For the picking hand, how many of you are concious of your leading finger when it comes to guiding the pick?
I find the index to improve things and when I’m stuck it still comes to the rescue, the trick is in holding on to the idea long enough.
If you haven’t thought about this, you probably should, maybe I bring up an old topic I’ve forgotten about, but clearly to me it helps turn aound a bad day, if I can remember it.
What do you mean by leading? Are you talking about finger motion?
The one your mind’s eye focuses on. If you haven’t felt this, I recommend one tries it with an open mind. I can’t be the only one who stumbled upon this, or maybe everybody does it unawares.
edit: maybe I didn’t understand your question, yes it’s definitely regarding motion, but motion of the pick, which I guess is finger in that sense. Maybe I wasn’t clear, I just think this isn’t talked about much or at all but I think there is something to it. It’s like you focus on your index and your picking accuracy is improved.
I have often thought about where I place my attention (thumb or index) and wasn’t really sure whether it was making a difference - maybe I was still actually just viewing it as one unit. I like these sorts of things as sometimes if you just place your focus elsewhere, your body can do things instinctively.
Could you give it a shot over a few days and see if there’s something to it; it’s a weak coupling in the mind and I need to keep my awareness of it, the down strokes feel a bit strange initially till you get the sensation that the pick is an extension of your index. There’s some nuanced sensation that I can’t describe very well, like I can’t put a finger on it 
edit: I must add there’s also the sensation that your thumb disappears, it’s just your index guiding the pick.
Happy to try it and report back. Do you want me to try it on sometging I’m familiar with (to see if it makes a little extra difference) or something that I’m struggling with? ( to see if it makes a big difference)
Ah, yeah. I figured you might mean ‘where to place your attention’. I do that quite a bit when I’m looking for good motions and figuring out what it feels like to do a motion easily.
But I haven’t thought about leading with the thumb or index fingers really. I guess I should see how that feels. I try to keep them static and not so involved in making the picking motion, as a learning aid. It seems to help me feel the motion coming from the joint that I’m using.
True this.
My instinct is that doing this will be beneficial in terms of avoiding/releasing death grip on the pick and may be just as beneficial to only think of the thumb. If it makes no difference between thumb or finger lead, it would still be a great way for people to approach having a lighter grip if that’s what they are after…
Ha, never thought it might help the death grip. But any single note phrase especially, try with familiar and stuff you struggle with. Thanks guys 
Edit: just want to add this is a very inner eye focus thing, not sure if any physical change should be introduced unless it happen intuitively, I think, but ther is a feedback loop that you may feel when it’s improving accuracy, that positive change you hang on to.
Personally, i’ve only ever “lead” or thought about the feeling about the pick on my thumb. It has way more control over the pick due to its orientation with the pick being on the pad, while with the index, it’s just placed on a knuckle so not much control there. But this only applies to grips like mine.
My lessons with Wes Hauch taught me the utmost importance of not having a death grip on the pick, and being hyper aware of how hard you hold the pick in general. After he loosened my death grip and I learned just how little effort was needed, I’m under the impression that 90% of guitarists at least, are holding their pick too hard.
And as for why this is important: Wes, and now I, believe that ultimately dynamics comes from how much you allow the pick to move in your grip when it crosses the string. Hold it tight, and it pushes the string back further, hold it loose, and it doesn’t go back as far.
Whether or not this belief is correct, it’s still insanely useful. It allows you to completely control your dynamics from a single thing, pick grip. Before I thought it was a lot of things, like the speed of the pick, how much strength I put into the motion, the “wind-up” distance, etc. Now for my playing, I get my dynamics solely from squeezing the pick more or less.
It’s a mental thing, I find it helps guide the pick better on string changes and such.
edit: this is just my experience, agreed it may be a very personal thing.
I have always found this to be true.
@Twangsta, had a quick go tonight and some interesting things so far:
)TLDR: In my short trial, I have found that leading with index or thumb is different from my usual way of seeing the thumb and index as ‘one thing’ and seems to help me avoid the deathgrip.
I’m happy to hear it helped with the death grip, I’ve been doing it all day yesterday and it’s helped bring back a fair amount of accuracy, and some string changes are feeling better. I hadn’t changed my pic in a while and it was rather worn down, going to a new one was not pleasant. Though I was past this kind of nonsense.
Ne ways I just remembered last night; that this index thumb thing for me started with writing, my handwriting was always better using the index to guide the pen. I was an artist most of my younger life, started with rock album covers, quickly realised I had a natural talent for it, my stuff looked like I was trained in art school. Guitar took over at some point and that was history.
I forgot to mention, when I first tried it was easier to do with single escape lines (especially the USX/DWPS variety) and harder with mixed escapes… You have the YJMisms going strong right?, could this also be a factor?
That’s interensting. Yes I use it mostly for YJM style picking.
I used to do this thing when I’d feel my picking was off: I’d pick without a pick, using the tip of my index finger’s nail, and just let my thumb rest on the side of my index finger naturally. After a few moments of “resetting”, I’d pick up the pick again and keep playing. From what I recall, I remember my grip loosening up to a similar feel to when my thumb was resting on the side of my index finger, pick-less.
Maybe this would fall under “leading with index finger”?
I think so, I did this once or twice when I tried it, witg the sensation you describe…
I’ve tried this a couple times now. Honestly, I’m just confused - maybe it comes down to differences in technique, USX wrist deviation here, but I feel like my wrist is guiding my pick, and the thumb and index finger are just there to support it. Interesting thought experiment though even though I’m not seeming to have your same experience, I appreciate the push to get outside the box a little.
Yeah, its definitely not the usual concept!
So when you string track, do you purely refer to how your wrist feels? (I’m assuming no athletic 5 string skips for the moment).
To be fair, I’ve never thought string tracking was as “automatic” as Troy has argued around here. It certainly didn’t come automatically for me.
But, for me, it seems to mostly be a matter of the “midpoint” of my wrist deflection moving, becoming a little sharper to get to the bass strings, and a little straighter to get to the treble.