Strumming with pick...

[perttime]

For consistent strumming, or any playing with a pick, you need quite a bit of precision. For precision, the whole hand, arm, etc. needs to be fairly relaxed. You cannot be precise if you are tense. That can be applied to any activity that calls for precision.

A soft pick can be more forgiving but most like the sound of a more rigid one.

Angling the pick so that the strings contact an edge, instead of the flat, can help a lot.

Now, I don't usually end up with a pick inside the guitar. That used to happen a lot when I started playing with a pick...

[colchar]

Originally Posted by B3N

I invite you to check Tuck Andress website about picking techniques, angles, rotating wrists and stuff.

https://www.tuckandpatti.com/pick-finger_tech.shtml

For someone who clearly advocates the George Benson technique, I don't think I've ever seen him actually use it.

[LSemmens]

All suggestions thus far have been great. I've only ever used thin picks. My preference is usually Dunlop Ultex or Tortex, only because of their longevity. I often would break a pick whilst playing and have never had that problem with the aforementioned. I have worn them out, though.You can get varied tonal qualities from the way you hold a pick, and, if you need a thicker pick sound, only occsionally, you can also get that by flexing the pick between your fingers so it is bent like a potato chip. Of course, if you are consistently looking for that sound, a heavier pick will be a lot easier on your fingers and the pick, too.

[Mystery123]

It still sucks playing with a pick.
Do you hold the pick tightly or loosely?
I guess tightly as it'll fly away otherwise but my hits on the strings are not uniform.
Some strings it hits hard, some soft.
If I try strumming lightly, I miss the strings sometimes.
Too many runaway notes when changing chords.
It doesn't happen when I don't use a pick.

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by Mystery123

It still sucks playing with a pick.
Do you hold the pick tightly or loosely?
I guess tightly as it'll fly away otherwise but my hits on the strings are not uniform.
Some strings it hits hard, some soft.
If I try strumming lightly, I miss the strings sometimes.
Too many runaway notes when changing chords.
It doesn't happen when I don't use a pick.

Good suggestions so I'll add the following.

Here's a drill I learned that really helped me with my strumming precision, consistency, and speed.

Pick a nice sounding chord progression, I'll suggest D-A7-G, that is easy to play in first position.

Set your metronome up for quarter note 4/4 time. Now start the drill by playing/strumming a bar of each chord in the progression in the following manner:

1/4 note downstrokes only (D-D-D-D each bar, count 1-2-3-4) - repeat 2-3 times (the full chord progression)
Change to 1/8 notes (DU-DU-DU-DU each bar, count 1&2&3&4&), repeat 2-3 times
Stick with 1/8 notes but make them all downstrokes (D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D each bar, same 1/8 note count), repeat 2-3 times
Change to 1/16 notes (DUDU-DUDU-DUDU-DUDU, count 1e&uh-2e&uh-3e&uh-4e&uh), repeat as many times as you can/want

Note, I don't stop playing when I go from 1/4 to 1/8 to 1/8 to 1/16th.

The idea is to start slow and build speed and going from 1/4 notes to 1/16 notes requires precision. I start the exercise at 60 bpm. If it's smooth and stays in time. I do it again at 65 bpm and keep bumping up until I fall apart on the 1/16th notes. Start at whatever speed allows you to play the 1/16th note section smoothly and try to progress from there.

While it is a drill, it never gets boring for me and it is also a good way to practice chord progressions and chord shifts also.

Good luck.

[jseth]

How tightly or loosely that you hold the pick will result in both different volumes AND different tones... again, part of the "lexicon" of pick technique... as well, how loose or firm you keep your wrist will affects both of the above. Using more wrist action makes vigorous, extended strumming a bit less tiring for the forearm and arm...

When you change chords, mute the strings with your fretting hand; finding the precise moment to switch so that it "fits" the tune can be a challenge, but I have never found it to be un-doable... to get the hang of muting with your fretting hand, practice doing it without changing chords; just pick a cadence or rhythm and adhere to that, muting between beats as fits your pattern of choice. Once you get the hang of it, you'll use this all the time, perhaps only for a moment, but, like all things guitar-technique related, you are adding to your "vocabulary"... one more thing for your box of tools!

Another thing I would suggest would be to FALL IN LOVE WITH USING A PICK!!! If you keep telling yourself that you can't do it, or that it "sucks" or is too difficult for you, you're just building the walls of a box to keep yourself in... obviously, it is quite do-able - millions, MILLIONS of guitar players use picks... and it ain't like we're all Rocket Scientists, ya know?

[RockyRacc00n]

Originally Posted by Mystery123

When I strum with my fingers, it's somewhat consistent but when I strum with pick, it sounds messy.
Some strums are even while some are hitting hard on bass while some on highs.
Switching chords also adds more undesired notes/strings during transition.
How to improve it?

I believe the problem you are describing is the jarring sound of the pick getting stuck on the strings and not gliding over them as your fingers might.

I tried reading through all the responses but not sure if someone already mentioned it. How about you try this in addition to all the good advice you got so far...

Angle the pick downward so that the front edge (the edge that is facing the headstock) is lower than the back edge (the edge that is facing the back of the guitar).

Imagine the extreme angle of this configuration where the pick is completely vertical. You can imagine how this will completely prevent the pick from getting stuck on a string as you move the pick up and down because the edges of the pick will just slide away from the strings. Well, obvious you don't strum with the pick completely vertical that way, but someone told me this once and adding a slight downward angle in the direction I described helped me with the issue of the pick getting stuck when I started strum with a pick.