Using a Pick

Royale with Cheese

Been playing guitar on and off for near 10 years. I started out learning bass and then just picked up guitar as I went along. Never owned a decent guitar until recently, when I bought an American Standard Strat and decided to put a bit of practice in.

One thing I just never got the hang of was using a plectrum for lead guitar. Plucking came rather naturally to me but if I want to start doing fast lead stuff with a pick, my right hand just screws everything up. If I just use my fingers I can play fine, and can do some fairly fast blues licks and they sound ok.

What's the disadvantage of not using a plectrum? Ideally I'd like to learn but everytime I sit down to practice with one I lose interest fast as it's like going back to being a beginner again when what I really want to do is push on with more advanced stuff.

The only guitar player I can think of that I know didn't use one was Brian May. Anyone else?

strobe

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Been playing guitar on and off for near 10 years. I started out learning bass and then just picked up guitar as I went along. Never owned a decent guitar until recently, when I bought an American Standard Strat and decided to put a bit of practice in.

One thing I just never got the hang of was using a plectrum for lead guitar. Plucking came rather naturally to me but if I want to start doing fast lead stuff with a pick, my right hand just screws everything up. If I just use my fingers I can play fine, and can do some fairly fast blues licks and they sound ok.

What's the disadvantage of not using a plectrum? Ideally I'd like to learn but everytime I sit down to practice with one I lose interest fast as it's like going back to being a beginner again when what I really want to do is push on with more advanced stuff.

The only guitar player I can think of that I know didn't use one was Brian May. Anyone else?

May used a pick. He famously used an English sixpence as a pick. Jeff Beck never used one though.

The main advantage I think of using a pick is that it allows far greater picking speed. There really is no comparison between how fast you can play lead with a plectrum over your thumb or fingers and maintain that speed. Compare how fast Beck plays at his fastest with how fast others (May, Vai, the quick metal guys etc) can play and how long they can keep it up for.

If you are not used to using a pick it's obviously going to hold you back initially when you try to switch to using one but imo you should really just stick it out and once you become used to it it will definitely be worth it.

JonathanAnon

You dont have to go cold turkey picking with your fingers... Just practice away with the pick in the background until you are up to a level that you consider acceptable.. Being proficient with both plectrum and fingers are both useful.. I wouldnt say it's a case of either-or

Brian May used to pick with an old penny from what I remember.. Probably the most famous guitarist who doesnt use a plec would be Mark Knofler

veee

Mark Knopfler, Lindsay Buckingham, Eric Klapton, a good few blues players dont use plecs, one whos name I can't remember only used two fingers for picking lightning ... something was his name, I don't use a plec myself and it takes time to get real good at it, the problem I face is that it's harder to be accurate when playing fast with your fingers, and things like switching between strumming and picking can also be tricky, using your fingers definitely give more variety of sounds coming from a guitar but plecs are always gonna be a lot louder. Best thing is to just play around with one and see, I try but usually put it down. Im never gonna lose my fingers or drop them into the guitar or anything!!

Malice

I'd say there's no harm in biting the bullet and learning to use a pick. I play bass and guitar and depending on what I'm playing I'll switch between fingers and pick on the bass. On the guitar I use a pick all of the time but that's down to the fact that I primarily play metal on the guitar. I'm not even sure how I'd go about palm-muting a powerchord if I wasn't holding a pick. I must try it later when I finish work .

veee

It does depend on the style weather or not to use a pick, just don't rule anything out when it comes to music.

-=al=-

Just get going at it and give it a go!

I know Paul Gilbert completely done an overhaul on his picking technique after a few years, but said they way he does it now is far better... There's a couple of guitarists that will get by aok without one but it doesn't hurt to learn

One my of my mates glued 3 stubby picks together and sanded them down into a big giant weird pick,... I seen em play from a few feet away but his technique is just mind boggling, he explained to me how to do it but it was a bit tipsy at the time unfortunately

it's crazy though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFXUK6GGJL0

don't think you'd get that with fingers :pac:

veee

Heres Lindsey Buckingham. You get a different tone without a pick, and he's a great player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mc2kyr1UYA&feature=related

bb code fail ....

Royale with Cheese

Have given it a go. I'm not as bad as picking the individual strings as I thought (still not great though), my problem seems to be that I use the fingers in my right hand to mute strings after I'm done using them. So when I switch to a pick I can't do that anymore and it all ends up very very messy.

veee

I had a go today as well, same thing surprised at how not bad I was but was messy indeed and I can't play as fast or hit 2/3 strings at the same time. I kinda think that even if I used the plec to hit one string and picked others at the same time it would sound off cos some stings are being played with a plec and other with fingers.. Ever though of trying those finger pics you put on your fingers?

-=al=-

you spend 90% of your time muting strings than actually playing notes when it comes to using picks on electric guitars

Malice

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

my problem seems to be that I use the fingers in my right hand to mute strings after I'm done using them. So when I switch to a pick I can't do that anymore and it all ends up very very messy.

You can still use your right-hand fingers to mute, you only need two fingers to hold the pick, one of which is most likely your thumb. That will leave at least two fingers (if you're using one for an anchor) free. Unless of course you've got problems like the late Django Reinhardt in which case never mind me .

Hendrixfan

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Have given it a go. I'm not as bad as picking the individual strings as I thought (still not great though), my problem seems to be that I use the fingers in my right hand to mute strings after I'm done using them. So when I switch to a pick I can't do that anymore and it all ends up very very messy.

Use the plam of your hand to mute strings, the meaty part between end of little finger and wrist. You kind of rest it over all the strings, lift palm as you strum or hit notes or leave it rest on strings for muted sound. You'll get a feel for it with practice. Dont expose too much plec, all you need to use is just a tiny amount of the tip, hold the plec with a slight curl on your index finger pressing down with thumb. If your playing blues with a lot of solos best use a thick plec for digging in, light plecs dont work as good, alright for chord work.

Ostrom

I had the same problem starting out but somehow ended up more comfortable using the pick. Muting when using a pick comes from both hands - i.e. the palm of the picking hand mutes the bass strings where necessary, but the spare fingers of the fretting hand also mute surrounding strings either by resting across the treble strings, or from your fretting finger muting the above string by lightly touching it with the tip.

Sounds like some exercises might help - maybe alternate picking chromatic scale exercises?

kahler

get a decent pick. .75 to 1m. alternate pick a simple scale, pentatonic minor or something with the chromatics. and take your time. dont go for speed. just take it slow and get a bit of tone and feeling into it. dont worry about speed. its not really important. just aim for tone. crank up the gain and have a bit of fun with it. and for what its worth, May used an english 20p. cause it has corners..

veee

Any one remember who said "The plec is the biggest amplifier around" ?

I think it makes a pretty good case for using one. I had to raise the action on one of my guitars and put heavier strings on it to get a bit more volume. Even though I don't use a plec much I would still say heavier ones are better, I found one of those big roundy planet waves plecs that someone had filed down to a better shape so I use that alot, and cuttin up a credit/bank card makes a good plec.