Picking Question

[Nola]

hi everyone. i've been trying to clean up my guitar playing.

i notice when playing a lead i keep having this problem where my right index finger will brush against a string. it's pretty specific to let me try to explain:

if i play the lead going down from low E string to high E string i don't really have the problem, but when returning back up the neck, the tip/fleshy part of my index will sometimes catch on the string. it makes me trip on the note when it happens. it's almost like i pick the note and then it hits the flesh and kind of...chokes. i'd say this only happens like less than 5% of the time so i never bothered to fix it, but i'm trying to clean things up and it's driving me nuts. i hold the pick pretty standard except i like to have the index finger super close to the tip, and i think that's the cause, but is there a way to hold it close to the tip (it feels natural and comfortable and a lot of control to me when it's closer) and also stop this problem? i can't figure out exactly what is causing it. what i read online is maybe pick angle and others said pick control. i anchor the fleshy part of my hand against the bridge when playing lead lines and remove it off the bridge when strumming chords. i don't use my pinky to anchor on the body, though.

thanks everyone

 

[Greg_L]

i like to have the index finger super close to the tip, and i think that's the cause,

Uh, yeah, so stop doing that.

 

[JDOD]

Unfortunately, like everything else it's just practice! Try with a metronome, start slow, picking everything perfectly and gradually increase your speed. When you're trying to play fast it's the only way to do it.

 

[Robus]

Practice, that's all. I find it's better to keep a loose grip on the pick. I actually hold it between my thumb and index finger and use my other fingers for plucking the strings. If you listen to the guitar in any of my songs, you can hear that hybrid style where I'm picking on the low strings and plucking on the high ones. Pretty regularly, the pick goes flying across the room.

 

[Nola]

Uh, yeah, so stop doing that.

yeah. hm.
it has so much control, though. when i play with it further up the pick it almost feels like holding a pencil halfway up the pencil vs holding it right near the point and trying to write. it's just really awkward to not get in close like that for me.
then i read online that a lot of people use these tiny jazz picks where their finger is right on the tip. so i wasn't sure it was the problem.

 

[Nola]

robus and jdod and greg, how close to the tip of the pick is your index finger?

 

[Greg_L]

robus and jdod and greg, how close to the tip of the pick is your index finger?

I don't know, I don't think about things like that. If yours is too close, and it seems like it is, then stop doing that.

 

[minerman]

I don't know, I don't think about things like that. If yours is too close, and it seems like it is, then stop doing that.

 

[JDOD]

robus and jdod and greg, how close to the tip of the pick is your index finger?

Me, very close. 1mm ish. Agaib, that's a style thing though. Practice and do what's right for you.

 

[Robus]

I had to grab a pick to check. A long way, turns out. About a third of the length of the pick extends beyond where my fingers stop. You might find that's more efficient than holding it close to the tip, once you get used to it.

 

[Greg_L]

Mine too. I just grabbed a pick without thinking about it and looked. I've got about half the pick sticking out past my thumb and index finger.

 

[Nola]

Me, very close. 1mm ish. Agaib, that's a style thing though. Practice and do what's right for you.

that's what i do, too. do you ever get the string caught on the flesh of the finger? especially on the 2nd string it happens. actually i think that's the only string it happens to for me and usually when picking from the high E toward the low E. like on that up movement it gets caught. ugh

 

[miroslav]

Get rid of the pick for awhile and try playing leads with your finger...that way, you won't see the finger tip as a problem.
When you can play leads using just your index finger (and/or other fingers too)...then add a pick and see how it goes.
There's a lot of variety that can be had with pick & finger and the many ways you can hold the pick.

I tend to play so that my index finger is often hitting the string along WITH the pick tip. It makes for a very fat/thick tone/attack. On downward strokes I may just hit with the nail of my index finger and the flesh tip.
I never consciously tried to develop that style it just came about from years of playing, and I think some if it came from playing with very thin picks early on, so I would choke-up on the pick.
Then I switched to thicker picks several years back, not super thick (.73mm) as I still like some flex in the pick... and now I like that combination of the tip and the finger hitting the string....but, I don't do it all the time. Sometimes, I'll shift the pick so it's all pick, sometimes holding it on edge a bit....then other times, I'll just stick the pick between my teeth and play with just my finger tip.

I've also gone through a variety of pick materiel types and shapes...and a couple of years ago I discovered the then fairly new Dunlop Tortex III with it's sharper point. I use to take picks with the regular rounder tips and give them a sharper point, but these Tortex III are probably the best I've ever used, and I don't think I'll be switching to anything else. It's not just the tip, the rest of the pick has a slightly different shape than your typical pick.

Anyway...learn a variety of pick holds and how to use them all. I'm sure some guy always play with one type of pick hold...but IMO...you can get many tone/attack flavors just by adjusting that hold.

 

[Greg_L]

Dunlop Tortex III with it's sharper point.

I got a whole bunch of those for free a few years ago. They're like a Tortex Jumbo Jazz III. I kind of like them too, but they're a little too pointy for me.

 

[Nola]

Get rid of the pick for awhile and try playing leads with your finger...that way, you won't see the finger tip as a problem.
When you can play leads using just your index finger (and/or other fingers too)...then add a pick and see how it goes.
There's a lot of variety that can be had with pick & finger and the many ways you can hold the pick.

