Guitar picking technique

[AndrewSimon]

Are you anchoring your pinky on the pickguard when playing solo?
I was, until somebody suggested it's not the best idea.
It's really hard to kick the habit but I am trying.
The results are very positive.
It feels very liberating.
Timing and speed is instantly improved.
Still it's hard to get used to.
I went as far as taping 3 fingers together.

I wonder how many other players anchor their pinky like me.

[WoJ]

If im "shreding" on the top E then yea it gives me support but otherwise nope.

I always just rest my hand like i'm plam muting when soloing so i can just take it off if i need to sustain a note and it lets me mute notes quickly

But i usualy use my whamy bar alot when playing a solo

[WoJ]

Then again im pretty sure steve vai rest's his little finger on the pickguard ..and he's "ok" at playing the guitar i suppose...

[duncanparsons]

I guess I'm with WoJ, tho' I'm not a shredder, more a blueser. I've never rested the pinky, tho sometimes I bring it into play to get that 'Nashville'/Folk effect which can provide a nice bit of interest in a solo (well, I think so..:)

DSP

[Hink]

I have no idea. I'll look next time I play....however tbh my picking approach and that of my left hand technique constantly change through-out the song...sometimes I'm gripping the, other times my thumb is braced behind the neck and then others my wrist comes around further and I'm just playing on top of the neck.

With picking over the years I have sort of memorized where the squeals for each note fretted and how to change those harmonics...I say sort of memorized cause I couldn't say "if you pinch the string right above the neck pick-up you'll get this harmonic"...instead it's second nature.

I pick anywhere from close to the bridge do all the way down to picking on the nekc from the 15th fret up...it all depends. I can say that on both my hands my pinky's are important...I'm a four finger guitar player with my pinky being very strong. On my picking hand my pinky is used to sometimes wrap around the volume knob...it's also very often the first finger to find the whammy bar. It's also my switch finger.


That being said I think that was crappy advice for him to give you...it's all about what works for you, not him.

BTW I do not consider myself a stumble fingered guitarist...and also what works for you today may not work tomorrow DONT MAKE RULES...they just limit you...

[Sascha Franck]

When practising I'm trying no to rest my hand anywhere.
During actual playing however, this is kinda impossble because I'm often playing with overdriven sounds, hence at least the palm is needed to keep unused strings away from ringing.

It usually is said that resting your pinky on the pickguard or wherever is a bad thing, but when you watch folks such as Steve Morse or Pat Metheny, they're showing a pretty much weird right hand technique - and I wouldn't say they're exactly inaccurate or slow.

If you however want to see an example of what right hand technique should look like on a variety of picking styles (sweeping, alternate picking, rhythm playing) I recommend watching Frank Gambale. Not that I like his music, but his right hand is nothing else but extraordinary. Almost no large movements, not even on funky rhythm stuff, hand is almost completely closed too. Truly brilliant, regardless of the wanker style music he's usually into.

[Hink]

If you however want to see an example of what right hand technique should look like

No offense Sascha but I have a couple troubles with that statement

1. Should look like? Says who?
2. Should look like? Who cares? For me how it sounds is way more important (if I worried about what looks right I'd have to wear a bag over my head with all the funny faces I make playing).

I think to say it's bad is mis-leading...how about this...it's not wise to become dependant on it (or anything for that matter)...

BTW Sascha I totally agree with the high distortion and needing to palm mute to keep it tame...there was a time I was in the same boat...but it seems that every year for like the last 10 years I roll a little more off the gain and become less dependant on distortion...I haven't lost any bite to my sound (obviously I still use a lot of distortion, but 10 is not the rule of thumb), but it has gained character. Distortion can easily become a crutch that robs you of things you don't know are there...

[Sascha Franck]

1. Should look like? Says who?

While not being as established as classical instrument playing techniques, it seems to slowly make the rounds in all sorts of jazz/rock/contemporary e-guitar classes, schools and conservatories that an almost closed, free floating right hand will give you the quickest achievements in terms of speed and accuracy.
Of course there's exceptions, but from my personal experience I can second this as well. I switched to "free float" practising some years back and the improvements were tremendous. Even more so as my "palm mute when distorted" technique was improved at the same time.

[Lawnmower Of The Damned]

My Dean Hardtail doesn't have a pickguard (Would cover that beautiful top), so I guess that would be a "no".

[vurt]

i hold my joint betwixt my pinky and the finger next to it
so no rest for the pinky here

[james0tucson]

Touching the soundboard is always poor technique on an acoustic guitar. You really "should" not even have your forearm touching the body, but it's pretty hard to play a dreadnought guitar without resting your forearm there.

On an electric guitar, the argument doesn't really matter since there isn't really a soundboard at work, and touching it won't affect the tone. It's a crutch, however, and it's going to stop you from crossing a certain milestone of precision. It's much better to train yourself to not need the crutch and learn picking control instead. Then you'll play better regardless of whose guitar you're playing, electric, acoustic, archtop, solid, with a trem, etc.

[Hink]

1. Should look like? Says who?

While not being as established as classical instrument playing techniques, it seems to slowly make the rounds in all sorts of jazz/rock/contemporary e-guitar classes, schools and conservatories that an almost closed, free floating right hand will give you the quickest achievements in terms of speed and accuracy.
Of course there's exceptions, but from my personal experience I can second this as well. I switched to "free float" practising some years back and the improvements were tremendous. Even more so as my "palm mute when distorted" technique was improved at the same time.

it's funny cause these things I dont think about... I just do it....as it turns out while actually paying attention I play like I'm drinking a cup of tea. But like I say I don't think about it...thinking about screded me all up.

My picking style is very light and I do pay attention to where my hand is...in fact my range of where my hand is depends on the tone I want...so "free float" is the proper term for me...but my float range along the strings (not across the strings, that's a differenr story) is about 12-15".
I also tap with my middle or ring finger, often bending the strings and meeting the strings with the tap where I have bent them to...you can hear that technique in several of my tunes as I like it so much better the cliche' tapping.

One thing about me is my grip on the pick, I more often then not have just a tiny bit of the pick's head showing (in fact often it seems my finger and thum extend passed the head of the pick)...I also over the years have developed a way of (after the note has been picked) laying my thumb across the string either to mute lower strings as you say, or to catch a harmonic after the fact...not pinching for the false harmonics which I do a lot of...I should count though how many different aqueals I can get by pinching different places on the string on the same note..I can thank Billy Gibbons for that...

note, not that he personally showed me the way, but I learned it from ZZ Top songs...I'm not saying that's what he does, but what I developed learning the songs.

FWIW squeals imo are 10% talent and 90% confidence...if I think about the squeal I will surely blow it, but I never miss them (ok 99% accurate) when I just do it...

[Hink]

oh BTW I have very small hands if that matters...

[WoJ]

yea, how the fook do you get those "squeal" things!!??? Those high pitched harmonic type things? A friend of mine showed me how the other day but i cant do it :'(

He just said angle the pick etc

heeelp

[Sascha Franck]

yea, how the fook do you get those "squeal" things!!??? Those high pitched harmonic type things? A friend of mine showed me how the other day but i cant do it :'(

You need to touch the strings with both the pick and a bit of your thumb, and sort of "press" them hard. Actually, sometimes a scratchy pick will help.
In addition, you need to vary the position of the picking, it's got to happen at a string division the natural overtones occur at.