So i was gonna take the pick grip poll, but they didnt list mine…no surpise. i found a HUUUUGE speed increase when i switched from playing with the pad of my thumb to the tip of my thumb on the center of the pick. this made changing slant direction possible by sliding my thumb up and down the pick. if i want UWPS, i simply slide my thumb down a bit. DWPS, i slide it up on the back of the pick. this way you have to use no forearm deviation and it doesnt just eliminate the need for string hopping, it makes it feel damn unnatural, so it forced me to use only wrist movement side to side. thought i would share b/c it really helped me, and found it interesting NOBODY seems to use this pick grip.
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You should totally upload a video, sounds cool!
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Maybe post a pic so we can all get a chance to see?
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If you could please show some pics or video of your way I’d appreciate it.
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I’ve been hauling bales of hay about for a couple of days, and my wrists and forearms are feeling absolutely shot.
I can really accentuate the pain factor by attempting what I think the OP is describing.
Just to be clear, you mean like Benson picking, but with the pick still on the side of the finger, so the thumb has to be flexed?
Hi! It sounds like you’re describing David Grier’s grip:
If so, indeed, this isn’t super common and I don’t think anyone else we have interviewed plays this way. However, I don’t think this really has any direct effect on “speed”, per se. Speed is simply your wrist or arm moving back and forth.
Note also, and I’ll keep apologizing for this until we get some clearer instructional stuff up there, that the visible “slant” of the pick is also a separate thing from your picking motion. Using your fingers to change that doesn’t change your picking motion, it just alters your grip.
Now it’s certainly possible that when you made this switch, you also changed your motion in some way that works better for you. Totally possible! But we’ve seen a number of posts from players doing grip-oriented things recently, and when you look at what their wrist or arm is doing while they do that, there’s really no change at all mechanically.
Had we known this back in the day, we would certainly have been clearer about it. As Stan Lee says, “Excelsior!” - ever upward. Edit: I think that’s actually the New York State motto. I have no idea if that’s where he got it from!
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It sounds like the pick style I have used for 30 years. I hold the pick in sort of a pinch like I would a pencil when writing or drawing. I have noticed on here that most payers have their thumb almost straight using the pad of their thumb and side of he index finger to hold the pick. I use my fingers a lot to move the pick back and forth to get precise movements so my wrist movement is minimal but I can’t get any real accuracy or clean speed, only sloppy speed. I have been trying to alter since seeing the Code videos this but I loose control when trying to replicate all the videos on here.
Wow, lots of replies, ill try to get a video but i dont really have anything to video with( thats right, even a phone…i know i know, its 2018 ). Troy, youre post was VEEERY helpful, i didnt realize it till you pointed it out, and now ive completely changed it, but for some reason, changing my grip cut down on forearm rotation. I guess because it eliminated string hopping i lost the need for speed from the forearm, which, i needed quite a bit of tension to do anyway, making my picking very sloppy. been practicing this way for about a week and a half and i cranked the metronome just to see what i could do. I can get the yngwie ascending sextuplets lick out to about 170bpm. i still cant sustain it for long, which means theres probably a little unneeded tension still there, but jeez, i didnt even know it was humanly possible!( unless you were jason becker) THANK YOU TROY!!! and all the cracking the code guys, youve seriously changed my guitar playing, my thanks and gratitude i cannot express through this keyboard!.
+Prigmnr
YES, exactly like benson, i had to look up his picking hand for a close up, and yes, thats exactly what im doing. so, the thumb does have to be flexed inward, towards the palm.