Right Hand Technique (Pickstyle)

Now we will look at correctly positioning the right hand. There are two right hand techniques, the fingerstyle and the pickstyle. In the fingerstyle technique, we will use our fingers for picking the strings. This is called fingerpicking. In the pickstyle technique, we will use the pick for picking strings. Fingerstyle is usually played on acoustic and classical, and the pickstyle is prefferred by electric rock/blues guitarists. The picking style you choose will largely depend on the style of music you intend to play.

Pickstyle - Holding and Positioning the Pick

There is not really any 'correct' way to hold the pick. Different people prefer different holding styles. Usually, the pick is held between the thumb and the pointer. I don't want to get into a long explanation, so here are images displaying the standard holding position of the pick. I prefer a different style, but this is the one that people usually use.



Note that your grip on the pick should be firm (not super-tight) and your wrist should be loose.


Now we come to positioning the hand. Here is image showing the correct right hand positioning. Note, the hand should not be resting anywhere on the bridge, or the strings, although it may lightly touch these parts, as they can serve as a guide for finding strings. You will only rest your arm on the top of the body. Also, make sure that your shoulder is not raised. The pick will be at an angle to the strings, i.e. it will be a bit tilted, as you can infer from the image (more on this below). I recommend you look at yourself in a mirror and see how much your right hand looks like the one in the image.


There is a bit of confusion regarding the 'tilt' of the pick. Here is an image showing the tilt:

Comments

kapil 2009-07-17 23:31:45
thanx a lot it is a excellent site to learn guitar......................
i was having problem with the picking style and thats been removed nw thanx a lot

joseph 2009-08-17 12:11:39
hey.i use downward picking cause i guess its better for rock and heavy metal.you think i should change my picking style to gain speed?(i exclusively use down pickin)thanks alot.even though i play guitar i still find your site very useful

maujood 2009-08-18 08:52:37
@joseph: You will have to integrate alternate picking into your style if you wish to improve your speed. Exclusive downstrokes simply won't work. Below is some text I clipped from wikipedia:

"The technique (alternate picking) has many advantages and some disadvantages, largely depending on the licks the guitarist is attempting to play. For example, during fast passages, alternate picking is necessary in keeping the picking arm from tiring out. At very high tempos, alternate picking is virtually required, since techniques like down picking are made highly infeasible"

joseph 2009-08-18 12:59:28
ok.thanks for help

Aman 2009-09-05 16:37:26
hey is it ok to rest my pinky on the guitar's pick gaurd( cuz i do it nw, and i have been playing for like 8 mnths nw, so it will be difficult to change it), and yeah dont rest any part of my hand on te bridge or the strings, and a part of the hand is kept on the guitars body

maujood 2009-09-07 08:16:39
A lot of really good guitarists DO keep their pinkies on the pick guard. If you're playing fine with it, then continue on; just make sure there's no tension because of it! .. And are you keeping your HAND on the body or your ARM? .. I don't think it's a good idea to keep your hand on the body!!

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