It's always the old KZfaq videos from like 14 15 years ago that give the best advice

Got used to holding my pick this way in less than two hours. My speed has increased, my forearm gets fatigued far less quickly, and I'm overall more consistent at playing. All because of one simple adjustment. Unfrigginbelievable

11 years later and still the most informative video here on KZfaq! He’ll of guitarists you are🙂

Appreciate your intelligent delivery. No BS, no filler. Great lesson.

being a selftaught guitar player, this is exactly how I pick, and every video keeps telling me it's wrong. I feel the same way about every point you made in the video, and this inspired me to keep learning my own way. Thank you!

I was looking up something else and this was in the related. I've been playing for over 6 years and this makes my hand feel a lot more free than what ive been doing. Never thought about altering my picking style before now.

tony hawk is giving me tips on guitar awesome !

There are a few udder things that set us apart from cows.

Makes total sense...just kind of hard to adapt when you've been picking in a different way for years and years.

ah crap, fifteen years in and a lifetime still away from the level I'd always hoped to achieve in terms of speed, and this dude just casually and accurately points out every flaw of my picking technique and now I get to start over, well thanks. really you made my day. but seriously though could you not have made more effort to search me out and save me fifteen years of destructive technique? ain't that what you omniscient oracle like guitar gods supposed to do? perhaps having floated above my bed in a dream or something? ok well I guess better late than never. Many Thanks

Been playing for over 30 years and could never get past a certain speed due to my right hand technique. Wow! this works! I notice I am picking with more precision, too. I guess this is what you'd call an a-ha moment. Thanks for the insight!

this literally made my speed and precision almost double

I've been playing metal guitar for 3 years now and I've just learned that both of my hand positions are pretty sloppy. I've spent most of today trying to fix my hand positions and I'm starting to see a huge difference in speed, reach, and clarity. I can play XIV/Behold at normal speed now and I'm more relaxed when playing! I usually practice 6 hours each day, but fixing my hand positions really helped me A LOT. Thanks bro

Definitely one of the most helpful guitar videos i have watched to date

Best tutorial ive seen so far. Will try when get home today. I been playing lead for 30 yrs and cant get my right arm to relax enough no matter what i try.

guitar teacher for 15years now. Real good point here and I've often done what you're saying - however there is one thing to consider. I see you play mostly with distortion. If you play clean, this doesn't generally sound great say with a jazz tone. More pick string hitting can give you a larger jazz style tone with a full tone - we're talking 12gauge stings and a wooden pick or something. Sometimes hitting the string with more pick can be great in terms of expression and dynamics. what you're doing is more of a flat sound (not dissing at all - i really like your playing) because distortion acts like a compressor - more compressor... less dynamics. So if you want to shred and play super fast - do this. If you like BB king or Grant Green stay away from this because they vary the angle of the pick like crazy for expressive purposes. The best players can adapt their technique to the style of music.

Thanks man! That is so amazing! I saw lots of videos for picking properly but that tiny trick changed my whole picking feeling in the right hand! Metal on!!

Out of all of the guitar videos that I have watched, this one has been the most helpful in some time. Sometimes things that are taken for granted aren't learned by others and they are stuck in the wrong place for some time. Thanks for the video!

There is nothing better than breaking an Eddie Van Halen pick you got from a concert back in '84. I used it, broke it, and it felt great because I did not like the gauge of his pick. Rock on, thank you for your stuff, and I will check out all your vids!!

This vid gave me the 'eureka' moment. I never thought I can actually pick in near future with the way I used to do it. But now it seem so simple. So 'just' synch hands and I belive I'm already half-way through Cheers, mate

If you watch the best shredders on earth, like Michael Angelo Batio or Malmsteen, the pick movement is so tight, so precise, so minimal that you realize that is the key to their speed and accuracy. And the angle of the pick is also crucial. Pickslanting is a real technique that these guys have perfected. Then look at a guy like George Lynch. He holds it so loose, so far away, each movement is greatly exaggerated, yet he has developed it to fit his style. Like a golfer with an unorthodox swing. Whatever works for you, ride it to the bank!

Been playing for years and noticed my picking was my road block... struggling to adapt to your teachings but slowly playing off, thanks heaps for uploading

Good pointers, Great job. "Genius is breaking the complicated down to simple lighter blocks. That is to say, doing what he has made info more understandable more quickly. I've played and taught for 37+ years and, This guy is someone to listen to.

