chord methOD

[jibberish]

8D
sister golden hair = 3 min.  sister molten hair = 1:10 .
  hope have it below 1 min eventually. my favorite chord warmup song.

just plugged into greta, played quietly with camera sitting on the table

[VOLVO)))]

Aw, man, don't make a fist with your picking hand...

[jibberish]

definitely explain what is the better way to hold the pick and what should I be looking for as advantages. I have no clue, been sorting this out myself so i'm sure I could tweak a ton of stuff I do. 
My goal is to get better and my picking is trailing my fretting.

I am getting things like when to down pick and when to up pick to smooth songs out but that's about it so far

[VOLVO)))]

Ill make a video later so you can see it in action. I hybird pick a lot.

[jibberish]

cool thx

[VOLVO)))]

Also, i play really thick picks.

[Pissy]

Jake, we need to talk about your picture scaling.

[VOLVO)))]

What's the issue other than being upside down?


EDIT: Oh, just saw it on a PC. fuck.

[mutantcolors]

Aw, man, don't make a fist with your picking hand...

Aw man, don't say what is or is not right/wrong.

My hand looks like a fist, I grabbed that from this guy who don't know shit about picking:

[Beta Cloud]

8D
sister golden hair = 3 min.  sister molten hair = 1:10 .
  hope have it below 1 min eventually. my favorite chord warmup song.

just plugged into greta, played quietly with camera sitting on the table

come here to NY and do it in a New York minute.
seriously, you're crazy cool for having done that.

[VOLVO)))]

Aw, man, don't make a fist with your picking hand...

Aw man, don't say what is or is not right/wrong.

My hand looks like a fist, I grabbed that from this guy who don't know shit about picking:

Aw, man, Don't get all defensive because you developed a poor habit early on.

Keeping your hand tensed up like that is just going to fatigue you faster. The less effort that goes into holding that pick wrong, the more you can put into sounding like a decent player.

Surely your next response will be "well, according to blah blah blah a fist blah blah," save it, fist yourself.

[jibberish]

^I just nedd to trim 10 more seconds off, then i'll be eastbound and down

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I took a really hard look at what I am doing with my picking hand rather than usually focusing on my fretting hand. I do about the same thing whether i'm actually looking or doing inner eye playing with eyes closed.(the true secret to playing+singing+working drum machine on/off and fills+turning a pedal on/off all together during a song, and now MIDI foot controllers yay)

My picking is crazy strange. I was laughing at myself, but it serves what I am doing exactly as I need it, so here is what I can see from careful observation.


The chord exercise video is nothing but solid chord forms moved all around. I have relaxed pretty quick motion there. you can see my picking hand is whipping relaxed in that vid.
I believe I know what sunno was seeing: a clenched fist is huge muscle commitment and you don't stand a chance to play like that for very long , or delicately, or precisely.
For chords and other hard core shit where I stand a good chance of flinging my pick into the next room, I use 2 fingers and the thumb to hang on.
when I do that, the last 2 fingers sort of curl in in the most relaxed position they want. sometimes I grab the pup frame with my pinky, or set a couple fingers somewhere on the body to do precise picking.
Anyway, that's my guess, and that most certainly would need correcting to continue moving ahead

observing further on other songs, anything I play that is complex/detailed is all 1 finger+thumb and all the other fingers way the hell out of the way

then there are songs where I hold with 3 for a big up pick, then 2 for some tra la la, then 3 for a couple chords then ...however it suits the song. up-picking on the low e can be dangerous with 2 fingers. also I regrip the pick with 3 fingers to get back to 2 fingers sometimes.

i'll make another video of snippets of a couple songs that the picking is all over the map. maybe another chord exercise song that I stole a steve howe technique that kicks my ass.

but for sure, while playing chords, i'm hanging on for dear life with 3 digits most of the time.  
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I love chords and playing chords fast. also, it enables me to take any song and weave the melody through the chords, IF I know the chords. so i'm practicing learning my chords.
that's why this whole riff world just stymied me for the longest time. I just could not see wtf riff construction was and i was like "where's the chords?..mommy...."

thx mutant. yeah paul gilbert. he is one of those players.  I watch those players when I want to knock myself down a few, or many  pegs. jiminy Christmas
he has lots of lessons online and he is a nice mellow dude.  ingwe lessons are hilarious, but wow hardcore. I get nothing from them besides a laugh.

[fallen]

Are we shit talking people in the jam room now? I thought that was only in the general area. Anyway...

I started out with a rigid picking hand, holding the pick with the tips of my first two fingers and thumb, and I broke a few strings at first, but over time my grip got more relaxed down to just one finger and thumb.

Whatever you do just know that eventually both hands will learn what the minimum amount of pressure is and will start doing the minimum amount of work possible, like a lazy warehouse worker.

New players always press down way too hard on the neck and grip the pick in crazy ways at first. 10 year plus players almost always fret super softly and hold the pick lightly between the thumb and tip of the first finger.

Anything you can do to work towards a light fluid grip do it. Get some extra grippy picks to encourage yourself to grip lighter.

As for pick thickness, there should be some flex there, either in your fingers or in your pick. If you have a light fluid grip then maybe a thicker pick is nice for added accuracy. If you are an aggressive picker then maybe a lighter pick with some flex is a good idea.

[VOLVO)))]

Nah, im just pickin

[mutantcolors]

LOL @ defensive and bad habit. I play anything but tense. Flat saying "no fist" is a thickheaded response, especially from someone who knows there's a lot more to it than that.

And if you're really trying to say Paul Gilbert has bad technique, just GTFO. It's the same fucking technique, just move your other 4 fingers in, you self proclaimed hack.

[VOLVO)))]

Paul Gilbert, meh.

Have you ever heard Racer X? Meh.

[jibberish]

Are we shit talking people in the jam room now? I thought that was only in the general area. Anyway...

I started out with a rigid picking hand, holding the pick with the tips of my first two fingers and thumb, and I broke a few strings at first, but over time my grip got more relaxed down to just one finger and thumb.

Whatever you do just know that eventually both hands will learn what the minimum amount of pressure is and will start doing the minimum amount of work possible, like a lazy warehouse worker.

New players always press down way too hard on the neck and grip the pick in crazy ways at first. 10 year plus players almost always fret super softly and hold the pick lightly between the thumb and tip of the first finger.

Anything you can do to work towards a light fluid grip do it. Get some extra grippy picks to encourage yourself to grip lighter.

As for pick thickness, there should be some flex there, either in your fingers or in your pick. If you have a light fluid grip then maybe a thicker pick is nice for added accuracy. If you are an aggressive picker then maybe a lighter pick with some flex is a good idea.

light fluid grip.  ok. I can focus on that as a general goal. I was horsing around doing trem picking runs and seeing how loose I can hold the pick sitting here. I can work on this for sure. I like it. and just more practice just keeps helping no matter what else. 

still, I have a lot of strange but heavy duty moves that require 3 finger death pick. i'll come up with a good example, just have to figure out which song is the good example heh.

the pick i have settled on, .96 = fairly stiff but can be bent at extreme hits so I can get like flex snaps but usually it plays pretty stiff. I really dislike thin picks. they are "fwappy" across the strings and you just cannot get correct attack on something vicious. rather use my thumbnail.

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gilberX  dun dun DUNNNNNNN

offer paul gilbert some free picking lessons.

[RacerX]

Have you ever heard Racer X? Meh.

I do kinda suck, but there really are no rules, although I have to say I don't ever make a fist, either.

There are so many different tones that can be produced by how (and with what) you pluck, pick, strum, or otherwise cause the strings to vibrate that sticking to just one is limiting.

Depending upon my mood and the intended application, I use my bare hands and/or a variety of picks including thumb/finger picks, Dunlop Jazz IIIs, and Fender medium teardrops. Sometimes I fingerpick (barehanded or with fingerpicks), sometimes I hybrid pick, & other times I just use a plectrum.

[VOLVO)))]

I use Jazz IIIs as well, with an open hand, and I hybrid pick a whole lot. Never a fist. Also cocks your hand out a bunch, putting you at an awkward angle.

[RacerX]

The little interview/demonstration snippet in the middle of this video really changed my viewpoint. Skip to about 2:50 if you don't have time to watch the whole thing...

[jibberish]

There are so many different tones that can be produced by how (and with what) you pluck, pick, strum, or otherwise cause the strings to vibrate that sticking to just one is limiting.

I definitely agree with this. the giant 3 finger twang needs 3 fingers. tuck pick away for finger+thumb 2 string pluck, but pinch harmonics basically require 2 finger to have a high % of nailing that with the edge of your thumb

will check out rory's video. he was a beast too.

[eyeprod]

Paul Gilbert seems pretty cool from the videos I've seen. He's a dork but oh well. I love his signatureiibanez.

There are no rules.

[jibberish]

ok, sold. I like rory even more now.    look how he plays that resonator at the 5:00+ mark.

just messing around for these couple days with the focus on relaxing pick hand as much as possible is already starting to feel faster on some things. cant beat quick positive feedback.

[VOLVO)))]

Holding with index/middle/thumb feels so unnatural, and uses different muscle groupings. More of a hinging motion than the natural twist a that your hand and arm already do. If you think about it, when you down pick, naturally your pick will be angled slightly toward your chin. Upstroke, toward your feet. Keeps it fluid.

Also, pinch harmonics. All day. Fleshy thumb works best. I can do them without a pick, doing and actual pinching motion.

[jibberish]

i'll get there. racerx got me started on pinch harmonics long ago. his tip was to learn them unplugged, and 2 fingers is the only way to do that for sure because you need your thumb laying down. 

I definitely go 2 finger for intricate stuff or fast stuff. it is clunky with 3. I noticed for backing chording while singing, I hang on with 3 so I don't have to deal with it. solo, little phrase fills, those could be 2 finger is single notes or w/e. i'll make some more videos.   this all has helped a lot so far even. glad you said something initially.

have you tried tremolo picking using a slight rotation of your arm vs the flex wrist thing? that is the most unnatural feeling, but the people in the videos are blindingly fast once they master it. it uses almost no arm movement.