How to Pick | 3 Concepts - Pick Angle, Anchoring and Pick Location - BLUEGRASS Guitar Lesson

In this lesson, we focus on the picking hand and 3 concepts I think will improve your tone and ability to play faster and cleaner. Pick Angle: Refers to what side of the pick contacts your string. I have found ​that playing downstrokes on the back side of the picks is preferable to the front (bridge) side. I break this concept down more in detail in the video. Anchoring: Refers to placing the little finger of your picking hand on or near the pick guard to provide stability allowing you to play with more finesse. Pick Location: Refers to where on the strings you place the pick to provide a tight surface for a good pick motion and to draw the best tone out of your guitar.
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[@KingGrio]

I play blues based rock, and I always looked up to Paul Gilbert and Sam Coulson for picking technique: all I've found is that their technique has never worked for me and I've naturally developed technique very similar to yours, so stumbling upon your video is very interesting as I thought I was a rare exception with my technique, I believed everyone has Paul Gilbert style "front edge of the pick technique". Glad to know someone else picks like me. I'd like to give advice to whoever is reading this and viewing this video: I don't think you should take this advice too literally and only focus on that back edge of the pick + anchoring your pinky and ring finger. These concepts indeed are relevant and you should pay attention to them as indicators, but they are not the be-all and end-all of the story: explore where the pick sits under your thumb, is it way at the end of thumb or does it sit cupped under the joint where the thumb can bend ? You'll find different licks, arpeggios, single note picking, gallop rhythm, will work better with slightly different pick position under the thumb. Try also the following with your picking hand: touch the tip of your pinky with your thumb, and notice how the palm of your hand folds in half: I call this "The Equator" of my hand, pay attention that when you anchor your pinky to your pickguard under the strings, that as you play the low E and reach the high E, you are kind of (though not quite) making your thumb meet your pinky, and this equator in your hand forms, pay attention how it sits and allows you to palm mute and stabilize yourself. Try strumming 3 or 4 strings at a time, not quite sweep picking the strings individually, but strum slowly enough that you can pay attention to how your hand goes from open palm to collapsed equator formation as your pick travels over the strings, pay attention to how that collapsing motion happens and how you can control it. Investigate using more deliberately the big muscle of your thumb to drive the picking motion, then try using more forearm pronation, then try using the wrist more: some combination of these motion will work better, depending on situations and depending on your body/hand/arm build. There are actually a lot of muscles and joints to explore, and places to anchor your fingers, or the fleshy part of your palm/equator, and any guitar player should open his mind and investigate every possibility to find what works for them. But what is true from this video is that indeed: you may find yourself anchoring that pinky and using that back edge of your pick, and you should pay attention to it as well to monitor if what you are doing check-out with the advice from this video, and know if you are that kind of player and if you are on the right track.

[@davidlentz1946]

Best video I've seen on any teaching subject in a long long while. This should be video/lesson 1 for any beginning guitar player. It is so fundamental...and so often overlooked. ...thanks tons !!!

[@fdllicks]

Having played a bunch of different instruments I've learned of the absolute importance of correct right and left-hand technique with those instruments. So now that I'm starting to learn guitar and am a beginner guitarist, the very first thing I learned with stuff like this. It's similar to golf, if you learn it wrong in the beginning you will always struggle.

[@miTnosnhoJ]

This blew my mind! Very helpful!

[@shmulik345]

Thank you Brandon for this wonderful lessons

[@longtalljay]

I have been looking at this since 1997, when I got my first pirated Homespun videos in Bangkok. Rice, Grier, Blake definitely play downstrokes with the front edge. This is something Eric Johnson also famously explained in his description of his circular motion technique. The main players I know who hit with back edge going down are John Reischman (he talks about it on Peghead Nation) and maybe Dan Crary (because of his three finger grip). If one gets to mastery, then it looks like the best way. Love your content, btw, Brandon!

[@BrandonJohnsonGuitar]

Thanks! Yes, I agree I think it is a matter of personal preference. I've seen both but I had a bit of a breakthrough when I switched from the leading edge of the pick to the back. But I was playing the other day and I noticed I had reverted back to the front edge again because of muscle memory! :D

[@111crazymofo111]

Thank you for these words of wisdom.

[@bubba-rh3hz]

Fine work Brandon and thank you.

[@chrisryandrew4318]

I literally started to do this today and noticed it was more comfortable. Decided to have a look on the internet to see if I was crazy for try it this way and hear I am! Thanks for reaffirming this technique! I will be adopting this from now on 👍

[@kirkwickizerart1078]

Great advice. This angle seems to come more naturally than the opposite.

[@jonabalos5465]

I’m used to play ukulele with my index finger and know transitioning to guitar. It’s challenging and I’m struggling using picks. They’ve said that if I’m new - use thin picks. So I’m using .38mm. I’m all over KZbin for days until I found your channel. And now, I’m getting the angles and finally my full strumming for my 3 chorded music “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes. Thanks a million. I’m one of your full time subscribers now.

[@miker2058]

Front edge downstroke from now on for me thanks!

