Closed Handed vs Open Handed with pick

[GuitarFundi]

Do guitarist that play with the pick in a fist/closed hand hold the pick differently or with a thumb and one or two fingers? Is there any advantage to playing with hand closed over open?

It seems like playing with a hand open would have advantages, but it seems most flat pickers and bluegrass players use the closed hand over an open hand.

[RedJoker]

I do both depending on what I'm doing. For more picking, I use an open hand because I'll sometimes reference the top with my pinky. If I'm just casually strumming, it will be more closed. Never do I make a fist, though.

[KDepew]

It depends on what I am playing but strumming is mostly with a closed hand

[fazool]

I only hold my pick in a fist when I'm angry at my guitar

[Silly Moustache]

I'm an open hander. I won't say either is better or worse, it just "happened" as I developed my style.

[DukeX]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

I'm an open hander. I won't say either is better or worse, it just "happened" as I developed my style.

This is me as well. I've developed and continue developing my own style. However, I won't be winning any flat-picking contests in this life time.

[GuitarFundi]

I had seen some pickers that did the closed hand technique that held the pick with a thumb and TWO fingers and thought maybe that most/all closed handed pickers were using TWO fingers and maybe the closed hand and multi-fingered technique was helpful or necessary for the speed and precision to pick fast. So, that is why I ask as I try to get better at picking. I use open hand with a pinkie anchor. I pick better without any anchor finger, but need to watch... so I am forcing myself to anchor to help try and get away from needing to watch.

[reeve21]

I've always been open handed. A closed hand or fist just feels strange to me.

Originally I used the thumb and first 2 fingers, but for some reason felt that was "incorrect" and gradually transitioned to thumb and first finger only a long time ago. Every once in a while on a song with a lot of fast strumming I will go back to using thumb and first 2 if I feel myself losing control of the pick. That is pretty infrequent, but it comes to mind just now as I had to do it last night on a Jason Isbell song, Alabama Pines.

[Rev Roy]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

I'm an open hander. I won't say either is better or worse, it just "happened" as I developed my style.

Yep...me, too.

[Denny B]

I flatpick using first & second fingers & thumb on the pick, with the other two fingers curled in but not clenched or fisted...

I've tried about every way I've seen it done, and it's what works for me...

[TBman]

When I played with a pick, open hand was for speed (with pinky plant) and closed was for slower stuff that emphasized tone.