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Changing your picking style...

8K views 41 replies 22 participants last post by  Drew 
#1 ·
How many of you have done it?

I joined a new band and it involves A LOT of really fast alternate picking on the lower strings and doing it with my old picking style(that I've done for 20+ years) is really taking it's toll fast. I've had tendonitis for ten years now and I've always kept it at bay with stretching and what not but now that I'm doing this faster and more "precise" stuff, it's coming back with a vengeance!
I switched up my picking technique and it really helps but now I almost feel like I'm starting over with playing. Not that I was very good to begin with. :lol: However, in doing so, I can alternate pick like a mother fucker! But, chords and shit like that feel weird and awkward when I strum them. Even simple power chords. They just don't seem to have any "power" to them, so to speak.

So if any of you have done this, did you catch on to it fairly quickly?

My old picking style:


Vs. the new:
 
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#2 ·
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I suffer from Tendonitis aswell, and I still find your old method works best for me in both rhythm and lead playing :lol: I do believe it would be handy as fuck to be able to use both styles though. I can't get away with your new style at all, but I should practice it.
 
#29 ·
Jesus christ I was going to say exactly that.

I've never had any RSI problems but I think my picking style is a little different to your old style. I could do basic arpeggio patterns with the new style but alternate picking just went out the window :lol:

I might post a picture of my picking hand (in action of course) just for interests sake. Everyone else should too :agreed:
 
#5 ·
Guthrie Govan has a great alternate picking tutorial that I can't seem to find at the moment. He makes the case that picking with a closed fist (as you're now doing) is much more ergonomic, and that you should always pick from the wrist. I recently switched to curling in my index and middle fingers and it's really helped with speed and accuracy and hence ease of picking.

Where is the tendinitis?
 
#6 ·
The funny thing is, with my old style I'm also picking from the wrist. If you ever find that tutorial, I'd really love to see it! :yesway:
My tendinitis goes from about my knuckles to my elbow. My wrists/arms got pretty jacked up from working at Gibson guitars.
 
#8 ·
I made the same switch. I played with that first kind of grip for the first several years, and then I switched a while after I joined a band and found that it wasn't working as well for faster picking. Just keep at it. It took a little while to get used to it, and at times I wondered if I should even be trying to relearn how to hold a pick, but in the end it proved to work much better for everything.
 
#9 · (Edited)
i've screwed around with enough of them that I'm semi-comfy in them all (except's mike's weird-ass way). so depending on the style of the song part, or if i'm getting tired, or if i'm having an off-night with one style, i can switch to the next.... though, i don't play a million miles an hour either (deth RIP songs are as fast as I can get)

regardless... tendonitis being an over-use injury, it's hard to say what is giving you release. the act of 'change' could be enough to give you relief from those old muscles, but it's hard to say if over time and over-use in these new positions whether or not you'll get tendonitis in other muscles. you might find yourself in teh same position 2 years from now, finding speed decreasing, and in the old retired (rested style) you're faster. maybe the inflammation itself is what was slowing you down?

regardless, if i've been playing a lot on a daily basis, i'll chug water, advil, and a vitamin before and after a lengthy session. and ice if my gut senses something creeping up.
 
#10 ·
http://www.metalguitarist.org/forum...ate-picking-few-videos-ive-found-helpful.html

I started trying to do the exact same thing a couple months back, donnie.

I've... Well, WAY back in the day, I used to hold my pick between my thumb, pointer, AND middle finger, but in college I managed to kick that habit, and I'd only been playing about 5 years by then so it went pretty quickly. But, ever since, I've picked with an open hand, with the pick almost perfectly parallel to the strings. I don't know why I started doing this - it may have been because I thought that was normal, but certainly the fact I play mostly legato and a parallel pick helps minimize the pick attack, making slurred notes sound more like picked ones, was probably a factor.

I tried getting the hang of a closed picking position for a while, and then kind of stopped. Palm muting was harder (my fingers seemed in the way) and while it wasn't bad on an acoustic, the volume knob on my strat seemed in the way. Eventually I stopped thinking about it and went back to my old way of picking.

I tried again maybe two weeks ago, however, and it seemed to click a little better. I think I'm holding my hand at a little more of an angle than I was before, which is helping. Furthermore, something about a more angled pick seems to be working for me now, and seems to be making my pick attack a little more even.

I also tried switching to a lighter pick last night - from the Ultex Jazz IIIs I've been using lately to a .88 jazz-shaped tortex, and the lighter pick seemed to work even better angled like that. This probably means I'm digging in too much, but one thing at a time. :lol:

There are also tonal considerations, too. Paul Gilbert does a great demonstration of the way a sharper pick angle really changes the sound of your pick attack in the video in the thread I posted, and gives it a bit more "rasp" that helps define it through gain. It's funny that I'm now trying to cultivate that (because, well, it sounds badass when he does it) because I suspect I developed my picking style to minimize that sound. :lol:

Furthermore, I've also noticed that picking with a closed fist changes your attack a little too. It's less pronounced in fast alternate picked lines, but I've noticed when I'm really digging in on bluesy bends and whatnot, a closed hand seems to give your attack a bit more "punch." I suspect it's because the mass of your hand is more immediately condensed behind/supporting your pick, but that's just a hunch...

Anyway, you work on this, I'll do the same, and let's touch base in a couple months. :D

Oh, and does anyone have a good video that really demonstrates the difference between picking with your arm and with your wrist? I THINK I'm using my wrist, but I'm not sure if I'm just using my arm and don't really know the difference...
 
