Picking Styles - So many picking styles...

[Galtero]

*My picking technique has it's very good days, and very bad days. *I wanted to have more good days, so I am reexamaning my picking technique, which I thought was fine. *How does Vai pick? *His thumb really curves in the videos I've seen! *Does he use circular picking? *I think George Bellas uses circular picking. *I know I've got a pick I like, it's a matter of putting it between my thumb and index finger and having it stick out from between them the right amount. *Some websites say that your picking hand and arm should not be touching the guitar. *How would one mute arppreggios then? *Oh such confusion!

[Pryde7]

the best thing to do to develop a healthy picking style is to, first of all (and i know you're gonna kill me for saying this because i say this to everybody all the time)... slow everything down!!!! grab yer metronome and crank it all the way from allegro to larghetto. take the piece of music you were trying to play (i.e. paganini's 5th caprice, for example), and slow it down to that tempo.

at that speed, you can consciously make decisions about where to put your picking hand, what part of the hand to use to mute other strings, the angle of the pick, the depth of the pick into the strings, the pressure of your pick on the strings, the pressure of your fingers holding the pick, etc. etc. etc.

spend ALOT of time perfecting it until you think you have it right, then speed it up a bit. adjust as necessary, and when you think you've got that down, speed it up some more. basically, start from scratch and develop your OWN picking style that fits your hands better. sure, you can take tips from john petrucci or steve vai or yngwie malmsteen or al dimeola, but these guys took the time to develop their own picking style, and it might not be comfortable for your *own* hands.

now, break out the metronomes and get started... NOW!!!!!! (LOL)

:biggrin:

good luck,
-Pryde

(p.s. if your metronome sounds insanely annoying, like mine does, www.metronomeonline.com has a nice sounding one whose tone and volume you can adjust with your own speakers... its my favorite website now, next to jemsite of course! LOL)

[Giant Steps]

I agree, it's much better to develope your own picking style. The only thing that will make your picking more consistent is time. If you force your hand to conform to someone else's picking style you'll just be starting over and become even less consistent. You also might play a different way than other people. I hybrid pick a lot so my pick hand reflects that.

Good Cheese,
-VIG-