I would be grateful if those of you who are mainly DSX players could share info regarding to which way your pick tip is pointing - towards the neck or towards the bridge? Maybe it doesn’t point any particular way at all.
It would be nice if you were willing to share pictures of the view you have of your picking hand as you play.
Thanks!
Been thinking about this lately after someone else posted about it - sliiiightly towards the neck does seem to flow a little better for me, but it’s pretty subtle.
I use a mixture of both DSX and USX (USX for most lines and DSX for faster tremolo)
In both orientations the tip is pointed slightly towards the neck (this is
Troy’s overview of this in the primer is excellent, and echoes my experience.
I wouldn’t overthink this to much, in essence the pick point will happen naturally based on your hand position/setup etc.
For me it points a bit towards the neck, not quite a 45 degree tilt, maybe 35 degrees. Same as when I do USX. Not a conscious decision, it just does that naturally.
thanks for the replies, folks.
I do recall hearing Troy mention this in a video, but I never thought too much about it. Over the weekend I was playing with a Dunlop Sharp pick and I noticed that whenever I use the pick tip seems to end up pointing towards the headstock. I’m not sure if it’s the sharp tip that makes this more noticable, but it definitely happens.
I was curious if there was anyone who had their pick orientated towards the bridge, but I’m guessing they would be in the minority.
Here’s where it ends up for me - I played some things first and then immediately photographed without altering the grip. Zero degree pickslant and fairly shallow DSX.
I think a steeper escape would require greater “positive pick point” to avoid garage spikes.
One of the old school Sharps, where the tip is triangular with no curve on the edge? I remember hating those. lol Though it’s been almost 20 years since I’ve tried one…
He’s not a DSX guy, but one of the things I noticed in the Brandon Ellis video was that he held his pick that way.
I would disagree, in that I believe the pick point would affect your setup.
Sorry, but can you explain what positive pick point means?
Sure, no problem: “pick point” is just the phrase used around here to describe what you’re talking about. “Positive” means the point is going in the direction of the tip of the thumb, or towards the neck while actually playing guitar - “negative” would have the pick going the opposite direction, like towards the bridge on the guitar. In my case it’s a little positive.
Pick point is a response to your approach angle and setup (to help smooth pick attack and avoid garage spikes) not a way to influence it. At least, that is my understanding anyway.
I think the pick point is just as important as every other part of the setup, from my experiences with experimenting with it. Simple test would be to get a motion you have developed well, note the pick point, and alter it by 15 - 30 degrees and see if you can play the same.
This is probably the hill I will die on in this forum lol.
You are definitely the Positive Pick Point Proponent Poster Person
this is interesting and a great test to find your ideal pick point. thanks for the tip.
I hope this was a pun lol
ok, i’m just realising now - that doesn’t read well 
In my case. Normal pronated form, the pick points towards the neck.
For Gypsy style chord-tremolo, The pick points directly at the bridge.
I think those that “disagree” and say “don’t worry” mean that if you’re not death-gripping the pick the appropriate pick-point will happen on its own.
If I start out with 0 pick-point and tremolo, or just play normally, the poor choice of pick-point will cause a slight difference in forces on the trailing and leading edge of the pick which very quickly moves the pick to the correct amount of pick-point. Once it reaches this equilibrium point it doesn’t move any further.
Along with a lag in hand sync, this is one of the reasons I attribute to people needing some “wind up” before playing fast lines; their pick is rotating slightly in their fingers and has to find an equilibrium.
If that’s the case, I reiterate that pick point is just as important in the set up to play (assuming you want to be able to play fast from a dead stop).
I find statements like “don’t death-grip the pick” and “don’t have tension when playing fast” equally problematic. Most people will resort to focusing on the exact opposite (loose pick, no tension) which is probably worse overall.
I’ve talked about tension while playing in other threads, but for now, let’s focus on the pick grip.
If I were to grip the pick loosely enough to eventually find equilibrium as you stated above, that means that all playing would affect the pick point to some degree.
So let’s say that I found equilibrium by playing an alternate picked line, then followed it up by some descending arpeggios: the pick point would now be skewed towards upstrokes, and would have to find equilibrium again before playing fast alternate picked lines, necessitating either a “wind up”, or a regrip on the pick (either conscious or unconscious) to fix the pick point.
The solution here is to grip the pick hard enough that what you play doesn’t affect the pick point, so “holding it loose enough that it finds equilibrium” won’t work; you have to have the pick point set from the get go.
so you’re saying that the pick will sort of right itself?
