Picking Dynamics and sound of pick striking string through amp.

jtcnj

jtcnj

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This is a big problem in my playing.
I can vary my attack with more finesse but tend to be heavy handed.
I hear the pick contact on the string too often but when trying to focus on a lighter attack the strings just dont ring out.
I have tried varying pick attack angles and more pointed or rounded pick tips.

How do you address this or what drills or methods have you used to improve this aspect of your playing?
I prefer around a 1 mm tortex (the blue ones) pick. lighter ones just seem squishy to me and I have less control.
I typically have a short stick out, unless I am playing full / barre chords.
 
I remember way back, when I was trying to improve my picking technique, I hated these....but I learned how to improve my technique with a conventional pick from that hatred.
They suck to use....straight up...but I learned a lot from them about grip, and how much to dig in, from these wretched creations. Purely, a training tool...not for pleasure at all...they were a gimmick to teach speed picking, but they opened my eyes to how much pick angle/grip affect my playing. I didn’t learn :poo: about speed from them.
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Stylus Picks...good luck finding these horrid things....but I do appreciate how much I learned from my failure with them....
edit: if I had a clue as to where one of mine was, I’d mail it to you....but I think I set fire to mine.
 
Very heavy handed,,,carpel tunnel & 3 fingers have cuts in the tips..no feeling..i beat on my guitar plus really not guitar player..more bass

i got it it under control by...using power tube as my main tone..its a constant on all my amps....

i set my volume(to kick drum level always..studio.home-live--its the only amp level that matters..to me period..)

i dial up my clean on the guitar volume knob from 3-5, then my crunch at 5-8 then dime for leads

if i need anything in between..a pedal for a dif break point..but not much-mostly fender

what does it have to do with pick attack & dynamics..everything...check that video i posted on the RVA JB thread last night..Joe demonstrates this & lists his influences

the volume knob on guitar become the attack level switch...the amp is the control center for it all...Jeff beck, Jimi, Pagey, clapton, BB, Trower, gary Clark jr, Derek trucks, warren haynes, Duane Allman..the list goes on..they use the amp as the guide set up with guitar volume...watch beck..he is on the guitar knob all thru the song..i am up & down for every change..intro...verse...chorus...crunch..i just move the volume knob to ride out what is going on live in the music..its like having a zillion stomp boxes built in...so wish i could fire my amp up & demonstrate

might seem like the craziest answer to a pick attack question..but we got to have an amp in the zone..a pre amp type just does not have the dynamics when you a/b..at same time its like a live organic rig vs a fizz/dull one...
 
eSGEe said:
your-- wha-- the -- but -- how the fuc-- DAMN IT ! I am righty and play righty and still SUCK --

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Hahahahaha! Welcome to my perception! Yes, I’m a pretty thorough lefty...I can handle a can opener though...bat either way, and handle a hockey stick either way. My first guitar was a closet found acoustic...found in my grandmother’s house. It wasn’t ”mine” , so flipping it to lefty was “out”. I bought a chord poster, a tuning fork, and a Mel Bay book(circle of fifths)....and went from there. Picking was my bane for a very long time. I’m better now though....I feel it’s from my interest in playing bass, and those cursed picks in my previous post. :)
 
I'm an edge picker rather than a tip picker. I find it gives me a broader useful range of dynamics - I go from quite delicate to pretty hard sometimes.
Almost always find that running less gain than I think I want is a secret to more expressive playing.

EDIT: That isn't really an anwer to the OP's request. But a corollary of my hard picking is that (even when playing heavy rock) I keep a blues player's medium action rather than very low as preferred by shredders. I believe a slightly higher action helps the strings to ring out far better. And that does go to the OP's problem.

Variations in picking force are hugely important; you won't ever get crystalline chime when picking hard. At least I can't manage it. For me after playing so many years picking is instinctive and not at all deliberate.

I don't doubt that I could improve my speed and precision if I were to analyze my picking style and practice specifically for that. But for me it's far more important for it to be natural and intuitive. Transparent to my feeling of the moment, rather than something I think about.
 
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Thatbastarddon said:
Hahahahaha! Welcome to my perception! Yes, I’m a pretty thorough lefty...I can handle a can opener though...bat either way, and handle a hockey stick either way. My first guitar was a closet found acoustic...found in my grandmother’s house. It wasn’t ”mine” , so flipping it to lefty was “out”. I bought a chord poster, a tuning fork, and a Mel Bay book(circle of fifths)....and went from there. Picking was my bane for a very long time. I’m better now though....I feel it’s from my interest in playing bass, and those cursed picks in my previous post. :)
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:bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :dood: :dood: :dood: :dood: :dood:
 
jtcnj said:
This is a big problem in my playing.
I can vary my attack with more finesse but tend to be heavy handed.
I hear the pick contact on the string too often but when trying to focus on a lighter attack the strings just dont ring out.
I have tried varying pick attack angles and more pointed or rounded pick tips.

How do you address this or what drills or methods have you used to improve this aspect of your playing?
I prefer around a 1 mm tortex (the blue ones) pick. lighter ones just seem squishy to me and I have less control.
I typically have a short stick out, unless I am playing full / barre chords.
Click to expand...