I tend to play so that my index finger is often hitting the string along WITH the pick tip. It makes for a very fat/thick tone/attack. On downward strokes I may just hit with the nail of my index finger and the flesh tip.
I never consciously tried to develop that style it just came about from years of playing, and I think some if it came from playing with very thin picks early on, so I would choke-up on the pick.
Then I switched to thicker picks several years back, not super thick (.73mm) as I still like some flex in the pick... and now I like that combination of the tip and the finger hitting the string....but, I don't do it all the time. Sometimes, I'll shift the pick so it's all pick, sometimes holding it on edge a bit....then other times, I'll just stick the pick between my teeth and play with just my finger tip.

I've also gone through a variety of pick materiel types and shapes...and a couple of years ago I discovered the then fairly new Dunlop Tortex III with it's sharper point. I use to take picks with the regular rounder tips and give them a sharper point, but these Tortex III are probably the best I've ever used, and I don't think I'll be switching to anything else. It's not just the tip, the rest of the pick has a slightly different shape than your typical pick.

Anyway...learn a variety of pick holds and how to use them all. I'm sure some guy always play with one type of pick hold...but IMO...you can get many tone/attack flavors just by adjusting that hold.

thanks mirlov. i like the tortex picks a lot, and i like the ultex even better. those are the two i use. for strumming i use like .60 or .73 (usually, but sometimes on acoustic they sound too wimpy to me like that song "breakfast at tiffany's" boy do i hate the sound of that guitar strum), but for leads i like 1.14mm. sometimes i will even use the 1.14mm for strumming if it's a song that switches between chords and leads and that's fine i just usually hold the pick much lighter and graze it when strumming so it's not as boomy or will switch and use my thumb if the pick is too much attack on the strum.

On downward strokes I may just hit with the nail of my index finger and the flesh tip.

that sounds cool. i feel my nail hit the string, too, but i'm not sure if it's hitting the string i'm plucking or getting caught on the string one higher. maybe i'll video myself playing to try to figure it out. if it's the latter and i'm hitting one string higher, maybe the pick is getting in too deep sometimes betweeb the strings and that's the problem. if feels like a "sloppy" problem more than where the finger is on the pick, tbh. that's why i say i want to "clean it up" it just feels like a weird, bad habit but i can't pinpoint it.

i'm open to holding the pick further away but if i can keep it close to the tip and figure out how to clean this up i'd rather do that since i like the control of being so close to the tip and it just feels comfortable and natural there. i do finger pick some and like having the fingers real close, in general, when flat picking...probably from finger picking.

do you think staring at the right hand while picking for like a week's worth of practice is a good idea? I'm going to dry to develop a plan to fix this so any input would be great thanks. i usually practice like two hours a day so if i can pinpoint the problem i feel i can fix it pretty fast.

 

[miroslav]

I got a whole bunch of those for free a few years ago. They're like a Tortex Jumbo Jazz III. I kind of like them too, but they're a little too pointy for me.

Yeah...right...they're most certainly a derivative of the Jazz III.

The reason I like the sharper point is because I tend to choke up on the pick and often use both pick and fingertip.
The sharper point is more precise and it doesn't cover as much of my finger...I dunno...it started a long time ago with me shaving regular picks to get a little more tip...and then when I found these, I was in heaven.

The Dunlop folks were really cool. I had several dozen Dunlop Tortex picks, brand new...and I asked them if I could exchange all of them for the Tortex III, plus I bought more on top. They took them back no problem and I think I have a few hundred Tortex III picks now.

I also have probably about two dozen other variety of picks, in quantity, from trying out stuff and going through pick phases over the years...but now I use the Tortex III for all single-note picking, though sometime I'll grab some of my thinner picks if I'm going to be strumming more gently, or when I play the acoustic.

 

[Greg_L]

I have maybe a thousand or so various picks....and I don't think I bought any of them. My vast collection of various picks consists solely from finding them at gigs, from friends, laying around guitar shops, etc. I still have picks from my high school days. I have everything from giant bass picks to tiny, thick Eric Johnson Jazz IIIs. I even have a Lemmy and a few BB King and Johnny Ramone throwouts somewhere.

I really have no preference to shape, besides just the normal pick shape. I like just regular old picks. Not too thick, not too thin. The picks I use most often are custom logo picks a friend of mine had made for himself. They're like medium-heavy, regular shape, tortex-like material. I have a ton of them. They're laying all over our practice space, and I grab a few at every practice. I'll never ever have to buy picks. Ever.

 

[ido1957]

Here's a weird one - I start with the pointy end of the pick then after playing a few seconds it somehow turns around and I'm picking with the round part. Guess I'm not using my kung fu grip enough lol.... Has no impact on picking quality so I've never tried to "change" it ....

 

[JDOD]

Here's a weird one - I start with the pointy end of the pick then after playing a few seconds it somehow turns around and I'm picking with the round part. Guess I'm not using my kung fu grip enough lol.... Has no impact on picking quality so I've never tried to "change" it ....

I used to to that too, then I just started playing with the round part. That was a Dunlop ultex.

I play with a horn Iron Age arrowhead now, it was actually a little bit pointy when I got it but the point has worn away.

 

[gecko zzed]

Here's a weird one - I start with the pointy end of the pick then after playing a few seconds it somehow turns around and I'm picking with the round part. Guess I'm not using my kung fu grip enough lol.... Has no impact on picking quality so I've never tried to "change" it ....

Somehow I start with the round end. The pointy end is pointing into my palm. I like Jim Dunlops . . . grey ones or black ones.