I've recently discovered (2 weeks of cyphering) what works for me after reading the thread about the guy getting his pick hold changed by a famed teacher at a workshop.
The picture shown on the thread shows the index finger supporting the pick straight across the pick with the nail of the index finger being quite beyond the wrist-side edge of the pick. (I looked for, but can't find the thread.)
*Edited to add: I'm presuming you hold the pick with the index finger curled or crooked, as opposed to a straight first finger.
I gave it a try and discovered why that works after a couple of days of trial and error.
The key points that made it work for me were:
- Having the first joint of the index finger supporting the pick straight across the bottom side of the pick. This is vital. How much fingernail hangs past the pick is unimportant (the whole nail was visible in the picture). What is important is that your first finger lays straight across the pick.
- To make the wrist relax, make sure that you're not using a flat thumb on the top of the pick. The thumb needs to support the pick parallel to the index finger with more of its "outside' edge (the side facing you when you make a thumbs-up). A flat thumb will tense up your whole hand & wrist. A thumb on-edge loosens the hand, wrist and other fingers.
- The pick can be placed anywhere along the length of the thumb and the pick won't slide around as long as your index finger is straight across the pick and you are using the outside edge of your thumb. The farther the pick is away from your wrist, the lighter the sound will be. The closer the pick is to the wrist, the fatter the sound will be.
Hope this helps.
Oh, and it will help your tremolo too!
I would have loved to have this knowledge when I started a year ago.
Aldon
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