How do the pros do it....

[BenE]

I have been working on my right hand technique and trying to improve on the way I hold my pick. #It would seem that there are two ways most folks will hold their picks.

#1 #The index finger curled in towards the palm with the pick resting between the thumb and on the side of the index finger.

#2 #The pencil grip...This is where you hold the pick between the thumb and the pad (or side of the pad) of your index finger.

Sometimes I will find myself going between the two grips but generally I find I use the pencil grip....sometimes stacking my middle finger on top of my index finger to get a little extra punch on the strings. #I have been working on some fiddle tunes and trying to get them up to the blazing fast tempo they deserve. #Last night I switched from the pencil grip to holding the pick on the sides of my index finger and to me it felt like I got a little smoother and was able to play faster. #I did lose some volume but would expect that in time I would get the volume back.

I have seen the Mike Strangeland Right Hand Study located here Right Hand Study (http://co-mando.com/techniques/righthand.php) and wondered if we might be able to put something together along the same lines concerning pick grip. #So, lets share some of that knowledge!

I think I might be better off in the long run changing my grip to the sides of my index finger. #I think Frank Wakefield said it would take about a month to make the switch. #It is sort of a bummer to break old habits but in the long run it would probably be worth it....Thoughts?

[BenE]

Okay...I'll start.
Frank Wakefield---sides of index finger grip
Johnny Gimble---pencil Grip

[Kevin K]

In the Compton workshop, he talks about holding the pick between the bone joint of the thumb and joint of your index finger (bone,pick,bone) and holding the pick loose. If you watch him play, his thumb tip is usually pointing up and he has great volume, control, tone, and tremelo.

[John S]

Not that Mike's approach needs any more validation, but I found it works best for me. My observation was that in using the thumb-indexfinger grip, if I gripped the pick with the fleshy part of the end of the thumb, the act of picking would cause my thumb joint to flex back and forth. Maybe for some pickers who can control or take advantage of that flexibility, perhaps that's not a bad thing. But taking Mike's advice and having the pick more centered between the finger and thumb joints takes away that extra degree of freedom that I can't control anyway. It allows me more accurate control of the pick with less pressure, which is a good thing. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[John Flynn]

I saw the Strangeland study and while it is very interesting, I wonder to what extent it is useful for me as a player. I think some great players are good because they have great technique and some are good in spite of questionable technique. The latter group have evolved techniques that work for them, by applying great natural talent and many hundreds of hours of playing. But thier techniques may not be the best way to go for most people.

I have a favorite player, but I won't mention the name here because I don't want to steer the discussion off in that direction. His technique is very eclectic and it works incredibly well for him. I work on learning his musical style, and I have tried all his techniques, but it is clear that some of what he does is just not transferrable or preferable.

My personal "gold standard" for technique is Mike Compton, even though he is not my absolute #1 favorite musically. He is not only a great player, but he has really thought about and experimented with different techniques. He can not only describe what he does, he knows WHY he does what he does, the way he does. Also, what he teaches seems to jive with what most of the instructional books recommend.

I will look forward to the results of this thread with great interest, but one way or another, I would take it with a grain of salt as far as my own decisions about technique. Just MHO.

[Bill James]

If you watch him play, his thumb tip is usually pointing up and he has great volume, control, tone, and tremelo.

Which brings up another interesting thing about holding the pick. Some people have a thumb joint that can bend backwards. This gives you the option to angle the pick slightly (some more than slightly)so that the "front" edge of the pick is up and the "back" edge of the pick is down. I angle the other way (front down, back up) since my thumb joint doesn't bend backwards at all. It's like the slash and the backslash on the keyboard.

Who does what?

[danb]

Pick Grip (http://www.celticmusic.com/dan/technique.html)

[c3hammer]

Matt Flinner showed his technique at a seminar I attended a month ago or so. He said someone showed him years ago to have a perfectly flat hand, wrist and forearm.

If you take Dan's pic and flatten out the second knuckles on all 4 fingers you'll get what he was showing exactly. Effectively you can place a board along the back of your forearm, wrist, hand and fingers. They are all in a perfect straight line.

He actually plays that way. When he really gets going fast his second finger and ring fingers start to stick up a bit, but back past flat not in toward the top of the instrument.

I find it nearly impossible to do relaxed, but it obviously works wonders for his speed and tone. I've found it to make for a very fat tone if you can actually get the pick to the strings like that http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Cheers,
Pete

[SiFi]

Here's a question: why not use both grips, rather that one or the other exclusively?

I use BenE's #1 grip if I'm playing faster tunes, but the #2 grip if I'm playing slower tunes.

The #2 grip means I can "feel" the pick on the strings better, which is why I like using it on slower tunes. But that's just me; I'm sure it's different for everyone!

Cheers,

Simon

[Scotti Adams]

..Im not a pro by any means but this is how I hold mine...sometimes I will plant the ring finger and pinky lightly..depends on what Im goin after...or sometimes I will add the middle finger in the mix for added control on speedier things...