Right Hand Technique

[barbarianbrute]

i've been questioning my right hand technique. in the beginning, i used to achor my pink on my guitar and use my thumb and index finger to wiggle the pick. i realized that this wasn't exactly good technique, so i changed my picking technique to where i now basically hold the pick close to the first joint of my index finger and my thumb while using an up/down wrist motion.

it has been a long time in the making, but my picking technique has greatly improved in dynamics and picking accuracy, although not as fast as my former style.

now again i have begun to develop another right hand style parallel with my current technique where my pinky or ring finger doesn't actually anchor on the guitar, but rather kind of lays there as i move my wrist and just a slight movement of thumb and index finger. in this new picking technique, i also tend to hold the pick more like a needle than between my thumb and first joint of my index finger.

i don't really know what the best approach is, but i've been told by my guitar teacher that you should use different picking techniques. the thing is that i don't want to use different picking techniques. i want to devlop one technique that i use for playing fast and slow.

what is your right hand style and how do you find it most effective for shredding? would you consider your technique good or a little unorthodox?

 

[uOpt]

Re: Right Hand Technique

I don't think that any finger on the guitar is a good thing. Your arm on the guitar should make for a stable enough base. If that doesn't work then maybe your guitar doesn't have enough meat there and you could try putting a piece of foam or similar between your arm and the guitar. Just temporarily of course to see whether that gives you the stability you want.

Do you play standing? How low is the guitar? What kind of guitar?

Moving the picks from a movement out of your arm and wrist is much better than bending your index and thumb. The only problem is if you use a pick and at the same time use fingernail picking with the three other fingers, but few people do that.

I'd always pick the better tone and precision over sound when learning. Not that speed isn't important, but speeds improves automatically later, and precision does not, not to mention sound.

I don't really shred, but if you really want to speed up while keeping a decent tone you might want to check how classical mandolin players are trained.

 

[barbarianbrute]

Re: Right Hand Technique

the problem is not in the arm as i stated. it's rather a debate on whether it's best to stick with full wrist movement, wrist and finger movement, or thumb/index movement. the issue is also whether you prefer one picking style or to implement different picking styles depending on how fast you play.

i've always been a shredder, but shredding involves using a lot of thumb/index finger movements. until changing my picking style to wrist movement, i was able to get great speed, but hte accuracy wasn't there past 160bpm or so. with my new wrist technique, the accuracy is there, but my speed falls apart after about 140 bpm. basically, i can play anything extremely well if it's between 120 and 140 bpm. i'm considering using a different technique that incorporates the thumb/index finger more just for speed picking. i just don't want to because i like the idea of having just one right-hand technique for everything.

 

[LooseCannon]

Re: Right Hand Technique

My guitar teacher which is an amazingly fast fusion player moves only the thumb and finger, don't move your whole wrist.

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Right Hand Technique

Don't forget that the muscles in your hand and finger/thumb are thisbig and that the muscles in the arm and wrist are T H I S B I G . You'll do much better over the long haul if you let your arm carry the biggest part of the picking load, and implement the hand for texture, extra speed and nuance.

Oh yeah, one thing for everything? ...forget it.

 

[Fender_Punk]

Re: Right Hand Technique

I strum with my arm and hand free of the body which works perfectly for me. Most that happens when strumming is my palm hits the strings on downstrokes but that's when I'm doing ska rhythms.

As for picking, I have my arm on the body, my palm around the outside of the bridge with the pinky curved so pat of it is touching the high E saddle and so the wrist is doing most of the moving. I find it's the most stable and accurate way, especially when trying to pick fast.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I've been told countless times to rest your pinky on something when picking, and it seems to work really well.