Has there been any discussion on the angle on the pick on this plane?


I have noticed that the angle of my pick is not perpendicular to strings. Does anyone else do this? Is it bad? Has there been discussion on this. I moved my thumb in picture to better demonstrate the angle.

Yes, it’s called “pick point” here and IIRC there’s been quite a lot of discussion of it – however, I can’t point you to resources off the top of my head. But yes, there’s at least a name! :sweat_smile:

3 Likes

It was also formerly called “lean” - bridge lean versus neck lean. Now it’s positive versus negative pick point. It can help smooth out attack in certain situations.

1 Like

Thanks for the responses. Now searching forum and reading about it. Yeah if I adopt a neutral pick point then I seem to have way too much friction/attack.

@Wishicouldshred I mention it a good amount, I would be surprised if someone talked about it more than me on this forum lol

1 Like

So when too much pick attack this is the solution?

@Wishicouldshred depends on the issue, but I find it most useful to even out the pick attack between upstrokes and downstrokes. If your pick attack is good on down but kinda jarring on the up, I find adding positive pick point to help.

. I guess I’m behind some in my Troy Grady, but today is the first time I really have it much thought. I was expecting some sort of conventional wisdom to say that you always want perpendicular. I’m glad this isn’t too unusual.

To me the best way to dial in pick point is to tremolo with a loos-ish grip. The pick will rotate a little on the pick-point axis until it stops moving. Then firm the grip back up. this is the sweet for your setup/posture/grip. It may be different from player to player just due to some idiosyncrasies, but letting it kind of sort itself out should do the trick.

2 Likes

That’s great advice Joe. I haven’t had a chance to try yet, but I’m guessing it will rotate to the same angle as how I hold it and that’s why I hold it that way!?

Just to add to this, since the post got me thinking about it: if I use a fairly supinated arm position, and RDT for a DSX motion, a bit of positive pick point in the grip, off the guitar, actually translates to the pick tip being more-or-less perpendicular on the string because of the angle of approach my thumb will have. So I’d say it’s probably a necessary component for certain techniques/hand shapes to get a smooth pick attack.

1 Like

No, I think you take the crown for that one.

Not sure! It’s possible that you hold it how you do just due to comfort/familiarity. I think experimenting is key and just having a constant feedback loop. Sometimes new things seem wrong just because they feel “different” but also it’s easy to think we’ve found a silver bullet for the same (yet opposite) reason, when really we haven’t improved anything. I just know in general if you feel the pick snagging, that’s typically an indication that pick-point is the culprit. Much like @Pepepicks66 is advocating

But just to back up some…are you asking all this out of curiosity, or have you noticed a problem in your picking that you think this will address? We’re always guided by Troy to not give too much advice until seeing a video though. It’s possible what you think is happening isn’t really what’s happening :slight_smile: So feel free to demonstrate the playing where something snaggy is happening.

Overall though, I do think pick-point is highly dependent on other factors. I’m sure Troy covers it at length in the Primer. I know I’ve seen players with negative pick point (Molly Tuttle, if memory serves).

We’ll dub him CtC’s Preeminent Princely Proponent of Pick Point Pedagogy

2 Likes

Just checked my thought against what Paul Gilbert does and it lines up. He adjusts the pick a ton in this vid, but look how it is when he’s playing fast (cued up to a very obvious spot). Positive pick point, again I think because he has this supinated arm position with the thumb coming at the strings from that particular angle, but on the string itself it’s pretty perpendicular.

1 Like

And her “thumb approach” is like polar opposite of Gilbert’s… hmmm…

1 Like

Troy has a section in the pickslanting primer about pick tip orientation relative to your thumb (or maybe it was the strings). I don’t have a membership right now so I can’t remember where exactly it was.

I finally figured out how to do USX picking by allowing the point of the pick to rotate forward towards the tip of my thumb like in the picture you have here.

I highly recommend experimenting with this to solve garage spikes.

Holding the pick loosely while you try a fast tremolo and allowing it to rotate in your grip is also really helpful, which was already mentioned in this thread.

I tried the loose grip suggestion and lo and behold the pick rotated to exactly how I already hold it. I may still post a video, but Im not getting hung up or anything. Thank you guys!

2 Likes

Excellent! You had perfect pick point to begin with then :wink: I just think it’s super interesting how interconnected all these little seemingly “personal preferences” are and what impact theycan have on our playing. Troy’s actually teaching guitar technique. Most other instructors’ idea of teaching technique involves playing various exercises…

1 Like