pick slipping sideways

Buco

It's also a matter of which tone you want to hear from yourself. While I love Paulus' playing, he's one of the best ever, I'm more of a fan of say Adrien M tone and attack.
Adrien doesn't arch the thumb, it's pretty flat even a little curled up at times.

NylonDave

I hope I am not flogging a dead horse here but I would like to discuss a little about the 'seesawing' and also what causes the unwanted rotation.

This following is not intended to be read and forgotten but followed, guitar and pick in hand on the instrument. Ideally you won't get to the last step (playing a single note) for the better part of a couple of minutes. And if you are really interested in catching my drift the second note might take even longer to get to.

This is where I am in terms of technical practice just now and I, although only modestly accomplished, have been playing a lot and for a long time now. Lots of you will be stronger with a pick than I am and I don't mean to patronise anyone but some things become more and more simple and solid and easy and lighter an louder when we step outside our habits and really focus on one single thing, in this case how to hold a pick.... ATTENTIVELY.

Start off with the guitar on your lap, both hands free to explore the pick.

1. Imagine you have never played before and hold the pick as you see in the illustration of Paulus above. Don't be concerned with the angles of your finger and thumb joints but instead really focus on placing the pick (it really doesn't matter how thick it is, anything over .75mm will be stiff enough) so that the middle of the body of the pick is roughly lined up with the tip joints of your thumb and index finger.
2. Hold the pick as lightly as you can. Then with your fretting hand hold the playing edge of the pick and gently wiggle it so that it seesaws on the joints of your thumb and finger. If you then wiggle the playing side up the back end goes down and the centre (held ever so gently between the thumb and index joints) is pretty much stationary.
3. Now pick up the guitar and place the pick on say the sixth string. Place the playing side at around 45 degrees onto the string (without yet playing). This is what you see in the still of Paulus that Stuart posted above. You should not grip at all just let a little of the weight of the hand hold the pick on the string.
4. If the flat of the pick is not fully in contact with the string (ie perpendicular to the string length) then you need to allow your arm/hand/wrist arch/pick'grip' adjust very slightly until the whole face of the pick is touching the string. This is the starting position.
5. Now is where you have to be patient and really try and pay attention. This is the really important bit. To play firmly but sensitively and to get in the habit of paying attention to ever note you really need to learn to FEEL the string through the pick. You can only shape the note with the right hand when the pick is on the string. (This bit sounds a bit airy fairy but I have never been one to be cool so I am going to just say it) You want to become one with the string. Perhaps a less airy fairy way of saying it would be that you have to allow your awareness of your hand and fingers to extend so you can feel the string and how much tension you are adding to it. When you do this you will be ready to FEEL for the sound you want.
6. Now the really interesting bit, start to rotate the dorsal (thumb) side of the whole hand so you are committing more force onto the string.DO NOT GRIP TIGHTER. let your hand stay super loose. The string will make the pick lock itself as the index prevents the back of the pick from moving. It is like a set of scales. Even if the load is heavy the fulcrum is still not holding the seesaw in place, the balance of forces does that.
7. You still shouldn't have played a single note. Ask yourself if you can loosen your grip even more. Do you feel the pick wanting to turn ? If so YOU are doing it, try and see if you can allow yourself to stop whatever it is that is making it turn.
8. Now the bit that most non gypsies never really full embrace, LET the string go and ALLOW the pick to land SOLIDLY on the next string (there is a whole book about this called Zen and the Art of Archery ). It should feel literally like the easiest and most easeful motion possible. It should land and be completely relaxed and still on it's new string. You should feel poised but not committed to any further motion.
9. Now ask yourself some questions.
10. Did you like the sound ?
11. The volume ?
12. The tone ?
13. Did some loss of control/tensing occur. WHY ? WHEN.
14. Now try and spend as much time trying again.
15. Now it is time for an upstroke.
The trick thing with upstrokes is direction. By direction I mean do you know where the pick is going? For a downstroke it is easy, the pick is going to land on the next string. For an upstroke it should also land on the next new string.
16. Go through the initial steps again except now the hand/arm will be rotating up and the starting position will be with the pick solidly on the string that you are working on. I repeat, ON THE STRING, held lightly ready to respond as you now start to rotate the thumb side up and away from the guitar body.
17. Take some real time.
18. OK now a bit more.
19. Now think about what you will hear if you play with direction (the pick face landing directly on the string you are playing next (in this case for single string work the string you have just played.
20. Listen for a bright short solid BUP, or even a 'K!'.
21. Is the pick now sitting solidly ready for a downstroke ?
22. Did something go wrong ? WHAT ?
23. Did you tense up ?
24. Did you move more than a few millimetres ?
You should aim for a bright powerful sound with no extra motion at all, just think of the sound you want and before playing visualise the other side of the pick landing straight back on the string ready for a downstroke.
24. Is the pick still square on the sting or are you rotating it ?

NOW THE REALLY IMPORTANT BIT

25. Have you started gurning or slouching or tensing ? Are you gritting your teeth ?....... don't ...... put the effort where it counts. INTO THE STRING.
26. Was there a spot where the pick moved ? Why ?


Soooo.... that seemed like a lot eh. Did you get through it ?

It sure looks like a lot written down. Should take a good few minutes to get the idea roughly and a few hundred reps to start to get to know how it feels to really play a solid and relaxed rest stroke technique (and also the upstroke which will sound sharper but just as full if you really want it to and are prepared to do the work).

Here is some terrific advice I heard about how long you should do this kind of thing for, and really it goes for anything that you are genuinely WORKING on.

Keep doing it till you don't want to stop.
Keep doing it till you LOVE it.
Keep doing it till the pick (ANY PICK) becomes part of you and you can feel it and adjust it as if it was your finger tip or the tip of your tongue.
Keep doing it till you never want to feel yourself picking without FEELING THE STRING ever again.

Then do it some more.

A FINAL THOUGHT.

Do the same strumming except think of the six string as one big string. Upstroke 'LANDS' on the bass string, down stroke 'LANDS' opposite side of the pick SOLID on the first string.


I was at a jam in Glasgow one time and there were lots of people with expensive guitars and picks. Of the many white men NONE had done this work. Most thought they were gypsy picking, NONE were.

As a 'listener' it takes a fraction of a second to notice these things. Most 'players' never notice. Conceit takes practice, it takes several years to miss the point entirely...

Of the two gypsies one was doing this ALL of the time without thinking about it at all. BOY DID HE SOUND GOOD, didn't matter what guitar he borrowed or what pick he pinched.

D.

NylonDave

PPS It is not possible to play rhythm too loud when you practice as I described above. Unless your actual goal is to irritate the soloist.

Jazzaferri

A photo from the dark side

AndrewUlle

NylonDave wrote: »

Do the same strumming except think of the six string as one big string. Upstroke 'LANDS' on the bass string, down stroke 'LANDS' opposite side of the pick SOLID on the first string.

I must not be understanding you clearly. It sounds as though in strumming, you are just bouncing back and forth between the low and high E strings (only hitting E A D G B on the way down, E B G D A on the way up). That can't be what you mean...I don't think.