Resting picking hand behind the bridge?

[pops1]

I think you may be better off rolling your hand, moving back will change where you pick hits the strings and usually you want to be forward. I also brush where you do, doesn't make a difference in sound usually, but I tried rolling my hand slightly and was easy and didn't change the feel much, but cleared the bridge.

[gtani7]

Miltown: you could try an armrest and/or a rolled up handtowel under forearm to raise heel of hand a little. Makes a big difference to me, just mind that you don't clamp the armrest on hard and put little scars in the instrument finish.

[Seamus B]

I got my McClung armrest yesterday and I can already tell that it is going to improve my anchoring a huge amount. I found myself floating my right hand a great deal more.

[Pick&Grin]

Pick&Grin - I do exactly the same & it's in no way detrimental to either my playing or the tone / volume of my mandolins !,
Ivan

Cheers, Ivan!

[Pick&Grin]

In my quest to improve my picking hand technique, I've been thinking a lot about the issue of where my picking hand rests, plants, or brushes. I'm not a pinky-planter, and I don't have a pickguard/finger rest on my mandolin, so I'm trying as much as I can to "float." Inevitably, however, I fnd the heel of my hand coming into contact with the strings.

Here's my issue: when I think about where my right hand makes contact with the strings, it tends to be right *above* the bridge more on the bass side of the instrument, and it's the heel of the thumb that makes contact. When I hear you all describe your technique, however, it sounds like you're making contact moreso behind the bridge on the treble side of the instrument, and that it's the bottom part of the hand, not below the thumb, that is making contact. Is that correct?

If so, and in my quest to not brush above the bridge, the only thing I've been able to figure out is to pull my whole arm back, so that I'm picking further below where the neck ends. Does that sound like a good solution? Or any other ideas? Maybe slightly roll my picking hand away from the mandolin, so that my picking attack is at more of an angle?

That sounds about right, Miltown. Mine stays behind the bridge, but I also have very large hands (I'm almost 7' tall), so with the pick pinched between thumb and between the top & center index-finger knuckles, it reaches up to just below the bridge. Moving arm back sounds like a good option.

[Pick&Grin]

Yes, those McClung armrests are a God-send! The other day I tried playing without mine; hadn't realized what a difference it's been making.

[Cliff Seruntine]

I always kept my hand floating, a habit from my days playing the Celtic harp and fiddle, and I maintained it when I started the mandolin. But I found one day, after adding a Tone-Gard and an armrest, that I was allowing my hand to brush the bridge. I had become over dependent on the tools and my technique was slacking. This, I did not like! It can only mute the bridge to some degree, and I have a huge admiration for the German classical mandolinists who play all up and down the neck. I found Caterina Lichtenberg's brief video on how to hold the pick to be very helpful. She advises having the thumb straddle the pick laterally, but the index finger going almost straight down onto it longitudinally. At first this felt a bit awkward, but with a little practice, I found I adjusted easily. It puts a little more distance between the pick and the hand.

She also advised holding the pick a little further back than I see many folk players do, and I adjusted to doing that. That extra few millimeters makes a big difference.

I realized that I didn't have the issue with my octave mandolin, but it has a deeper body and a flat, one piece bridge that is much lower. My hand naturally arched over the OM bridge. But observing my technique, I realized I was playing too far up the regular mandolin, making my arm stretch more and more likely to touch the bridge.

Having corrected that, I began making it a point to play near the bridge, over the sound hole, and up the neck more, perforce making my hand float over the strings. That has been a very useful exercise.

Here is Caterina's video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JofcuQg56-I

Hope this helps!

[Miltown]

That Lichtenberg video is great -- thanks for posting it! I'm trying out her suggested pick-hold, and I like it a lot. I also particularly like her suggestion about pinching your nose, and holding the pick in the same way. It's great to get such concrete advice about these issues!

[Br1ck]

Like many, I find an armrest very helpful. I've been making mine. Ten bucks worth of materials and an afternoon is all it takes. Viola chin rest hardware is used.

I'm good at adapting from guitar experience. I have an old Epiphone Texan with a very strong bottom end. For Travis style I've got to mute the bottom strings some, so I can adjust my right hand easily now. I don't think about it much, my ear tells my hand what to do.
I have to really pay attention to the sweet spot on a mandolin though.

You really have to be precise on a mandolin.