@Willsie I advise against curling the fingers up. It can cause tension in the hand and fingers (like curling a fist) and it also makes palm muting impossible. Relaxed and easy is the way for me. let your fingers unfurl. 
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John, I have seen Justin hold the pick different ways depending on what kind of strumming techniques he is doing. It is harder to do some types of strums with the finger curled in. I have also seen it taught both ways on other guitar instruction videos. I have decided that curling my fingers tight creates too much tension for me, so I tend to keep my fingers loosely curled. Sometimes you need to have the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers extended for percussive strums. I just noticed that @Richard_close2u said the same thing, so it must be right 
(I need to learn to read all replies to a posted question before I respond).
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I have a classical guitar. Do you recommend using a pick with it?
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@YelizTheMenace Hello. Welcome to JustinGuitar and the Community. You can 100% learn on a classical guitar. Playing nylon strings with a plastic pick may sound different to your expectations and you will need to experiment with it. There is nothing wrong with it per se. You can even buy felt picks for nylon strung instruments.
6 posts were split to a new topic: Beginner - please help - my fingernails are getting in the way when fretting chords
Is it alright to hold a pick as if itās sticking out of my thumbās (unbent) IP joint, and my index fingerās (bent) DIP joint?
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Hey Fayra, can you take a photo of how youāre holding it?
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Hello @Fayra and welcome to JustinGuitar and the Community.
For clarity, IP is the interphalangeal joint and DIP is the distal phalanx joint.
Yes, I had to look that up.
Do you mean you have thumb and index finger pointing in the same direction? That your index finger is not curled around a little?
If yes, then perhaps revisit Justinās Module 0 lesson on holding a pick. https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/how-to-hold-a-guitar-pick-b1-106
See these pics for guidance too.
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That is how I hold my pick. I just wanted to ensure thatās acceptable since I wasnāt holding it the way Justin was in the video about holding the pick. Is that (the way in the pictures) a good/acceptable way to hold my pick?
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Yes. All good.
The only change I would recommend from what is shown in the pictures - especially clear in the 2nd picture - is to allow fingers 2, 3 & 4 to relax and uncurl and hang down a little from the grip so they are not forming a loose fist shape.
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Returning to this video even though Iām currently in module 8. This may have already been discussed earlier in the comment section here, but Iām too lazy to go through and read all of it to check so is it okay that Iāve built a habit of holding my pick with three fingers, the way James Hetfield does? I personally find it a lot more comfortable than the traditional method, and am hoping itās okay if I continue like this.
I used to do this but I moved to a more conventional grip. Holding it with three fingers will limit some things you can do, for example it makers hybrid picking more difficult and I found it less flexible when changing my pick angle for different styles of play, I also found fast strumming more difficult. Iām not a big Metallica fan, but I suspect Jamesā playing lends itself to that technique with a lot of fast downpicking.
I think I started doing the 3 finger thing so the pick didnāt move so much in my hand, but I learned to make constant micro adjustments as I played, so this is rarely an issue any more.
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