ring fingers on the high string.

If I'm strumming open chords, I anchor my forearm on the body of the guitar typically where the arm carve is on a Strat. And then I am often anchoring my pinky finger on the body of the guitar below the pickups.

All of this stuff is done subconsciously and I'm guessing I do so much anchoring to try and control my pick attack for even dynamics?

 

[TSJMajesty]

So after trying to switch from fingers out, and resting lightly/dragging as my wrist moves, on the guitar, to tucked in..., I found that just too hard to retain control, especially when picking higher up the neck.

But I saw yet another You Tuber teacher, (and he's BADASS), saying you want your fingers tucked in. (Ozz Guitar, if anyone's interested.) I've watched plenty of his videos, so I can tell he knows what he's talking about.

Anyway, like changing any aspect of your technique from what you're used to, it felt unnatural, but this time I'm sticking with it, because I am noticing improvements in what I can do.

I do have to go back to a slower speed on various licks, and retrain that muscle memory, but I'm definitely digging the change. I'm also finding that having my fingers tucked in helps give me more hand surface to use to mute strings.

One of these days I'm going to do a video, if for no other reason to have something that I can look back on when I'm old.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I'd say whether you keep your fingers tucked in or opened depends most on the style(s) you're playing.
Personally, I need my fingers a lot for hybrid picking, and whammy bar control, so I'd have to flip around a lot, which I don't like. Yeah, I noticed a speed improvement when tucking my fingers in, but not enough to justify flipping around all the time.

 

[laxu]

Fingers tucked in for me. Probably pretty much text book form.

I can't do hybrid picking well enough and my fingerstyle playing heavily favors thumb, index, middle fingers over the last two.

 

[la szum]

I still say there is no single "right" way. Just whatever works.

 

[AminorZmajor]

I changed how my picking hand holds the pick maybe a decade ago. I have been very inconsistent with my speed and accuracy since. Sometimes it has been great others not so good. I found my downward pick slanting angle was very inconsistent therefore the inconsistency in speed/accuracy. I just recently found if I grip/curl my pinky and ring finger my hand naturally gets the right pick angle and my wrist movement is more consistent. Everything got better almost immediately. Might have found the best approach for my hand.

 

[AminorZmajor]

TSJ…. I re-read your post and that is basically exactly what I did and ironically I was watching a few Bernth videos as well. Usually I have these picking breakthroughs but have a problem converting them when standing up. Angles seem to change from sitting to standing. I seem to take a step backwards at that point. This change has been consistent when standing for a few days which is usually when things start to get difficult or I have technique breaks. I am hopeful it stays consistent and I can make some big gains. I am strict alternate picking as well.

 

[Zodiac]

If I'm holding my picking hand, with my other hand, how do I play on the neck?