3 immediate thoughts/questions from a fellow long-time teacher (12 years) and player (23 years): how does this allow for palm muting on the treble strings if needed or desired for a certain effect? Also, what if, for a certain passage in a solo, you didn't want that thick "pick by the neck" tone on the B or E strings? Finally, this would really limit the options for variety with pinch harmonics as it automatically boxes your picking into a certain area of each string. All that said, I appreciate seeing someone else's viewpoint on this topic.

You just inserted some great learning and technique into my playing. I will forever be in debt. Thanks!

Hi! I see this video's been around for a good long while! I think I first encountered it way back in late 2020, and I FINALLY watched it. Thanks! This is a truly useful video. I appreciate your brief, clear explanation of the mechanics of how the fingers, hand, wrist, and arm work together to keep the picking process as simple and streamlined as possible. "Less is More!" ;-) I'll note for the record: I am a quite accomplished piano player with decades of experience, as well as a proficient violinist (and used to play the French horn, too). I've been frustrated for years at my inability to get beyond a sort of late-beginner stage on the guitar. For one thing, I got thrown by the major third interval between the G and B strings that breaks the long parade of fourths between all the other strings. [To a pianist or even a violinist, that seems strangely illogical! Though it's also part of the special magic of the guitar, I know!] And I also had an exceptionally hard time with picking. Maybe from a piano background, I've been instinctively better at finger-picking than at controlling a pick. Anyway, recently, I've been going "back to basics," and am trying to learn the guitar from the ground up, and to unlearn some of the things I taught myself wrong over the years. And finally, it's kind of working, I think! [For instance, I FINALLY know my way around the fretboard!] And I have no doubt that your video will help in this long-delayed process. [By the way you speak, you sound just like one of the law students I worked with at my job over the past year. As with him, I might guess that you're Canadian - but as with him, also, I might be wrong, because he turned out to be from I think upstate Michigan instead.] Anyway, thanks again for helping us all out - including "slow learners" like myself. ;-)

Raw beginner here..but, I tried it..IT WORKS! HUGE improvement in my pick accuracy...Thanks!!!!! It's MUCH easier to hit a string if you're anchored at the wrist and not just the elbow...

WORD! Dude is on time! HE NEEDS TO PROMOTE HIS KZfaq CHANNEL WITH PDFS!👈🏿👍🏾

I've been trying to learn some proper lead/solo techniques for a year now with no particularly success until.. I somehow found this tutorial.. And after 20 minutes of practicing the Old7's stuff I eventually managed to play a simple scale progression that sounds AWESOME AT LAST!!! I FEEL JUST SO FCKIN GOOD!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Wow thanks so much man! My natural technique was screwed, you've helped a lot of people out with this!

I am only around 2 years older than this video yet this still helped. I doubt you will see this but thank you.

I amazed when someone can relay at a level that is both rudimentary and advanced through the observation of what the problem is to begin with. How simple things are, eludes most of us and I thank you for being so aware of the tiniest detail. The title of this video stands as truth and that means so much in this virtual place....

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your knowledge. I really appreciate that! Greetings from Brazil.

Thanks for this video good to see someone go over the finer points of guitar playing for a change.

My picking is so good that I pick with my toes. Thanks for the video!!

Wow dude! It works..I have to change my whole picking style but it works..Clean and comfortable at the same time..My thanks to you..Keep on rockin!

This is the best video I've seen yet on the topic. This is how I want to learn to do it. I have a habit of using my pinky finger as a rest, and moving my hand around too much. I was just watching a video on how to play a solo from a very popular KZfaq guitar teacher and noticed that they held the pick as you recommend and I noticed that they moved forward slightly as they worked down the strings. Just as you described. Thanks for explaining!

Yeah, but cows can hoof tap like nobody's business.

Wow, that was the best pic instruction I've seen yet! Revolutionary! You answered about 5 questions at once, from how to assist your fingers in staying healthy to how to move down the strings without your forearm getting stuck!! Thank you!

this has helped me so much. my playing is way more controlled and clean than when i was anchoring my pinky and gripping the pick with only one finger. awesome vid.

Seriously, Thanks for the tips. I just bought "Rocksmith" and I am having fun. But I do see the need for some technical tips and skills. This is and will be helpful. Thanks again.

It's funny you should mention this but I am a cow and trying to shred here in the meadow.....I only have about a half hour a day to practice (after milking). In the afternoons I have to lie down to warn all the humans that it's going to rain.....any suggestions?

You make it sound like you are a biologist when you were talking about the muscles and joints. And thanks! it really helped

OMG! This worked! It’s amazing. What’s funny is I watched another video right after yours that contradicted everything you said. Then I tried your technique and it’s like an epiphany. Eureka! Thanks!!!

And the fact that they have four stomachs rich?

