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pick angle
Justin Schenk
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Sorry to ask yet another question, but i want to make sure i'm not developing yet another bad habit.
So i know that one is supposed to play with a 45 degree pick angle going into the string, but i'm not sure about the other angle-of-approach involved in picking. It has to do with which direction the very tip of the pick is physically pointing. I've noticed that as i'm starting to get more comfortable with the technique, it feels more comfortable to point the tip of the pick in the direction of my head (of course not so extreme that it's literally pointing at my head...just in that direction) and go into the the string at a 45 degree angle, as opposed to pointing the tip of the pick directly at the body of the guitar. When I angle the pick in the direction of my head, it gives the rest-stroke a nice slapping sort of feeling. However, i'm not sure whether or not programming this into my muscles will have a detrimental affect on my abilities down the line - perhaps sacrificing the accuracy of the upstoke?
I've looked at vids of Joscho Stephan, the one vid of Django, some from Rosenberg, and Lagrene, as well as studying the pics in the Gypsy Picking book, but i can't seem to make out what's going on consistently. It seems as though these players mostly are doing what i described above, but i'd like a second opinion.
So i know that one is supposed to play with a 45 degree pick angle going into the string, but i'm not sure about the other angle-of-approach involved in picking. It has to do with which direction the very tip of the pick is physically pointing. I've noticed that as i'm starting to get more comfortable with the technique, it feels more comfortable to point the tip of the pick in the direction of my head (of course not so extreme that it's literally pointing at my head...just in that direction) and go into the the string at a 45 degree angle, as opposed to pointing the tip of the pick directly at the body of the guitar. When I angle the pick in the direction of my head, it gives the rest-stroke a nice slapping sort of feeling. However, i'm not sure whether or not programming this into my muscles will have a detrimental affect on my abilities down the line - perhaps sacrificing the accuracy of the upstoke?
I've looked at vids of Joscho Stephan, the one vid of Django, some from Rosenberg, and Lagrene, as well as studying the pics in the Gypsy Picking book, but i can't seem to make out what's going on consistently. It seems as though these players mostly are doing what i described above, but i'd like a second opinion.
Comments
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I took some pictures illustrating the issue but i can't figure out how to post them to the forum. I tried the Img option, but the photos don't have URLs because they're on my hard drive :?
But, maybe i can explain it a little better. Imagine a line shooting out of the tip of your pick and into...infinity...or something. At the moment the pick strikes the string, does that imaginary line pass through your chest/straight through the body of the guitar, does it pass closer to your neck(your neck, not your guitar's ha)/the top of the guitar, or does it pass through your butt and the chair your sitting in?
That's the angle i'm not sure about. I'm leaning toward the direction of the imaginary line passing through my neck (of course it's not that high, i'm just exaggerating for comparative purposes) because it feels good and it gives the stroke a nice slapping feel which is cool, as i mentioned before. but i can see that possibly causing problems by creating a disadvantaged upstroke, maybe?
hope that clears things up. Man, discussing technique in writing is extremely difficult!
Photo 1 shows the (exaggerated) imaginary-line-going-through-chair thing.
Photo 2 shows straight on, through the guitar's body and your body.
Photo 3 shows (exaggerated) the line extending through your neck/top of the guitar
my line is more on the side of #3, but of course, not that pronounced.
If the tops of your fingers are banging and/or rubbing against the strings while you pick, then you're doing it right.
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thanks again for the help!