I think I get what you’re saying. You’re trying to minimize that scratchy sound you get when you first pluck the string with the pick, right?

I used to have that quite a bit, but, now that you mention it, I realize it hasn’t been an issue for awhile and I’m trying to figure out what changed. I mean, I still get it a bit, but it’s not as much of an issue.

So, let me see if I can reverse-engineer things to figure out what I’m doing differently. These things may or may not be an answer. I’m just tossing spaghetti on the wall.

First, I don’t use celluloid picks anymore. I use Dava Yellow picks. I do think celluloid picks contribute to that scratchiness.

Second, I used to get that scratchy sound mostly when I was younger. I used a solid-state amp and had the treble turned up pretty high. Now, I use a tube amp and don’t crank the treble and presence. I try to EQ my amp for a more balanced tone. Even when I use a processor, I’m paying more attention to EQ than I used to. I also used to run my guitar controls wide open all the time. Now, I vary the pots a lot more.

Third, I don’t play with as much over-the-top distortion as I used to. I’ve discovered in a live setting you often don’t need near as much distortion as you think you do.

Fourth, I often round off the tip of my pick and wet-sand the end with 1000 grit sandpaper. This kind of polishes the tip. I don’t do this all the time, but I’ve done this to several of the pics that I use a lot.

Fifth, almost all my playing is mixed with something - either a band when playing live or with a recording or backing track when practicing. So, there is some of that masking effect from being in a mix.

Sixth, I use more effects than I used to. Perhaps, some of that pick noise is being hidden in effects?

Finally, I don’t hit the strings nearly as hard as I used to.

Again, I don’t know if any of these things help. I‘m just trying to think of things that may contribute to the issue.
 
I don't think I've ever thought about pick-attack. Not that I play as good as I once did, but all I ever did in the past is practice a LOT of picking doing scales, exercises, etc on an electric guitar - not plugged into an amp. You can get a lot of practice in on an unplugged electric guitar watching movies. In those days I also played through an amp a LOT too though - jamming with others, band practice, gig'n out, etc. Just the way I did it, still do it actually - not saying it's right, wrong, or in between type thing.
 
Just woke up ..must of been dreaming about attack..lol

Noticed it sounds like a metallic war going on.... pick tip out a bit so i can scrape pick quick up & back & hit all individual strings..with the thumb acting as a mute to let clarity happen between notes..even at very fast speeds. Also pick up & down with thumb keeping string dampened so the note is very pronouned with no ringing.

I been working on sweep picking..but not in the over done shredder way..just as a way to pick an arpeggio within the context of a chord...not quite there yet..but that is something that can get me to the next level of creativity instead of such regular chord movement. Dang hands wont cover that full finger placement staying in 1 position..

also noticed..i have pick against string..then flick the wrist..as Cador mention..pick on 45 but as guitar is set up in strap on each guitar that my picking hand lands naturally at the spot on guitar where my hand motion is natural & not forced..looks silly at times..seems the guitar is moving up my body each year i practice more...think how Petrucci holds it..,sorta like a baby in the arm held loose not to hurt ot drop but def in total control of the guitar,,,strap adjustmant can make pick attack very dif..all my Sg & Lp's have the strap at exactly same size..guitar to guitar no changes .ll this lil stuff is so important,,wasnt gifted musically..but like JB said...10,000...put the 10,000 hours in & you can do anything good..if ya want it...i believe that so much....practice practice practice,,Joe Walsh(prob after some lil helpers..said he could never get enough guitar..after a 2 hour show..would play to the sun came up..just to get that guitar fix & infatuation taken care of.
 
eSGEe said:
:bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :dood: :dood: :dood: :dood: :dood:
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Wow! I’m not sure how to....there are many of us out there....many more gifted than I....I’m just stubborn and persistent as heck.
I am glad that I decided to give in to the righty dominant guitar world though...yes, learning was perhaps more stressful, but I have a lot of instrument choices as a result.
If I had gone native(lefty), I may have developed faster and more comfortably, but then there’s a shorter list of stuff/gear to choose from.
 
Thatbastarddon said:
Hahahahaha! Welcome to my perception! Yes, I’m a pretty thorough lefty...I can handle a can opener though...bat either way, and handle a hockey stick either way. My first guitar was a closet found acoustic...found in my grandmother’s house. It wasn’t ”mine” , so flipping it to lefty was “out”. I bought a chord poster, a tuning fork, and a Mel Bay book(circle of fifths)....and went from there. Picking was my bane for a very long time. I’m better now though....I feel it’s from my interest in playing bass, and those cursed picks in my previous post. :)
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My second son is left-handed, too. But, when he started learning bass he chose to learn right-handed.
 
i ride skateboard goofy foot...wonder how all this right or left stuff works...what if we were told something dif at young age..would we go a dif route? I could bat from both sides of plate but not pitch left handed. Is it a perceived mental thing or 1 side just gifted? what if we were no handed...would we just use anyone without thinking..can't wipe too good left handed tho
 
on the serious side...JB said something that changed my life in the video..2 days now..whole new level of playing

He admitted he can only pick & do a note at same time with finger as he holds a note..that is me to a T...its a syncopated movement..timed..i have been super frustrated for years..not being able to do super fast fret hand work...since i just embraced this..the mental barrier is lifted...
 
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