Max, what guitar are you playing on this video?

Thanks for the great advice. 👍

Nice lesson, lots of common sense. Plenty to learn here. I like the Dunlop Jazz III XL for electric. For acoustic I’ve just been using a standard medium pick, but I’m going to try something thicker and see how it goes.

Intro's f.a.b as well! Can we do that?

Nice lesson!

Uh.

I think this could have been taught a little clearer.

55 years playing and holy crap I figured this out by myself and I'm doing it right. Still missing now and then. Pay attention without paying attention. There's always a first time being right. LOL. Surprised in Belize. Thanks for the help.

I've always used a three finger pick hold. I thought maybe I'd try to learn the traditional way to hold a pick but it doesn't feel natural to me at all. Especially as I'm a very cord heavy oriented player. I recently found out that James Hetfield also uses the same pick hold that I do as it felt more natural for him also. If he can play like he does using three fingers I don't plan on changing after 35 years.

This was the most explained info on hammer ons and pull offs ever. Thanks!

I use a universal approach with my pick holding.... There are so many ways to hold a pick, depending on the music and attack you need... There is no ONE WAY to hold a pick, Dude! WTH?

Thank you, that was helpful. I used to ignore the rotating centre issue and the pick kept rotating between my fingers and the triangle tip hiding like an aircraft wheels after a couple of strokes. Proper covering is the solution.

Cool lesson dude! Subbed!🎸🎶🔥

I watched this video on Monday night. It is now Wednesday morning and this lesson has changed my life! Got my first electric 40 years ago 🤪

Brilliantly articulate description, how many guitarists end up with RSi and carpal tunnel injuries

Jazz III. always been the pick. Sometimes I just for fun play with different picks to get a different tone and maybe some ideas, but but.... It must be a Jazz III. XL III also works but I like the original small one. Thanks for the video, I watched through even I am not really nowhere near a beginner. Not that I am good or anything, but playd thousands of hours so far. With a Jazz III :D Clicked by random accident and now I might check some other video of yours.

Exactly the way I’ve been playing (lol). Great idea, so many ways to play guitar, just as you said not playing a scale up and down, play the 2 outside notes and then the inside note(s) really great! I like your teaching and also you said put a rhythm to it( not to sound robotic)Thanks

Excellent way of breaking this down! Thank you

This concept ended one of those long plateaus …. Much appreciated

Number 3 took me years to discover. Great advice I wish I had in the beginning. Thanks!

❤❤❤😊😊😊😊

that "allow movement tip" is so true!!!! i wish i had seen this video 3 years ago when i was trying the 99% on thunderstruck on rocksmith, the whole intro as you might know is picked (not legato) and it is soooooo long (almost 2m) that is the ultimate test to check if you have to correct your picking or not... if my pick was too loose and relaxed it fell from my fingers before the intro ended, then i tried to hold it hard,i was holding the pick tight as i could and covering it with thumb and index (letting only the point of the pick out), right no? didnt fall, yes, but....even making holes for better grip for better grip and avoid ANY movement the point of the tip moved backwards little by little, and i ended up with my point of the pick pointing to the bridge, resulting in missing notes it didnt matter how hard i was holding it, it would happen over and over again.... after million tries...i realized that letting it move a bit was kind of natural thing that it would let the pick recover its original position....and i could do the whole intro check and voila!! my pick is still like in the beggining.... thank you for that tip and the lesson !! i wish i had seen your video before still i watched the video now and it kind of sux... so to everyone try the Intro of thunderstruck!! (all of it 1:40m) its the ultimate test to check your picking

Marty Friedman 😎

I use a Jim Dunlop .73 mm, it's like the one the Edge uses so I have read. I find if on slow passages or arpeggiating chords if you slightly pull out away from the guitar body when picking a string as you're picking the tone is enhanced.

Many years go when I started my electric guitar journey I was taught to hold the guitar in the ‘classical position’ when playing seated. Fast forward 25 years and I’m happy to report that I’ve avoided any issues surrounding bad posture! The added benefit is the guitar remains in a similar position when I play standing up, therefore muscle memory remains unaffected. 👍😎

Very difficult to learn the Finger Picking Style after using a Pick for almost 40 years 😢😢😢😢😢

Same as what they call it a "chuck" I guess... cheers from Canada.