#30 ·
http://www.metalguitarist.org/forum...ate-picking-few-videos-ive-found-helpful.html

Oh, and does anyone have a good video that really demonstrates the difference between picking with your arm and with your wrist? I THINK I'm using my wrist, but I'm not sure if I'm just using my arm and don't really know the difference...
Yeah man I always hear people talking about 'playing with your wrist as opposed to your arm' or vise versa and I've always spent minutes sitting there figuring out which of the two I implement...and I have to say it may be a strange amalgamation of the two?...I'm not sure.

I dear say picking with your wrist is better for your health...correct me if I'm wrong?...There could be dangers for both.
 
#11 ·
Even minor changes can have huge effects. I've had a lot fewer wrist problems since a five-minute discussion with Jasun Tipton got me to change from splaying the last two fingers of my right hand out (I hold the pick with my middle finger) to curling them underneath. I still play weird, but it's less weird and my balance is a lot better.
 
#12 ·
:agreed: It still doesn't feel completely natural to me, but it makes mechanical sense - by keeping your hand tighter, your hand's center of gravity is closer to the pick, and inertial resistance should be lower. For some stuff it doesn't matter, but for fast alternate picking...
 
#13 ·
My old picking style:


Vs. the new:
You basically made the exact same change I made three years ago. My before had me splaying out the unused fingers a bit, but I held the pick the same way, and the after picture is exactly how I hold the pick now.

I'd say it was extremely awkward for about a month, and progressively less so for the next month, and then I didn't notice it anymore. The hardest part was concentrating on keeping your hand tucked in tight, without locking up your forearm.

The grip is so much stronger that the pick "float" disappeared, which is probably what you've been fighting without knowing it. I find I don't have to clamp down on the pick like I used to, which in turn allowed me to jump up another few pick gauges, which made me much more accurate. Three years ago, I was using .80mm, and now I'm up to a 1.26mm.

This has actually caused me problems in my cover band. I play 12-string acoustic, and the heavy picks have Mike screaming at me for being too loud. Unfortunately, dropping back to a .80mm or less is threatening to give me tendinitis. I never thought Mike would accuse me of picking too hard. :lol:
 
#16 ·
Right on! Thanks! :metal:

And thanks for all the other input, guys. :metal: Glad to know I'm not alone. I've had a lot of people tell me that my picking style is weird and it got me thinking that I've just been doing it all wrong. But it looks like a lot of you guys do the same or have done the same. Also, it looks like George Lynch picks that way and he was my first guitar hero, after all.

Figured out something interesting, I find that if I use a gigantic pick, it does make it easier for me. Went into my pick stash and tried a mega huge 3mm Dunlop "Big Stubby". The new way is A LOT easier with that. Though, I think I need to bump up my string gauge quite a bit for those picks. :lol:

Drew, I'll definitely keep in touch with you about this. I've only been working on this for about a month now. Hopefully it gets more "natural" soon.
 
#20 ·
Oogadee Boog makes some good points.

ive got tendinitis and joint problems, and had surgery on my r wrist a while back. If it feels faster while its still new technique to you, you were probably just suffering from overuse. i use the closed fist picking now, started a few months ago and definitely prefer it over my old technique.

i highly recommend Salonpas pads, also some asian markets sell something similar but i dont remember the name. when my joints or wrist start aching these things are what keep me going - not aspirin or anything.
 
#23 ·
Both hands, although it's not nearly as bad on my picking hand. My picking shoulder on the other hand (screw you bowing motion :()
 
#22 ·
For the longest time I've been picking like in the second picture, I think it ocurred naturally as the closed form of your picking hand makes for a more enclosed form of mass, which is both easier to move around and if you do it right can really make for some massive sounding picking. Also, excercising the Devin Townsend school of "digging in" to the strings really helps when using this picking style for power chords, and switching from doing this and alternate picking is pretty much seamless after practicing it a bit :yesway:
 
#25 ·
You know, I never thought about the "hitchhiker thumb". Mine's pretty bad on my picking hand and maybe that's why I'm having such a hard time with this. At practice tonight, I tried my best to stay in the new position but I kept losing my pick.
 
#26 ·
I've hit a roadblock, too. For the past week, everything was going awesomely, and then last night everything felt unnatural and stilted and uncoordinated. Maybe I just need a night or two off... :shrug:
 
#27 ·
I've been hitting this on bass recently, trying to do fingerstyle the 'right' way. I was going well for a while, and the past few days I have had no rhythm and no consistency. I'm giving it a break for a bit and playing pickstyle.
 
#33 ·
Yeah, Ultimate Frisbee twice a week, orchestra rehearsal and lessons twice a week, fencing, and a job that required a lot of lifting boxes of books on top of my guitar, bass, and cello playing gave me tendonitis.
 
#36 ·
Oh I agree. I'm just trying to swing both ways. I do somethings better the old way, and others the new. I want to have the best of both worlds. I'm now working on switching up mid riff/song. That's where I really start throwing the pick around.
 
#37 ·
How many of you have done it?

Vs. the new:
I had to make the exact same change when i started my new band with my other guitarist.

He is a beast at playing rhythm guitar, and comes from old school thrash / speed metal roots.

I found changing my picking style to what your pic shows helped me both with lead and rhythm.

I also changed to Jazz III's and that helped a lot too.
 
#39 ·
Update on my end - I've got mild hitchhiker thumb too, and I've kind of given up on a Paul Gilbert approved 45 degree angle. My hand seems to gravitate to around 20, and that still seems to be giving my enough pick angle to pick cleanly and efficiently, and leaves my arm a little more relaxed too.
 
#42 ·
Further update - regardless of angle, I seem to be getting the best results with my thumb locked, than relaxed to hit a specific angle. Probably because this gives me a more rigid, fixed attack. :yesway:
 
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