By Nicholas Anderson
A very common problem I see in nearly all students is their inability to play cleanly and accurately on a consistent basis. This usually results in a lot of frustration because while the student may have a decent amount of ability (and sometimes a lot of ability) their playing still sounds amateurish because they cannot play without a lot of extra string noise and without missing notes that they should be able to hit.
The result of this frustration is that the student tries harder and harder to be accurate, but never is able to solve this problem because they have not properly diagnosed the cause. In this article, I’m going to address one root cause that will help you clean up your playing and make you more accurate. An added benefit is that your picking will also be instantly faster if your problem is the one addressed here.
Right now, pick up your guitar and play a scale or melody that you’re familiar with, preferably something that is totally memorized. The pentatonic scale is a good choice. As you play through the scale or melody, keep your eyes totally fixed on your picking hand. Observe what it does as you play and ask these questions:
- Is my pick moving horizontally, away from the guitar after I pick a string?
- Is my wrist rolling as I pick?
- Is my arm moving away from the body of the guitar?
- Is my pick making wide, inefficient motions as I play?
- Does the motion of my pick change depending on where I am in the scale?
- Am I moving my pick my with my thumb and index finger?
- Am I tense as I play?
Answer these questions one at a time. If you find that you answered “Yes” to some or all of these questions, your picking technique is likely in need of a lot of training. Below are a few things you can do today to improve your picking technique.
- Focus your efforts on training your picking motion to be straight up and down, not away from the body of the guitar. Of course, if you skip strings there will be some motion away from the guitar, but it should not resemble the McDonald’s arches. Moving your pick far away from the strings will almost certainly cause you to be inaccurate, slow you down, and may even cause unwanted string noise. By eliminating this horizontal motion, your picking will immediately be cleaner, more accurate, and faster.
- Adjust the angle of the pick to a 45 degrees so your it is able to cut through the strings without needing to be moved away from the guitar. To do this, put your pick straight against the string and simple tilt it downward toward the floor. Your thumb will be pointing downward, not up, if you are doing this correctly. Most people will find this awkward at first, but that’s normal. If you’ve been playing guitar for years, it will take time and daily training to get totally comfortable with this new angle, but it is well worth it. You’ll find in the long run that it is easier to pick like this because it helps you get through the strings faster, easier, and eliminates the need to move your pick horizontally to get through the strings.
- Focus on making small, consistent motions. Slow down to about 20-30% of your top speed and really focus on ensuring you’re moving the pick as little as you need to in order to play. By slowing down, you allow yourself time to think and pick correctly. A big mistake most guitar players make is playing at normal tempo when practicing. As a result, they do not truly begin to correct mistakes and form new habits. Slow down as much as you need to in order to correct the problem. If you do not, you will not get anywhere and, in fact, you may just be wasting time.
- Devote 3-5 minutes at every practice session to simple focusing on relaxing as you play. Focus not only on your picking hand but also on your whole body. Relax your arms, legs, back, neck, shoulders, face…literally relax your entire body as you play. Relaxing will give you better control over your body and help you play with more ease and fluidity in the long run. Again, it may be difficult and feel strange, but it will help you improve your speed and accuracy a lot. As a bonus, it will also help you avoid repetitive strain injuries.
Remember, if you are like most guitar players, you probably have a lot of bad, engrained habits in your picking hand. It will take some time and practice to train your picking hand, but the payoff is great. Implement these tips every day and you will see a lot of improvement in your technique and playing.
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