Getting used to using a pick from fingerpicking

[spleenharvester]

Even on electric guitar I've been fingerpicking for probably the last 5 years or so.

But since I'm taking it a lot more seriously now and rehearsing much more I am constantly cutting my fingers up so I don't really have a choice.

Anyone have any tips or maybe done the same? I have a Fender Medium pick right now and hate it, fingerpicking just feels so much more natural, I just can't get used to it. I hate the plasticy sound the pick makes when it hits the strings. Thinking maybe I need a thicker one?

Keep scratching the body of the guitar with it too.

Any tips would be very much appreciated.

Ta

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Getting used to using a pick from fingerpicking

its like learning a whole different instrument.
Best way to develop sensetivity and therefore fluidity is to use the heaviest pick you can find - it will force you to hold the pick lightly, but also with good technique - otherwise it will roatate as you play. A sharp tip feels really hard too at the start, but it will force you to use less of your pick on every stroke which will eventually smooth your technique immeasurably. Try either a fender extra heavy and file it down to a point, or get some dunlop jazz III's.

To hone your alternation do all the notes in each of your scales in octuplets, sextuplets, quadruplets, triplets, doublets then pure alternation.
Then do the same thing with all your arpeggios - this will smooth out your string skipping.
Thats just the tip of the iceberg tho cos that sort of stuff is mainly for linear melodic technique.

Seeing as you are a fingerstyle player, you are probably familiar with Opus 1A from Mauro Giuliani. If you are not, then get a copy of it - if you have not worked through it, it is the "secret sauce" for right hand technique. There are 120 excercises. Once you can play all 120 smoothly your right hand will be smooth and fast as butter on a hot day. Apply as many of the 120 right hand excercises as you can to pure pick style. The ones that dont work with pure flatpicking will give you the opportunity to develop hybrid picking.
All that stuff is a good start.
There are some things that will always be more difficult on a pick than fingerstyle, but the reverse is also true for a lot of styles of music, so keep at it and you will reap the benefits.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Getting used to using a pick from fingerpicking

I second the above advice. Using Jazz IIIs really helped me to learn good, accurate picking technique and proper technique. The small size and tapered end really forces you to be more precise. You might also want to look up and try some hybrid picking techniques . . . coming from a finger-style background this might help ease you into using the pick.

 

[spleenharvester]

Re: Getting used to using a pick from fingerpicking

Cheers for the advice you two.

Still trying, it's coming to me now, but faster strumming is still a bit off.

I've now well and truly ruined the 6 medium fender picks I bought the other day, though. Guess I need something heavier.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Getting used to using a pick from fingerpicking

I learned by fingerpicking, and it was so much easier AT THE BEGINNING. You need to break that habit. Picking up speed with your fingers requires you to use more fingers, because you really can't do alternate picking with your hands. It may be tough in the interim, but you may find that your technique at the moment is holding you back.