I've been playing for more than 50 years, but I have never received instruction on how to hold the pick for best performance until now. I've always had trouble with the pick rotating, falling etc. I will try these techniques. Thanks! Liked and subscribed. Edit: I just noticed the commenter immediately below me said something very similar. I guarantee I had not seen that until after I posted. Perhaps this indicates this information is not readily available, even though one has been playing a long time...

Wow, cheers from Canada....

Pure genius 👍👍

Some great advice here. I will say, though, at least currently, I prefer a light pick. I use D'Addario Black Ice .55mm. The shape is somewhere between one of the teeny jazz picks and a normal fender pick. It's thin and has flex, but it's hardly floppy. And it's quite slippery on the strings but not slippery on my thumb. I moved to a thinner pick because a) My guitar teacher was always telling me not to pick so hard. I figured with a light pick, I'd be forced to hit the strings lighter. I feel like it's worked, b) I much prefer the tone of a thin hard pick, c) I hate the feeling of playing rhythm with a thick pick. At least for the moment, I'm very happy with these picks for both soloing and rhythm. That said, every few years I buy ten or so new kinds of picks to try out for a while and often I settle on a new pick. The great thing about picks is that they are the cheapest part of your rig. I encourage trying lots and lots of different ones and seeing what you like, and try new picks every few years. You're playing changes, you're favorite pick might as well.

Wouldn't a foot stool help as well? As a classical guitar player that's how we are taught to sit

I really like the way you explain the relevant anatomy and relate it to ergonomics and playing! I recently tried the classical position and now you’ve convinced me 😃

I sometimes close my fist when speed picking. It helps to keep your fingers from hitting the strings and it can help some with fast picking as you don't have to deal with the weight of your fingers flopping around.

Then why do so many pro players play the pick on its side? Its rounder so it give a warmer tone, and its asymmetric so that the down stroke and up stroke take a similar amount of hand/finger pressure creating a smoother alternative picking attack.

Chicken pick shredder is a great pic. I find using a thick pic increasing accuracy in pic motion. Bad picking technique will not work well with a thick pic

I use thick pics mostly but also pics below 1mm. I find playing Van Halen stuff like I'm the one will be more snappy sounding with something like 0,7 mm

Great lesson

This might be one of the few beginner aspects of guitar where I benefitted from being "self" taught... I watched a bunch of videos showing the "pick should come out of the side of your squished up fingers and thumb" and it never felt remotely natural or dexterous to me... so i just started defaulting to the straight thumb method you show here... it just *feels* right - at least for the way my hand / fingers are constructed... (edit: I use a 2mm Dunlop 15R Adamas picks - because they apparently worked for Jerry Garcia ✌️)

Top drawer video this. Nice one Max.

My comment here may be long-winded, but I promise a HUGE PAYOFF for those who read it. I really do mean that, although it is a payoff that may seem to be of an odd nature. Still, I promise, it's a SOCK KNOCKER OFF'er. No kidding. I'm a left-handed 66-year-old guy. Remember the fact that I'm left-handed. I got my first guitar at 14. Being of a practical nature and also having been advised a few years prior as to the advantages of adapting to 90% of the world being righthanded, I figured that it'd be best to force myself to learn how to play guitar right-handed. Once I began, the learning curve, playing "wrong-handed", seemed to me to be insurmountable. I persevered and I continue to persevere, but still, I've never become more than an intermediate player at best. I've tried every sort of guitar pick imaginable over the years, using the techniques presented in this video as being the normal, natural way for me to hold and to attempt to use a guitar pick, but I WAS (a hint there as to the payoff) never, ever, able to actually play anything using a pick, even after over 50 years of playing. Just no. It ain't happening. I've played stringed instruments that are to be normally plucked or strummed, rather than bowed, as a violin would be, using the technique that quite a few other accomplished guitarists have successfully used, as a "thumber". Jeff Beck, Toy Caldwell, many other greats, were or are "thumbers" on guitar. I certainly do not place myself in the same "rarified air" category as they occupy, far from it. I mention those great guitar talents to illustrate that "thumb" guitar picking technique is not necessarily a lousy one to use and to master, if one finds themselves to be blessed at excelling using that technique. So, I've been a "thumber" on guitar for all those years. That's just the way it WAS for me. WAS. We're getting close to the payoff, I promise. A few months ago, I suffered a STEMI, VFIB "widow maker" heart attack, twice going into cardiac arrest during that time. I was then, both times that my heart stopped, subsequently, traumatically, horribly violently, resuscitated. After I was "patched up", I was sent upon my way to continue this earthly existence. So, here I am, alive. Recognizing that other people may experience far worse life setbacks than mine, but also recognizing that my experience is mine and mine alone, life for me since that horrible experience has been, I'll just say, extremely challenging and ALTERED. Until very recently, I haven't felt strong enough to hold and play a guitar, so they've been sitting, gathering dust, with me pretty much just feeling sorry for myself. PAYOFF TIME for those who've stuck with me here - A week or so ago, I finally picked up a guitar to see if I could bring myself to attempt to play. After some very tentative noodling, finding that I was having much difficulty remembering some of my most favored tunes, I did what I've done for countless times in my life, I grabbed a guitar pick. I fully expected to experience that which I'd experienced every single one of the other tens of thousands of times that I'd tried using a pick. I figured that I'd give it a try for a few seconds before tossing it aside. Well, guess what? I WAS ABLE TO HOLD AND USE A GUITAR PICK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE. I defecate you not. Although still feeling myself to pretty much be a beginner using a pick, nevertheless, I am now able to say that it is possible for me to play a recognizable tune using a guitar pick. As mentioned above, I've lost some of my other playing skills to some extent, but wow, I'm blown away by that simple transformation of my now being able to use a guitar pick. Was the cardiac arrest event itself responsible for such a change in my ability, with some anoxic brain alteration taking place, or did the electricity that was used in my being defibrillated cause some sort of brain rewiring? Certainly, it wasn't the violence of the CPR that was administered to me that made this change in me, was it? Is it possible that the very attractive nurse who performed the CPR on my lifeless body might have some guitar pick handling capabilities that were passed into my body when she was very forcefully using her own life force to attempt to return life to mine. My brain, my emotions, my body, every last little component of my life has been transformed in some way as a result of my cardiac arrest events and subsequent resuscitations. My new ability to use a guitar pick is seemingly an extremely small detail in light of all the other changes that have occurred in my post-cardiac arrest survivor's life, but it is most certainly the only one that I can yet identify as being of a positive nature. I think that it is most certainly worthy of note. If you read this and you're as amazed as I am, give me a shout about it, if you would. I'd love to hear from anyone regarding this transformation. Tell me your story, if you have one. Again, I'd love to discuss such phenomena. P.S. - In my Cub Scout BB gun training as a kid, a few years before I bought that first guitar, I initially held the rifle as a "lefty" in the first round. I performed extremely well in placing my shots in tight groups at the center of the target. Despite my excellent left-handed performance, after that first round, one of my den leaders approached me, and talked with me about the availability and financial considerations that I would encounter down the road of my life if I were to continue holding a long gun as a southpaw, suggesting that I attempt the next round of my shooting as right-handed. I did as he suggested, finding it to feel initially awkward, but after a few shots, shooting a long gun right-handed felt completely natural to me, with my occasional attempts at going back to left-handed shooting from then onward feeling extremely awkward. As I was to find out sometime later in life, my right eye is my dominant eye, and until recent years in which my vision has severely declined, it had better acuity than my left eye, as well. For many years, I was a superb (although I'm being immodest here in my claiming to be so) right-hand shooting, left-handed, right-eyed marksman. Thanks, Mr. Cub Scout den leader of the late 1960s. So, after all of that history of my handedness, what have we learned? 1) I was a pretty darned good shot with a rifle in my day, shooting opposite of my natural handedness. Did my handedness play a role in that endeavor? It would seem not. 2) I've managed to play right-handed guitars to some degree, never being satisfied with my abilities, seemingly unable to progress beyond a certain point. My attempts to play guitar left-handed after all these years are pitiful, not even amusingly so. So, the verdict as to handedness in my guitar journey? The jury on that subject, unfortunately, will forever remain "out". I've read articles and have seen videos on the topic of guitar handedness adaptations for numerous left-handed people, with all analyses ending in our having to accept that there is simply no way to know what might have been if another path had been taken. What I haven't seen discussed is that of guitar pick handedness considerations, such as I've dealt with all these years. 3) I can now play a guitar with a pick, albeit as a beginner might, but still, I can now actually do so, whereas before my recent flirt with death, using a pick was a firm no-go. All it took for me to do so was to have experienced a sort-of, but not quite, death. I enjoyed this video, and wholeheartedly agree with what was related to the viewer. I appreciate the platform on which I can relate my guitar pick experiences.

