Pick grip when using a bent thumb

Playing Technique
#1

When using a bend in the thumb as a grip, I have found that sometimes I could find a grip that was allowing me better control of the plectrum than was typically the case.

And now I think I know why, and I’d like to know if anyone else has found this.

If I grip at the centre of the plectrum, I think that allows the slant, the vertical symmetry, to be altered with a tiny amount of thumb squeeze taking the pressure of the grip either below or above that centre, and that gives me a grip where I feel the slant is much easier to control.

If this is the case, perhaps this is how those players who use bends in their thumb can alter the path of the escape with a movement so tiny that unless you looked for it you would not know it could happen.

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#2

This posting may have been a cri de coeur rather than analysis.

However, the problem of switching between my two techniques of forearm rotation and wrist alternate picking has been solved; I need to hold the pick in the centre for wrist picking and lower down in the centre of the plectrum for forearm rotation.

And with that, I think I now have a predictable technique.

Wow.

#3

Why do you think this is? Is there something we can learn from this? (I don’t mean this as a challenge or a leading question, I’m honestly curious)

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#4

Okay, I have this sorted now.

For wrist only one way escape picking, I hold the plectrum in its exact centre, for forearm rotation I hold the plectrum in its middle but below the centre, and for two way escape picking I hold the plectrum in its middle but above the centre.

First, holding the pick at its top gives greater leverage and greater reach. This is best for two way escape rolls played with the wrist.

Second, for forearm rotation, the power is much greater than using a wrist method of picking but the extra force leads to a lesser range of speeds; it goes from fast to very fast. So using a grip below the centre line of vertical symmetry but still held in the horizontal middle, gives greater accuracy of the plectrum to the increased power.

Third, wrist only one way escape picking with a grip in the exact centre of the plectrum; this is a compromise between the extra leverage and power gained by the other two motions, and gives a nice balance to the picking approach.

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