Holding it with only the index and thumb also frees you up to tap with the middle and also hybrid pick. I used to hold with three fingers, but I switched to two and it was awkward for a little while until I learned how to not drop the pick. Trust me, it's worth it to change to two fingers.
yeh sometimes I feel like I would like to try to switch to 2 fingers and see how that goes but i play with a very hard pick and when i play with 2 fingers i can play single notes and solos fine but when it comes to chords my pick slides all over and nearly falls out of my fingers.
I've played without a pick for the last seven years. Using just nails like Lenny but without the thumbpick. Once I got the index thumb middle thing down, I've found no limitations. Not everybody wants to ditch the pick though. I couldn't even imagine string skipping with a pick now. If I really want the flatpick sound I use the index nail as the pick pushing it against my thumb for tension. Then a few years back I wanted to do a 4NPS chromatic scale and started using my ring finger in my ITM runs. The pinky isn't used for fast single-note runs but It's used for Chet/Lenny/DeGruy stuff. The biggest problem was for muting notes until I just practiced it until I got my angle just right. With distortion you gotta be in control cause y'ain't resting th' butt o' yer palm on the strings all the time. It can get noisy if you don't keep yer eye on it.
Just one quick 2 pennies worth here....
Keeping your picking from your forarm instead of wrist is fine at warp speed doing fairly standard three or four note per string stuff, with practice you can get some obscure shapes down at speed, but when playing some scholfield style fusion stuff or other "widdly jazz" forget it, theres to much momentem to switch strings, try playing a root e major7th arp with your wrist solid!! you'll see what I mean.
Does'nt shaun baxter recomend using three fingers in a column on picking a while back??I think he did but am not sure. I know that using two fingers works as just about any well known picker(john mclaughlin, john petrucci, tmac etc) use 2 fingers. Also may I suggest the tortex picks for those prone to sweating like I do, i find that after a few mins my chip-fat oil soaked digits can't handle the "wonderfull slipperyness" of the plastic picks like the red jazzIII's. _________________ "The reason why guthrie is so good, is that he doesen't spend most of his time on the petrucci forum bitching about vai"
I hold a jazzIII pick with thumb and forefinger, have my little finger anchored and use circular picking while using my middle finger for extra bits.
When my technique feels right, I find I can't explain or work out how I'm doing it. I think what's happening is my left hand plays the scale notes in a rhythmic hammer on/off pattern while my right hand catches the accents in between as well as the notes in a percussive way. I rely heavily on the right hand accents to keep me in time during fast runs. It doesn't look as though I'm doing anything other than just holding my right hand over the strings and playing single notes. In fact I'm probably more or less scratching the strings in time!
I used to use fast shredder type arm movements but the inside of my elbow just started to hurt. I couldn't do it properly, it sounded awful and just didn't work for me.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum