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How To Hold The Pick

February 1st, 2010

How to Hold a Guitar Pick
Source: Guitar Basics

Holding the Guitar Pick:
Believe it or not, there is a poor, good and best way to hold a pick.

The Poor Way To Hold Your Pick:
The poorest way is to hold a Guitar Pick is with the tips of your index finger and thumb and just having it wave in the breeze. By doing this you will have lack of control, the pick will fly out of your hand and you will not get the greatest tone from your instrument.

The Better Way To Hold Your Guitar Pick:
The better way is to hold the pick deep between your thumb and index finger. Allow only about 1/3 of the tip of the pick stick out beyond your finger tips. You will have much better control over the pick, it will feel better in the long run and you will not drop it nearly as easily.

Proper Way To Hold The Pick While Playing
Source: Guitar Basics

Don’t Dig The Pick Into The Strings:
As the picture above indicates, this is the best way to hold the pick as outlined below. A slight improvement for the student in the photo above would be not to dig the pick into the strings quite as far as what this shows. Just the first 1/8″ to 1/4″ of the tip of the pick is all that is necessary. More pick in the strings = more drag = slower picking speed.

The Best way to Hold Your Guitar Pick:
As shown in the picture at the top of the article, follow this procedure:

Turn your hand edgewise to see the side of your index finger and the top of your thumb.

Curl your index finger joints about 1/2 the way toward the palm of your hand. You will now see that your first knuckle of your index finger is at a sharp angle (about 90 degrees).

Place the fat part of the pick right across this joint with the pointy end point away from the palm of your hand. About 1/3 of the pick should be sticking beyond the index finger knuckle.

Take your thumb and place it over the top side of the fat part of the pick. So now you see only about 1/3 of the pick. Grasp down on it fairly tightly (not a death grip though)

Now try to wiggle the tip with your other hand. See how stiff the grip is? This is control and the way you should play.

Doing things the correct way are almost always harder at first. Once you master this technique, it will become much easier to play and you will be a much better musician.