Does anyone have problems with

Drew263

the pick staying in place in your fingers?

All of the sudden about 3 weeks ago, the pick is not staying put, which is causing me to focus on it instead of chords and notes. I'm really getting frustrated by this. When I go to my lesson on fridays, I don't have that problem. Seems to only occur in my house. Anyone experience this in their early stages of playing?

For instance, when i'm playing Grievance and am playing the E power chord, it starts moving.

IDgotI

It's a fairly common thing to have issues with early on. Someone else might have a suggestion / approach for dealing with it. All I can offer is the encouragement that you aren't alone, and that with the passage of time you'll probably naturally fall into holding it the way that works best for you.

Don't forget to try different types of pick, shapes, thicknesses, materials etc. You'll probably find your groove with some types more than others.

BetterManningNYG

i used to have this problem all the time when i first started playing. eventually it just stopped. now it never happens.

although for some reason there was this instance a few months ago where it happened to me twice in two days. and both times the pick fell right into the f-hole on my hollowbody. talk about annoying!

how long have you been playing for?

He_Who_Forgets

same here...playing 4 years strong and still happens...i hold it really loose, so that's probably why.

brain of c

picks are for pussies.

harrisonmerwin

i find the smoothe picks (dunlop turtle ones, and any pearloid pick) seem to fall alot, i like to use picks that have the emerging text on them, i find that the text has a better grip. Im talkign about the Jim Dunlop ones, the come White-shades of gray-black pending on thier thickness.

lucylespian

Try Dunlop gator grips. It actually just means that you are holding the pick correctly, pinched gently twixt thumb and forefinger.
It's funniest when it falls into the guitar and you have to do the upside down guitar fanfango.
Show me a player who has never done that.

angryyoungman

no problem with the pick. . .however i have no idea how people play guitar and sing at the same time. i cant do it. i fuck up one or the other immediately

Novawind

I'm the same way. The only song I've been able to sing/play simultaneously is "Living After Midnight" by Judas Priest.

I'm pretty sure we're all guilty about losing picks inside our acoustics when we were beginners. About the f-hole, that really sucks! I can't imagine how long you had to toss it around to get the pick to come out of there. I have a hard enough time with my acoustic.

lucylespian

angryyoungman wrote:

no problem with the pick. . .however i have no idea how people play guitar and sing at the same time. i cant do it. i fuck up one or the other immediately

You will never learn playing PJ, cos Ed never sings on the beat.
Try something really simple like Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind, the timing is dead simple and the voice accents all fall on downstrokes.
I'm trying to do Fatal at the Moment and it is a complete bitch, because the lyrical ohrases are a different length to the musical phrases and so the chord position within a line keeps changing.
Even that is simple compared to what JAmes Hetfield does when he sings MAster of Puppets !!!!!

Drew263

BetterManningNYG wrote:

i used to have this problem all the time when i first started playing. eventually it just stopped. now it never happens.

although for some reason there was this instance a few months ago where it happened to me twice in two days. and both times the pick fell right into the f-hole on my hollowbody. talk about annoying!

how long have you been playing for?

I started playing last march, so almost a year and this problem has just recently started. It's driving me crazy. Today I'll go to my instructor's studio and not have the problem. So I'll explain it to him but play fine and he'll look at me like I'm crazy. :eek:

I've become hooked and I play/practice for hours everyday but this is driving me insane. My focus has shifted away from chord changes or solos to holding the damn pick. I've tried about 8 different pick styles, same issue. It's something I'm doing, I just can't figure it out.

Drew263

lucylespian wrote:

Try Dunlop gator grips. It actually just means that you are holding the pick correctly, pinched gently twixt thumb and forefinger.
It's funniest when it falls into the guitar and you have to do the upside down guitar fanfango.
Show me a player who has never done that.

I've tried those..I have about 4. At first I thought they were the solution..that lasted about 2 hours.

I'm using Gibson picks right now(black .70mm)...well I say that, I'm switching back and forth.

BetterManningNYG

Drew263 wrote:

I started playing last march, so almost a year and this problem has just recently started. It's driving me crazy. Today I'll go to my instructor's studio and not have the problem. So I'll explain it to him but play fine and he'll look at me like I'm crazy. :eek:

I've become hooked and I play/practice for hours everyday but this is driving me insane. My focus has shifted away from chord changes or solos to holding the damn pick. I've tried about 8 different pick styles, same issue. It's something I'm doing, I just can't figure it out.

i wouldn't worry. this makes perfect sense to me. during a player's first year, it is common for more emphasis to be placed on the fret hand. you know, learning chords and movement and such. less attention is given to the pick hand, and meanwhile you were probably picking fairly tentatively while you tried to learn your fret hand movements. sound familiar?

but now your fret hand is a little stronger and you want to show it off by playing with more authority (i.e. picking harder). the only problem is that your pick hand is not quite up to the same level as your fret hand yet. and that's why this problem has started all of a sudden.

but you'll get there soon enough. there really is no "trick" to holding the pick that requires active thought on your part. just keep practicing and i assure you that the problem will go away.

ledhed43

i melt the end of the pick with a lighter then jam it into a cd case to create a ridge that helps me grip better. i like to hold a pick very gently sometimes and that is the only way i can keep it from falling out of my hand. the trick is to melt it evenly so its not crooked.

Drew263

BetterManningNYG wrote:

i wouldn't worry. this makes perfect sense to me. during a player's first year, it is common for more emphasis to be placed on the fret hand. you know, learning chords and movement and such. less attention is given to the pick hand, and meanwhile you were probably picking fairly tentatively while you tried to learn your fret hand movements. sound familiar?

but now your fret hand is a little stronger and you want to show it off by playing with more authority (i.e. picking harder). the only problem is that your pick hand is not quite up to the same level as your fret hand yet. and that's why this problem has started all of a sudden.

but you'll get there soon enough. there really is no "trick" to holding the pick that requires active thought on your part. just keep practicing and i assure you that the problem will go away.

actually that makes perfect sense..for example in Comatose where mike will slide up the neck right before they play the Gb-G riff..I couldn't do that and get back in time and in exact place...now that's simple and doesn't take any thought. so my pick hand needs to get its shit together.

seecho

I have had this problem with smooth picks. I started using Dunlop Totex picks and the problem went from dropping the pick to the pick tending to turn in my fingers so then I tried Dunlop Gator Grip picks and for me it is the easiest pick to hang on to and does not turn. I use .50 and .71mm. I also learned to hold the pick differently which has helped alot. If you ball your hand in a fist, extend your thumb, place the pick between the thumb and the curled index finger then extend your three other fingers this will help you hang on to the pick and also keeps your index finger from striking string you did not intend to play. It is hard to get used to this but it does help alot and eventually it will become automatic.