When I’m picking, mainly with sweeping my thumb seems to always be bending back and fourth to straight, curved and I can’t seem to stop doing it. Is it OK that this is happening or should it always be locked in to where it doesn’t move at all? I noticed that Zakk Wylde moves his thumb a lot and maybe even Yngwie but I don’t know if that’s only when they’re doing things slower and once they get locked end at their full speed it stops moving around? Any thoughts on this?
1 Like
I think it depends on what you are trying to do. If you’re not trying to add finger motion, I’d say just try getting some more thumb overlap on the pick, and that should help you keep a more natural pick grip. But if you can get the finger motion to work, it probably will help the sweeping, EJ does some of that from time to time.
1 Like
In a nutshell, if you are getting the notes/sound you want and are not feeling discomfort, there’s no reason to change it. If you want to experiment with less finger motion, try the trigger grip (i.e. curl the index as much as you can for a more compact grip). It’s much harder to move the fingers from that setup.
More generally I think this is the kind of concern that is better addressed with a technique critique video. Shoot some video and let us have a look 
1 Like
Yngwie definitely does it! Check out this clip - I have queued it to a nice spot where you can see his thumb moving. All through this solo you can see his thumb moving as he is picking (try watching full screen). But what precision he demonstrates! I suspect this is partly why he is able to get such precision.
I don’t think you need to be concerned with who does it and who doesn’t. You need to experiment to see if it helps/hinders you. @tommo is spot on - we need a video of you for a critique.
Agree with the others of course it is what works for you.
Just on the wiggly thumb - check out Takayoshi Ohmura with circle picking. Wow. I’m just finding out about circle picking yet I have been partly doing it for years! (not this well haha).
