@Indranilkapuri Comfort is important. Looking at your photograph I would pick up on two issues.
1] Your pick is sticking out a long way from your grip. Try having less of the pick protruding for more control.
2] Your fingers 2, 3 and 4 are curled tight in a fist-like shape. Try relaxing them and allowing them to uncurl. Tension in the fingers is not good for playing well.
I hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard |
Is angling the pick a good technique for picking individual strings or only for strumming? Just watched a Flatpicking technique video by Tony Polecastro and he said to angle the pick for individual strings.
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I angle my pick for both strumming and picking individual strings. For me, it helps the pick slide over the strings more easily, prevents the pick from getting “stuck” in the strings during up-strums, and, when combined with a more “in-out” vs. “up-down” motion when picking, makes string-skipping much easier and more natural feeling.
So, my pick is angled in two directions. The bridge-facing-edge is angled HIGHER than the nut-facing-edge (about 45 degrees to the strings), and the tip is angled up so it’s slightly above the grip area (about 30 degrees)
YMMV
Edit: Changed word in BOLD from “lower”. I meant to say higher. Sorry for the confusion.
I’ve seen a few players who hold the pick with the bridge-side lower than the nut side, but it is rare.
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Interesting. Your method is opposite of what (little) I’ve seen which is angling the pick down (nut-side lower), but when I tried your method, it appears my wrist is in a more natural position, rather than tilted down. I’m gonna give it a try… thanks!
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Nut side angled down is also what Justin teaches in his course. But I guess as with a lot of things, it’s not a case of (absolutely) right or wrong - the main thing is you need to angle the pick to make it slide smoothly over the strings.
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I rewatched Justin’s Strumming SOS video about how to hold the pick and you’re right, he does teach NSD (nut-side down). Maybe it’s just a comfort/personal preference thing?
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It is just a preference/comfort thing, but the vast majority of players angle the pick down towards the nut.
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I often tried, but I do not angle my pick, because I do not get it to sound better, in the contrary the sound is more scratchy. I have no idea what I am doing wrong.
I made a video, but am not sure that I capture the problem accurately enough. I made alternately two strokes straight and two angled. Maybe someone has an idea what I am doing wrong?
(The pick is a Tortex Dunlop 50mm)
Hi @kaiben,
Thanks for the video! that helps a lot.
I notice that you are moving across the string diagonally. This is part of what is causing the “scratchy” zipper noise. Try to move more perpendicular and it will help a lot.
the other thing I see is that once you gain confidence to strum more quickly, it will also help. This will come with practice.
Your pick angle is a bit straight. this is not generating the scratch, but is probably holding you back from strumming confidently. You will want to angle the pick a little more so it can move across the strings without catching as hard. this will help you to hold the pick in place and it won’t spin quite so easily in your fingers.
Take a look at the some of the comments from this thread, both above and below my linked comment. Richard has a nice diagram. Getting the angles figured out is what will get you moving along and strumming with confidence.
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Hi @sequences,
thank you for your hint. Yes, I am moving diagonally over the strings and maybe it’s a bit less scratchy when moving perpendicular, but the arm movement feels strange.
A while ago I started to hold the guitar more diagonally, with the headstock up, because so I can better fret the chords with less problems in my wrist. Especially when fretting the F chord. If I hold the guitar this way and do my strumming movements from the elbow, I naturally am strumming diagonally. Is this a bad habit? I was quite glad that I found a way to reduce my wrist problems…
Hi @kaiben
What you describe sounds like you are in a “classical position”. it does relieve the strain on the wrist but I agree it feels a little odd for strumming angle.
Experiment with how your strumming arm is positioned across the guitar and how you are holding your shoulder. You may find a comfortable position with a little adjustment.
I would say no. The natural rotation of your elbow joint down through your arm, wrist, hand and fingers creates a curved arc through which your pick will strike the strings. That necessarily means that first contact on a Down strum will hit the thickest string slightly further away from the bridge / closer to the neck than the last contact, which will strike the thinnest string marginally closer to the bridge as the strum emerges and exits.
The scraping issue in your video is a speed related issue. You are not picking with any pace, more of a stumble across the strings. That is not how you actually strum in real life contexts of playing strumming patterns and songs. At tempo you should not hear any such scraping.
Thank you Richard, I will investigate if the scraping vanishes on faster strumming.
When angling the pick, does the pick tip point towards the right or towards the left?
Thank you for your help!
Alma @Bluetar
I think you have misunderstood. Photo 1 is the correct position of the pick.
The angles that Justin talks about is relative to the guitar and strings.
Does that make sense, check the lesson out again.
Michael
A little more from Michaels’s comment for you.
There are three axis of rotation:
- the one you show
- rotating from your wrist (like turning a screwdriver)
- rotating how the pick first connects to the string with flat side or a little on an edge.
You need to locate the position for each of these that feels easy to glide across strings. Eventually, both down and up. Experiment with those angles to hear and feel how they change playing.
Thank you for your quick response Michael! Glad to hear the first photo is the right way since that’s what I have been doing but then I got confused. Now everything is starting to make sense. I guess I was overthinking it!
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Thank you! I will experiment with the 3 different rotations.