Angling pick

[Darby]

Perhaps a silly question but I have seen a lot of references to angling the pick when playing but is the plectrum turned to the right (pointing towards the bridge I suppose) or to the left (to the neck)? What is the one most commonly used?
Does anyone know any exercises to help me get used to this technique?

Thanks in advance.

[campfireplayer]

I ‘m curious about everyone’s opinion also

[calvanesebob]

https://youtu.be/c5pipuvb-EM

[Darby]

In addition, does this angular picking also apply to strumming and the triples in jigs and reels (I play a lot of different types of music)?

[musicman1951]

I don't believe there is one universal way to hold/use a pick. While my use is very "standard" in terms of what I imagine most teachers would use, Pat Metheny's method is quite different - and he's way better than I am. I'll include a video (on electric, but a lovely closeup of his picking) and suggest you experiment a little and find out what works for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD2fmM7YTb0&t=26s

[TimberII]

Id be happy if my pick didn’t try to spin in circles while I played
Timber

[soups]

I hold my pick and strum at a 45 degree angle so that it’s striking the strings with the side of the pick rather than the end/face

[JonPR]

The problem with trying to describe pick angle in words is that there are 3 dimensions in space, and there are two potential directions in each case.

Of course, video helps there, and I fully agree with justin's advice in the youtube linked above - with one small exception. Not a disagreement as such, more an alternative to try.

The angle he suggests could be represented this way:
.
He is angling the pick across the strings, to stop it catching as it crosses the strings.

That's all fine, but (a) it can result in the pick rotating between your thumb and finger (in the way I think TimberII is saying) because of how the tip is pushed sideways as it hits the strings; and (b) it can produce a too-aggressive or "hard" sound (depending how hard you grip or how stiff the pick is).

My alternative is to have the pick flat to the strings like this:

Justin says this way risks catching on the strings, or inhibiting the strumming movement - but that's only the case if you grip the pick too hard, or the pick is too stiff. If you either use a flexible pick (60 or less), or grip the pick loosely enough so it flaps as it crosses the strings, that won't happen. There is also much less chance of the annoying pick rotation effect this way. You can also vary the dynamics easily by how hard you grip the pick (even a bendy one). However, if you do go for a looser grip (and a heavy pick), you run the risk of the pick pinging out of your hand with this angle. So that's why I always use (and recommend) a 60 gauge pick, 70 at most; it has to give a little.

The advantage with justin's recommended angle is for lead playing, especially fast lead playing. Then the transverse angle allows the point of the pick to glide back and forth across the strings. And in this case the angle can go the other way (bottom left to top right in my pic); the hand can look odd like that, but jazz player George Benson made that grip famous, so it did him no harm.
But it's down to whatever you feel comfortable with - this is just about understanding the principles. At least Justin's recommendation means you can switch back and forth between rhythm and lead without changing the pick angle. But for strumming alone I find it a little awkward and crude sounding.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by JonPR

The problem with trying to describe pick angle in words is that there are 3 dimensions in space, and there are two potential directions in each case.

Of course, video helps there, and I fully agree with justin's advice in the youtube linked above - with one small exception. Not a disagreement as such, more an alternative to try.

The angle he suggests could be represented this way:
.
He is angling the pick across the strings, to stop it catching as it crosses the strings.

That's all fine, but (a) it can result in the pick rotating between your thumb and finger (in the way I think TimberII is saying) because of how the tip is pushed sideways as it hits the strings; and (b) it can produce a too-aggressive or "hard" sound (depending how hard you grip or how stiff the pick is).

My alternative is to have the pick flat to the strings like this:

Justin says this way risks catching on the strings, or inhibiting the strumming movement - but that's only the case if you grip the pick too hard, or the pick is too stiff. If you either use a flexible pick (60 or less), or grip the pick loosely enough so it flaps as it crosses the strings, that won't happen. There is also much less chance of the annoying pick rotation effect this way. You can also vary the dynamics easily by how hard you grip the pick (even a bendy one). However, if you do go for a looser grip (and a heavy pick), you run the risk of the pick pinging out of your hand with this angle. So that's why I always use (and recommend) a 60 gauge pick, 70 at most; it has to give a little.

The advantage with justin's recommended angle is for lead playing, especially fast lead playing. Then the transverse angle allows the point of the pick to glide back and forth across the strings. And in this case the angle can go the other way (bottom left to top right in my pic); the hand can look odd like that, but jazz player George Benson made that grip famous, so it did him no harm.
But it's down to whatever you feel comfortable with - this is just about understanding the principles. At least Justin's recommendation means you can switch back and forth between rhythm and lead without changing the pick angle. But for strumming alone I find it a little awkward and crude sounding.

I have watched a lot of bluegrass players, and I have to say that the pick angle is constantly moving depending on the timbre required. Even in something basic like the boom/chuck backing rhythm the pick (usually heavy <1mm) is flat for the rest stroke boom and flicked rearward at an angle for the chuck.

I really don't think that there is one best way of doing this, or one best pick thickness, shape or material. Players learn many different ways to create their personal timbre.

[FrankHudson]

As with Yogi Berra's dictum that "You can't hit and think at the same time" I strongly suspect I constantly vary the angle of my flat picking in different ways because I subconsciously came upon doing this to change timbre and to improve picking performance.

Problems with that? I can't tell someone else what to do. I can't even tell myself what to do when I have a picking problem.

Part of my problem with picks that have perforations in them for "sure grip" reasons is that when I want to vary the picking angle in some ways I need to loosen my grip so much with them to move the pick that it falls out of my fingers -- defeating the sure grip feature. I'd likely have similar problems with the sticky tape hack for pick grip.

[Gordon Currie]

Originally Posted by Darby

Perhaps a silly question but I have seen a lot of references to angling the pick when playing but is the plectrum turned to the right (pointing towards the bridge I suppose) or to the left (to the neck)? What is the one most commonly used?

Turning to the right (clockwise) will not perturb the wrist as much as turning to the left (if taken to extremes, you end up stroking 'backwards').

That said, I have used both. Turning to the left and using upstrokes can produce an unusual tone, especially on electric guitar.

My default is slight rightwards rotation of the thumb/index grip to produce a 45 degree edge-on grip, which can be easily increased by slight shifts of the two fingers.

I haven't played an entire tune with the traditional 'flat' grip in over 4 decades. For me, it produces too much pick sound. YMMV.

There are many variations on pick grip, pick stiffness, pick materials, pick sizes. I think this helps produce variety in styles, and I highly recommend developing the ability to vary your picking tone.

Most top flat pick guitarists use multiple methods. Variety is the spice of musical enjoyment.

[Darby]

Thanks a lot for all this very sage advice.

One big problem I have with my current picking style (as I said before, I think) is with the triplets/trebles in jigs and reels. I frequently mess them up and that is what made think about the angle picking technique!

[JackC1]

Originally Posted by Darby

Thanks a lot for all this very sage advice.

One big problem I have with my current picking style (as I said before, I think) is with the triplets/trebles in jigs and reels. I frequently mess them up and that is what made think about the angle picking technique!

Are you counting? For triplets, I count "trip-let" (2 sallabels but 3 notes) to find into the "1-and-2-and-..." wordings.

The advice given on pick angle sounds like what my guitar instructor had given me. You'd play on the edge so that the pick glides off the strings, allowing for fast and smooth tones.

If you are messing up, you can always start slower and then increase the tempo.

[Darby]

Thanks for replying Jack. I am not sure you understand what I mean by triplets.
In this reel for instance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7vqLchI1YQ
you can hear the triplets all the way through. The triplet is made by doing a quick up down.