Picking technique · Technique

The pick turns your hand's motion into notes. The basis of almost everything is alternate picking: one stroke down, one stroke up, and so on. It's efficient because the hand never makes an empty return trip.

1. Listen

Eighth notes on the 1st string, alternating down and up. What you're after is every note at the same volume and the same spacing:

2. See it

Step 1 of 4 · Holding the pick

Rest the pick on the side of the last joint of your index finger and pinch it with the pad of your thumb. Only the tip shows, a few millimetres.

3. Try it

Set a slow metronome and play four notes per beat on one string. When it's clean for a whole minute, go up a few BPM:

Metronome in sixteenths at 60 BPM Picking & articulationAlternate pickingSynchronise down and up strokes with the fretting hand at a steady speed.

4. How it's used

Small motion: the less the pick travels away from the string, the faster and more accurate you'll be.
Angle: tilting the pick slightly against the string softens the attack and reduces drag.
Anchoring: you can rest the edge of your hand near the bridge or the free fingers on the pickguard. Find a stable reference that doesn't make you tense up.
Rhythm leads: the down-up pattern follows the pulse. In eighths, downstrokes fall on the beat and upstrokes on the offbeat.
Speed: raise it in small steps and drop back to a comfortable tempo as soon as you feel tension in your forearm.

5. Go deeper

Applied Palm muting

Rest the edge of your palm on the strings right by the bridge. Notes become short and tight (palm muting). Move it towards the neck and they get more muffled; go too far and they lose their pitch. It's the basis of a lot of rock rhythm playing.

Advanced String crossings

When you change strings with alternate picking there are two situations: outside picking, where the pick jumps over the outside of the two strings, and inside picking, where it's trapped between them. One will feel more natural; work on the other separately and slowly. Angling the pick's path slightly out of the strings helps you escape cleanly. String skipping makes the problem bigger and is a good test.

Picking & articulationString skippingSkip a string with the pick without losing accuracy or letting unwanted strings ring.

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4. How it's used

Small motion: the less the pick travels away from the string, the faster and more accurate you'll be.

Angle: tilting the pick slightly against the string softens the attack and reduces drag.

Anchoring: you can rest the edge of your hand near the bridge or the free fingers on the pickguard. Find a stable reference that doesn't make you tense up.

Rhythm leads: the down-up pattern follows the pulse. In eighths, downstrokes fall on the beat and upstrokes on the offbeat.

Speed: raise it in small steps and drop back to a comfortable tempo as soon as you feel tension in your forearm.

5. Go deeper

Applied Palm muting

Advanced String crossings

Picking & articulationString skippingSkip a string with the pick without losing accuracy or letting unwanted strings ring.

1. Listen

2. See it

3. Try it

4. How it's used

5. Go deeper

Related concepts

1. Listen

2. See it

3. Try it

4. How it's used

5. Go deeper