TRIAL LESSONUncategorized
Guitar plectrums – the best way to use it
Aug
If you just started to play the guitar, you may wonder how to use a plectrum or pick properly and how it can boost your sound or interpretation. Here’s a couple of tips for you to add to your study time!
When playing the guitar with a plectrum (or guitar pick) there are a couple of questions to consider in order to get the best playing experience, such as how to use a plectrum? How to hold a guitar pick?
First, you need to decide what type of plectrum or pick to use, as they vary in size. The difference between guitar picks makes them suitable for different types of guitar and genres. Is not the same to learn how to use a plectrum on an acoustic guitar or with an electric guitar, or use it to play blues, jazz or any other style.
As a general rule, thinner plectrums such as the Jim Dunlop Nylon .60mm plectrum work best for lighter picking styles such as acoustic guitar strumming. In general Nylon and Celluloid choices are the best plectrums for acoustic guitars, at least to start to play with pics. If you want to know how to use a plectrum for an electric guitar, you should know that smaller and thicker plectrums, such as Jim Dunlop Jazz III plectrum, work better for harder picking styles like blues or rock&roll, where riffs and lead playing are more important than light chord strumming.
The plectrums can be made of many materials such as material, plastic, glass and even tortoiseshell and these are not even half! There are many unusual materials to try when choosing your pick, so choose your pick plectrums.
Plectrum and picks
Once you have the right type of plectrum for your chosen playing style, then you must look at the way you are holding and using the plectrum. It is best to hold the plectrum at a 45-degree angle pointing towards the headstock, this helps with crossing over the strings as the angle prevents the pick from getting caught on the strings. Holding the plectrum at this angle also adds a slight ‘bite’ to the sound, which can be useful in certain styles of music such as rock.
The plectrum should be held with a decent grip so that it doesn’t slip out of your hand however you don’t want to hold on to it too tight otherwise you can add unnecessary tension to your hand which can cause problems long-term.
Eddie Van Halen for example, had a very unusual style when it came to using the plectrum, along with other famous guitarists. Specifically, though Van Halen would hold his palm away from the instrument with his plectrum between his thumb and middle finger whilst doing alternate picking. An unusual technique that nevertheless allowed him to play at the quick speed he acquired.
Follow Tom’s article with “Guitar string muting”
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