Subbed. This was a great tip and an original way to look at picking. I have watched many videos and have been shown so many different ways to pick, but I think this one has suited me the best.

Dude thank you so much for helping out. My playing completely changed thanks to you! Everyone who’s not doing it give him a follow

You are very well spoken and you sound intelligent. Thanks.

It's cool because Hetfield holds his pick with 3 fingers I believe, and he's the god of rhythm/picking imho. Disposable Heroes is, to me, the benchmark of amazing Thrash but also a test of stamina.

Have been playing with a pick for 6 years now and I used to have the other three fingers on my picking hand sort of spread out slightly a little bit like Paul Gilbert or Joe Bonamassa, and got reasonably accurate and quick that way.some times it would feel comfortable and other times there was something that just didn't feel right I know it takes a long time to sync the left and right hand so I put it down to metronome work and just good old practice!!😀. Well one day I was just practicing some excercises and decided to just curl the fingers on the right hand up to make a fist. Well within minutes that changed the way I pick. Litraly like a wand had been waved over my right hand. The accuracy and precision improved instantly. Almost to the point where I thought it was just a lucky run that I had played. But no again and again more accuracy and synchronisation was there without a doubt. My personal opinion on why it changed my picking is that when I had my other fingers hanging down I think that subconsciously your brain is sort of thinking of two separate units, your thumb and index finger being one and the rest of the fingers the other. Yet when I made a fist the whole thing kind of becomes one thing for the brain to deal with. I know that might sound crazy but that is how it felt!! On top of that the resistance of the pick through the string feels sooo much less than when I was playing that other way, as Old7StringGuy says the other fingers a backing the thumb and index ffinger up, making a very strong connection between the pick and the hand. This may not work for everyone but my god how that's changed my playing is unreal. 😀😀

So, here’s the wizard! Going by the name of Old7StringGuy! I should have known! I can’t wait for muscle memory to break through 50 years of sloppy habit and the threat of muscle dementia. Great thanks for this. One thing I’d like to add - as a kind of thanks. By holding the pick as you suggest, yes, you do spare your index finger, the one you use for friends and for courtesy, but that grip yields so much more strength and, most importantly, accuracy. Like moving from a slide rule to a computer. (You’re unfamiliar with a slide rule?) Okay, it’s like the difference between driving my 1949 Ford station wagon with its libertarian steering wheel - it was loose - and taking the tight, autocratic steering wheel of my German-built SUV. Again, thanks and Happy Thanksgiving.

You explained this so much clearer than anyone else. Thank you

Damn I'm one of those anchor guys

"It's the one thing that separates us from cows" Well I mean... among at least 20 other things, but sure.

So simple but so effective !!.....the finger support and wrist reference point/angular path across the strings instantly improved my picking noticebly....thanks !!

Right away I noticed that my picking was a a lot more precise, and sounded cleaner. Thanks!

Not sure where you are anchoring your palm. Are you starting with your palm touching the bridge? Everything I play trying to anchor the palm or wrist mutes the strings.?? Anyway you play really well. Thanks for the video.

1.5 million views. Now you have the moeny for your 6 string

Thanks for this video. My instructor once told me there was no right way to pick, but rather methods that have a better chance of making you successful. I'm starting, after playing for 5 years to begin what he was saying. Thanks again!

I took a couple of months holding the pick as you teach. And yes, it really works. Thanks!

this guitar has 7 strings?

hey ive been trying to follow this but i dont know if im doing it correctly, as i hit the lower strings i find that my pinky knuckle is resting a lot on the guitar itself and when i try to use my wrist as a reference point i end up touching the strings that im picking, im totally new to this so any advices please?

This is right on man, I don't usually see teachers go into this much detail about the actual kinesthetics of the thing. Keep up the good work!

As some of the others are saying: do what this man says. Practiced for a few hours, and this has revolutionised how I play. It's boosted my enthusiasm for the instrument through the roof.

I know that you uploaded this video a while ago, but nowadays I'm learning to play the guitar and in the pretender by foo fighters I must strum 2 strings at a speed of 360 bpm, but I get stuck. How would you do that???

I cannot do your angled approach. I've tried it and it REALLY slows my picking speed down (not that I am fast to begin with... still learning). I find some people say to rest on the bridge, other's say that's a no-no. They say your hand must be free-floating. Others say rest your pinkie on the high strings when picking the low strings and rest your back palm on the low strings when picking the high strings. It is just so confusing for a beginner. I think I may just have to do the method that's most comfortable to me even if I'm sacrificing accuracy because all these "techniques" are too contradicting.

Holy crap I never heard something that made so much sense like this lesson! Thanks a lot!

