Welcome to the Community, David. On this one I can say it is a matter of experimentation and practice. Departure point is Justin’s lesson, but I find I have curled my index finger more than Justin shows. So don’t be scared to make some adjustments to get the pick comfortable. Then it is just a matter of practice, finding the right amount of grip, strumming so as not to dig in too much, being relaxed so as to strum with a looseness in the wrist. And it does take some time, so just persevere.
That sounds right, Michael, you need to change the pick angle for the up strum or it will catch and get hooked up on the high e string. I suggest experiment super slowly to observe what happens.
Hello @Xanny and welcome to the Community.
You want your forearm and wrist and hand to be relaxed but your finger tips need to maintain grip. If the pick is slipping then try one or more of these: grips with a textured surface; holding the pick in a little so less of the tip protrudes from your grip, changing the angle of strum (is your guitar body upright, are you sitting upright, is your guitar neck angled marginally upwards and away from you?).
Hope that helps.
Cheers
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide
When I first held a guitar pick, I did it with three fingers by instinct. That is the most comfortable way for me. I just learnt a few days ago that what I am doing is wrong, I should hold the pick with only two fingers.
The way it is shown in the picture is not only uncomfortable for me but also lacks a good grip and control over the pick.
Can I still be a world famous rock star if I keep using it with three fingers?
I’m struggling to get my head around a 3-finger grip. When I try it my wrist gets pushed out into an uncomfortable and impractical position for strumming / picking strings. Are your three fingers pointing more or less straight along the length of the pick?
Cheers
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide
Hi @Victorius
I can see how that will ‘feel comfortable’ but the issue I worry about is the actual mechanics and anatomical movement of your hand, wrist and fingers.
Holding the pick in your preferred way and rotating the wrist - which is an absolutely vital movement when strumming - will swing your fingers and pick in an arc that will cause the pick to ‘dig in’ and get stuck between the strings rather than gently gliding across them and ‘caressing them’. That is not a good habit. It is also likely going to cause you problems of pick accuracy when you want to strum only certain strings for certain chords and / or play individual string with chords further down the line.
Cheers
Richard
In the meantime I think I have found a good grip with two fingers. The way I did it was to release the third finger touching the pick and adjusting the second finger just a bit.
It feels steady enough. I will have to make myself get accustomed to it and consciously avoid the three finger grip.
Yeah, but even James Hetfield tried to hold the pick later on the conventional way. It may feel comfortable now, but later on, as your skills levels increase, it can become uncomfortable etc. By that point, it may become more difficult to change later on. I would highly recommend learning the techniques of holding the pick taught by Justin (or the method recommended by Richard which is what I now use) whilst your still developing your pick holding technique.
I have just started module 5 and have been using as Justin suggested a Jim Dunlop nylon 0.38mm pick for strumming (I use 0.6 mm for the riffs).
As you progress in grade 1 should you start to use thicker picks and if so what should you work up to as a maximum and when or is it one of those things that is a matter of personal choice.
Just wondered what others were doing.
Michael
I mostly used a .6 and .7 pick in my early days of strumming. A friend suggested a 1.5mm pick and it works really well for me. I’m able to strum much more quietly with the thicker pick. It’s all I use thickness wise these days.
It’s very personal and your mileage may vary. A good friend who’s been playing for decades and a far better musician than I am prefers the .6 pick.
I’d say it’s always a personal choice unless you’re a complete beginner learning to hold a pick and getting familiar with the feeling. As for myself, I found I use certain picks in phases and tend to rotate them, but not consciously. It’s more like “why haven’t I been using this green Dunlop more often?”, and then I use that for a couple of weeks.
I think the size of the pick is more of a factor in my choice. If I want to make sure I don’t accidentally mute a string when I pick another one, I choose a bigger pick so that my picking hand is a bit further away from the strings.
I jumped to a thicker pick fairly soon as I didn’t like the ‘clacky’ sound of the thin ones. I would say it has taught me to hold it ‘lighter’ and not dig in as much…
…for some styles though, the clackyness fits well for the rhythm
As you have discovered, the thicker picks work for the riffs.
Hi - newbie question so sorry if it’s a silly one!
I’m trying to hold the pick as Justin shows at a 90 degree angle to my thumb.
I’m fine with this and try to do so, but my natural inclination is to have the pick in line with my thumb (as if it were a thumb nail extension) and I do have to correct myself frequently while practicing to go back to the 90 degree angle.
Do some people hold the pick in the same way to my natural inclination? Is this something I should really work on to correct now?
I’m a big guy, 6’4" tall, so wonder if it’s natural for me to lean towards this way out of comfort perhaps. I don’t want to create problems with my learning further down the line, so I wondered if anyone could give me some guidance on if this is a “do it this way for all people” or if it’s a “you can do it this way if it’s comfortable” kind of thing?
When I try to hold the pick, my index finger’s joint isn’t flexed, but a bit stressed outward.
Especially for things like palm muting, my pick needs a good grip and with flexing my index finger’s last joint inside (the way everyone holds it), I can’t hold it well.
I sometimes find myself playing like the first picture when I am strumming, but I started trying to play more like the second picture when I started adding palm muting. It makes it a lot easier to control the palm muting when you are strumming.
I’m still struggling with this:
When I angle the pick “forward” about 20/30 degrees the down strum is so smooth…but up strum is catchy/raspy and doesn’t flow freely at all.
Oddly, my natural position rotates the pick the opposite way to the images in the below link - and this seems to work for me fairly well - except now I get excessive pick rotation
If I stick with the “reverse” rotation will that cause me issue in the future? If so, will the pick rotation ease as I get more experienced.
Or
Should I get used to the forward rotation and practice this - and how do I get a smooth up strum?