[@skatetodeath666]

Going to start this. Thanks

[@garygeurts8407]

Thank You for posting this! I’ve been learning for two years and still struggling with the pick. This is great.

[@iwanjones4705]

Wow, all of a sudden, my right hand is free!. Great video

[@fdllicks]

This video is very good I just want to thank you for putting out such great instruction

[@ayushgvrg]

Dude that was so helpful. My picking speed and accuracy just improved like x2!

[@Tm0g762]

Amazing advice! Thanks for helping me develop my flatpicking technique. Striking the string with the back end of the pick makes a huge difference in tone and ergonomics.

[@analogstyle]

Can’t thank you enough! I was falling apart at 100bpm@16ths. Angling my down pick to the bridge edge was exactly what I needed to do. Articulation and speed were almost instantaneous with that one change. Battling to get to 120 will be way easier now. Subscribed!

[@charlotterogers8733]

Thankyou so much for this. ❤

[@ZiggyAndTheSpiderFromMars]

Love the two close camera setup. Great content. Subbed.

[@nige99]

Thanking you for this MASSIVE tip

[@willbollman6246]

One thing I found helps with this technique is to always make sure the thumb is facing up. This forces the pick to play downs on the back edge and ups on the front edge.

[@ishaanjayce1368]

i dont mean to be off topic but does any of you know a way to log back into an Instagram account..? I somehow forgot my account password. I would love any help you can give me

[@ashtonleroy9023]

@Ishaan Jayce instablaster :)

[@ishaanjayce1368]

@Ashton Leroy i really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and Im trying it out now. Seems to take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@ishaanjayce1368]

@Ashton Leroy it worked and I finally got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D Thanks so much you saved my ass !

[@ashtonleroy9023]

@Ishaan Jayce glad I could help :D

[@loosecanon7734]

This lesson is just awesome . I was indoctrinated for years to use the front edge for downstrokes always wondering if there was no better way for giving some more brightness and accuracy to the notes . This helped me a lot . Thanks !!

[@jcoats5529]

Mind blown

[@kenviscidi4621]

Thank you Brandon. I'll try to get used to this and see what happens. One question, if using this style should right handed people use left handed picks and vice-versa so the beveled edge will be the striking edge?

[@nacienlos70]

Benson Picking that is. And he is a hell of a picker.

[@empiredreamsinc.4298]

I think how you have your arm swoop over the bridge from a lower position makes your pick angle more conducive for your preferred pick angle. But for me I like to play standing and have the guitar angled 45 degrees so it may be more difficult with you angle. 45 degrees helps my wrist stay comfortable for barre chords, especially the ones with wide finger spread and I have a bad right shoulder.

[@fleadoggreen9062]

I’m gonna start just walking around practicing standing up with the guitar strapped on

[@DD-eight]

I’ve been trying this in some picking excersizes wondering is this the angle you use during strumming as well?

[@anonymous5876]

yes to all the above agree..plenty of practice ty

[@benfukuzawa1192]

Ur amazing!

[@BrandonJohnsonGuitar]

Thanks Ben! :)

[@KennethRayable]

Thanks Brandon for the pick advice. I was impressed by the control that you gain by changing up your pick angle. Maybe now I can play Fishers Hornpipe up to speed finally.

[@Qman170]

The first tip never occurred to me, and it seems to help a lot. However, would an opposite beveled pick help playing this way?

[@adamkoepke1366]

Does anyone have any advice for good right hand technique when flatpicking? I've just started pivoting more off my pinky finger instead of resting my hand on the bridge. While this seems to work much better, I feel like only after a few notes, my volume and articulation just die out. It almost feels like my pick strokes are too far apart. I'm sure I'm not explaining this well at all haha. I guess what I'm trying to achieve is to be able to take away the choppiness between notes and to give it more of a fluid sound

[@mikeohara5421]

This is one of the best lessons of seen on You tube you sound Canadian. ....are you? N

[@alan4sure]

I think he said he lives in Minnesota so he's close by Canada. Close enough to impersonate us, maybe😆

[@anthonyfrost7068]

Really sorry if you’ve been asked this a million times already… but what brand/type and thickness of pick are you using here?

[@alandust2188]

What pick thickness do you recommend?

[@alan4sure]

Thick. 1.3 mm or more.

[@daltonbrennan8242]

Whenever i play the pick tends to rotate towards my palm. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong

[@willbollman6246]

I've been playing for 20 years and never had this issue but I do now. Its driving me crazy because I cant figure out what has changed in my mechanics to cause this. Let me know if you find a correction

[@daltonbrennan8242]

@@willbollman6246 i think part of it was the angle of my wrist. I "opened" my wrist up (rotated it out) a little bit to get a straighter angle on the strings

[@dougstine1757]

Don't know what you're talking about. The pick is shaped like a teardrop. Where are the front and back edges?

[@alan4sure]

Figure it out yet?

[@skatetodeath666]

Doesn't matter how I hold my pick my retarded fingers will not go past 180BPM on any song like Bully strings cocaine blues where its multiple string lead lines.

[@samham3303]

Hmmmm I dont have that problem

[@samham3303]

How hard to you hold your pick