Not enough instructors focus on proper picking. Excited to adopt this method for myself. Thanks for the vid. Have a feeling it's going to be really helpful.

Whenever I pick fast, I can't avoid bumping into the other strings, Is that bad in playing?

Is the top string a D? I've never seen 7 string before sorry for dumb question.

This works flawlessly, I didn't take any notice of this video because of how arrogant I was about my pick holding technique. I soon found I lacked the stability in the pick, now I have picked this holding technique up and it has made me come along leaps and bounds! Great way to hold the pick!

I have been searching for a tutorial like this for a long time....definitely, this is the only best pick holding tutorial on youtube.....Thanks man

NICE -- FOOD FOR THE BRAIN -- THANKS

This made my udder hurt

I just love it when a person gets technical, it really shows you what their talking about. See I would of NEVER thought, in a 1000 years, that you should dissipate the energy towards all four fingers, or even how the thumb is such a big muscle compared to all 4 fingers (well, I mean, explicitly at conscious level), or, how you should hold the pic towards the tip, so props to this guy :)

This is one of the smartest, coolest guitar lessons I've ever seen. You think like an engineer, but you can play. Thanks.

yes the thumb its a good thing i have that or i would b just like a cow lol

Too much talkin'

This method has a profound effect on tone !! And it makes sense. Comparing to a piano, by putting the fingers behind the index finger you are strengthening the "hammer" that strikes the strings. Improvement of the foundation with no change in attack !! Thank you !!

Watching this video several months back helped me out immensely! Thank you so much.

I really like this advice - I have been playing for 16 years and this is something I never learned to do properly (too much of a rush)...fine-tuning my playing recently very well by myself and by experiment, this was the only bit lacking. I think you may have solved it for me. Thank you!

Been struggling with stuff like Thunderstruck, fighting ringing strings, fatigue....after 40 years of playing guitar.. In 5 minutes everything just got easier...Thanks!

I have been looking for a video like this and I didn't notice that shifting your head towards the neck while going high up the string, wasn't a bad thing. Great video.

What an easy to understand, concise, useful explanation of your alternate picking technique, complete with demo as you explain it. You are a very good teacher.

Dude, this is insane. This technique legitimately makes my picking so much quicker! I'm kicking myself for not learning this much sooner...

Im a newbie so I have not developed any bad habits yet and I do not plan on doing so. Im glad I found this because its an important fundemental function and I think this has saved me some frustration

This helps with my open string problem. And i just came for picking help. This was a real buffet of help.

Just needed a couple seconds of the video. N I think the unique people around da world what the have a lot of the real 7 Strings knowledge. Bravo

How many of you have facepalmed?! This is so simple and gr8! We should be grateful for this person to share this high contentt information

Lol. And just to be clear, I did watch the rest of this and the second part. Much appreciated. They both helped me a lot. Been spinning my wheels for a while. Peace.

Instantaneous Improvement... man i've been playing for 11 years.. and you just unleashed me.

This has been a problem with my playing for years. I have been trying to figure out what the heck is going on with the pain in my index finger after I play. You solved the mystery for me. I did it exactly like you said and no pain after three hours. Thanks for sharing this information.

Thank you. Thank you... I play many hours per day because I love it, but I noticed that I hit a plateau and playing faster stuff was sometimes a problem for me, in terms of picking precision, clarity, and getting stuck between strings. This single tweak improved me by a lot! Thank you again!

When I first started playing I used to hold my pick with all fingers like this, but then a couple of years ago I changed my pick position to pivot with my fingers while holding the pick only thum-index, because I've seen a lot of guys on the internet doing that. After seeing this video, I came back to this "all fingers" position with palm pivoting and it's fucking great, no coming back. Thanks dude!

Thanks a ton man \m/, This is one of the few times that I'm grateful for someone "nerding" on about a topic.

I notice that this video was posted a while ago but I 've just seen it and it really works! I am a beginner electric guitar player and highly recommend to pay attention to what he says because it really works. Very good tech details he is talking about. This video resolved all the mess I 've been working on for the last 1 week. Thank you!

Damn ive been holding my pick wrong for 25 years. Holy crap. This one video is life changing. I hold the pick like a pinch method between first and thumb. No wonder my speed and accuracy sux. And my solos always sound noisy due to the other strings ringing. It does feel strange though, i dont get the same feel, it feels disconnected but i can really tell that its gonna be way better in the log run. THANKS FOR THIS LESSON

This is probably the most helpful video I've ever seen, thanks!

I watched just the part about having the fingers against the thumb. Lol. Made me about twice as good as I was about twenty minutes ago. Thank you so much!!

The Best teaching tutorial i've ever seen!