Holding the pick; Feedback

jpipper17

I am new to the boards. I would appreciate anybody's feedback on my pickhand technique

wim

Looks good! You might want to go read sideways.

stuology

Yeah those picks sound best with the rounded edge

jeffmatz

Downward slant us fine, but the angle might thin up your sound.

vanmalmsteen

I’m all about the downward slant !

jpipper17

jeffmatz wrote: »

Downward slant us fine, but the angle might thin up your sound.

Could you perhaps post a picture of an alternative way to hold the pick?

Shemi

If you look at the thread Win posted there are pictures to help to, but this technique generally has the pick flatter to the string instead of the the diagonal angle that you would use in other styles, which is what you seem to be doing in the first picture

jeffmatz

vanmalmsteen wrote: »

I’m all about the downward slant !

I'm just getting back into this style after years of playing only electric jazz, and the downward slant and flat angle have been the two biggest things I've needed to work on, but I can hear the difference instantly.

Buco

Seems to me angled is what Stochelo is doing:

it's whatever works for individual though, whenever you hear "this is the way x should be done" there is somebody of the high caliber that's doing the opposite. Whenever I hear "you should try using very small finger movements when playing fast, economy of motion" and what not, Pat Martino comes to mind as his fingers are bouncing off the fretboard between the notes.
I couldn't find a video with a clear shot but Tchavolo might be a player with a flat-er pick position.

jeffmatz

Might be angled a bit, but it'd also be the oposite angle of what the OP posted.

You can definitely see a downward pick slant, though, and a loosey goosey wrist...

Shemi

Hey Buco, didn't mean it to come across as "it needs to be done x way", it's pretty obvious there are many ways to skin a cat. I see lots of forward pickslanting in the Stochelo vid, but I don't see as much angle as you would commonly see with a player in modern styles. I was lead to believe by some reputable online resources and my own observationthat the flatter pick attack allows for more volume as more pick goes through the string. As you angle more you get more bite but there is less pick moving through the string which can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on what you're looking for. It's all generalities though!