I want to talk about the angle of guitar pick during playing. You can actually vary it depending on the speed of your playing. Slow, you can literally use horizontal attack but at fast speeds you naturally give your pick a slight tilt. The tilt approaches vertical position the more fast you go. Though we have different types, we must remember to use what is appopriate for our own type of playing. One might be easy for others but difficult for you to use.
Mia, a good friend of mine wants to know more about pick attack, so here it is Mia :-)... Your pick or plectrum is actually your finger's extension. So i would like to remind you to always consider your pick as your fingers, finger nails or somewhat an extension of it. Why i said this? It's because you need to still feel the guitar strings as much as you would with your fingers and not so much as just a vibrating string ringing at your plectrum's end. You need to have an intimate connection.... binayot ba... hehehe... Kidding aside, this would create some sort of feedback effect so you would know if you're hitting the strings hard enough or too weak. Well, of course, you can just hear it or you can let your fretting fingers do the feel but if you can do it with your picking fingers then it would add up to your guitar mastery. This is hard to comprehend at first and probably feels so frustrating. Much the same feeling as to why you cant tune your guitar at first few months of your playing. But just try to. The earlier you are aware of it, even if you still wont have a feel for it, the much better. The more you practice the more it becomes clearer to you of what im talking about. Just have a constant and conscious practice, hehehe. So again have some personal connection to your guitar through your pick, its not just a small instrument its a valuable link, hhhmmm char.... Back to pick attack, generally there's four that i know of;
Horizontal (p.s. those are not dead finger nails just indelible ink spot, I voted last sunday :-)...
Vertical
Forward tilt
Backward tilt
Naturally all players tend to use the forward tilt attack most of the time. And for me it is the most effective to use. Not that the others cant be used, its just that this form can be used on whatever type of playing you use, be it slow, moderate of even fast. Vertical for the most part are used for very fast shredding licks. A good bit of players though consider vertical as not something you choose to do but as a result of your playing in fast tempo. Its an effect rather than a cause. Horizontal on the other hand is for very slow melodies. The picking strength is increased as you can pluck the strings more powerfully. The drawback though is you cant play in faster phrases as your pick gets tangled in this kind of position. Try this horizontal picking slow, then gradually play fast tempo. You'll notice that the faster you get the harder it is for you to pick. Then try to tilt the pick, forward or backward, it doesn't matter. The two are so much the same in all aspect and only depends on the player, whatever suits him. You can try it yourself and determine what works best for you. The tilting action noticeably offers a fluid picking motion making you pick faster. In conclusion, use tilting pick attack mainly for your normal and usual playing and employ vertical for very fast tempo and horizontal for slow and melodic ones e.g. ballads. It worked for me hopefully for you too. But then again, you control your own taste so try everything and choose what feels comfortable to you. So what are you waiting for, grab your axe, rip it off and rock on!!! Mama Mia!!!
Naturally all players tend to use the forward tilt attack most of the time. And for me it is the most effective to use. Not that the others cant be used, its just that this form can be used on whatever type of playing you use, be it slow, moderate of even fast. Vertical for the most part are used for very fast shredding licks. A good bit of players though consider vertical as not something you choose to do but as a result of your playing in fast tempo. Its an effect rather than a cause. Horizontal on the other hand is for very slow melodies. The picking strength is increased as you can pluck the strings more powerfully. The drawback though is you cant play in faster phrases as your pick gets tangled in this kind of position. Try this horizontal picking slow, then gradually play fast tempo. You'll notice that the faster you get the harder it is for you to pick. Then try to tilt the pick, forward or backward, it doesn't matter. The two are so much the same in all aspect and only depends on the player, whatever suits him. You can try it yourself and determine what works best for you. The tilting action noticeably offers a fluid picking motion making you pick faster. In conclusion, use tilting pick attack mainly for your normal and usual playing and employ vertical for very fast tempo and horizontal for slow and melodic ones e.g. ballads. It worked for me hopefully for you too. But then again, you control your own taste so try everything and choose what feels comfortable to you. So what are you waiting for, grab your axe, rip it off and rock on!!! Mama Mia!!!