Dunlop Delrin 500 1.5 or 2

I use a .88 grey nylon Jim Dunlop. I play with the shoulder with the point facing to the rear. I also chew my picks to form an arch. It means I can hold the pick lightly because it’s wrapped over my index finger with my thumb resting lightly on top. It makes it really easy to dig in when necessary and increased accuracy by loads. I should patent the design lol. Only downside is picks taste feckin’ horrible lol

There is no wrong way to hold a pick… Look at Marty… Look at Browne… Molly…

I've used the herco 75 for years

I've been playing for years but recently decided to really take a look at my playing and correct my technique and after months of adjusting my picking and much frustration I finally discovered that what you're talking about here was my main problem...I was flexing my thumb. It was great to see this video and just reinforce what I've recently discovered. Thanx!

Stevie Ray Vaughan used a medium fender pic and use the side of it. Jimi Hendrix he’s fender medium also so your statement about using heavy is not necessarily true to be a great players. Both of them were masters.

Yeah, you’re going to want to loosen up and also throw some fingers in there. Play a little bit of banjo or Spanish guitar and you’ll understand 👍

Music isn't a profession that needs approval from others. If playing is what pleases YOU play the way you want to play and at a level you can open yourself up too. Forget music "theories"......Kurt Cobaine

This is an important topic for me. Type of pick(s) I use: Fender Medium Celluloid & Chromacast Medium Celluloid. The older Fender celluloid recipe is better IMO. Fender picks from 15 years ago are better than the current ones. Many big retailers will have both the older celluloids & the newer ones in stock, and even the professional retailers will say there is no difference, but they are wrong. I have confirmed this with Fender. I have had extensive conversations with them about the celluloid recipes in their picks, and how those recipes have varied over time, as well as over the designs of the different "Fender Medium" picks. Whether checkerboard or swirl, the pattern shouldn't matter, but seemingly Fender uses varying recipes for some designs and keep the same recipe for others. I had suspected I was getting batches of counterfeit picks, and this is what contributed to the different feels from the differing, but after a lot of back and forth, Fender swears all the picks I have from them are all genuine. I am skeptical, but that's what they say. I tried to standardize on a single Fender Medium design, the purple swirl, but a batch of the new celluloid recipe, which I dislike immediately, convinced me to not be so dogmatic in my color choice. I just wanted a pick I knew was "my" pick when playing with other guitarists. The newer celluloid recipe (Fender made some comments about wanting to retire celluloid, favoring a cheaper material, but honestly, how could such a tiny amount of material make a material difference?) feels slightly rougher than the older recipe. It also is more durable than the older recipe. While that roughness from the newer recipe makes gripping the picks easier, they drag across the strings in a way I wasn't used to, & so didn't like. I have kept all the picks I didn't like, or thought were counterfeit, for posterity's sake in case anyone doubts what I say here, and have shared with Fender, and have a dedicated "bad" pick collection. The Chromacast picks are more expensive than the Fenders, but their formulation and production are more consistent than Fenders. I have tried a lot of different picks from different manufacturers over the years, A LOT. I absolutely HATE nylon picks. I also echo the comment about wanting (needing) a consistent string release point for timing purposes, and so I also abhor thin picks. They are useless to the point of being garbage. I tend to hold my picks with a medium to light amount of force, and could easily move to a heavier pick, but I am so used to the feel of the thickness of the mediums that other ones feel weird to me. No-one ever taught me how to hold a pick, and I never thought about it much, but this video made me consider it, and so just from years of pick use I find I hold my thumb straight and relaxed, but a little lower than shown in this video. I do not curl my index finger, but rather my finger and thumb form a perpendicular cross. I rarely drop a pick, but I don't like overly complicated finger positions or a death grip on the pick because I don't like that much tension in my wrist. I generally focus more on my left hand and just need my right to be where I need it when I need it to be there. I am definitely not obsessed with picks in any way whatsoever.