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Get Help Here!
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Confused? Having trouble with any part of this guitar lesson? Log on to the guitar forum to get help with the material from guitar lesson one.
Click for guitar lesson one help
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Hopefully, you've found, bought or borrowed a guitar
pick. If not, you'll need to buy yourself some. Don't be stingy, go
and pick up at least 10 of them - guitar picks are easy to lose (they often
don't cost more than 30 or 40 cents each). You can experiment with different
shapes and brands, but I highly recommend medium gauge picks to start; ones
that aren't too flimsy, or too hard.
The following documentation explains how to hold, and use a pick. When reading,
keep in mind that your "picking hand" is the hand which is nearest to the
bridge of the guitar, when sitting in the correct position.
- Open your
picking hand, and turn the palm to face you.
- Close
your hand to make a very loose fist. Your thumb should remain beside
your index finger.
- Rotate
your hand until you are looking at it's profile, with your thumb's knuckle
facing you.
- With your
other hand, slide your guitar pick between your thumb and index finger.
The pick should be approximately located behind the knuckle of the thumb.
- Be sure
the pointed end of the pick is pointing directly away from your fist,
and is protruding by about a half an inch. Hold the pick firmly.
- Position
your picking hand over the soundhole of your acoustic guitar, or over
the body of your electric guitar. Your picking hand, with thumb knuckle
still facing you, should hover over the strings.
- Do not
rest your picking hand on the strings or body of the guitar.
- Using
your wrist for motion (rather than your entire arm), strike the sixth
(lowest) string of your guitar in a downward motion. If the string rattles
excessively, try striking the string a bit softer, or with less of the
pick surface.
- Now, pick
the sixth string in an upwards motion.
- Repeat
the process several times. Try and minimize motion in your picking hand:
one short picking stroke downwards, then one short picking stroke upwards.
This process is referred to as "alternate picking"
- Try the
same exercise on the fifth, fourth, third, second, and first strings.
Tips:
- Holding
the pick in this manner will invariably feel awkward at first. You will
initially have to pay special attention to your picking hand whenever
you play guitar.
- Try and
create fluidity in your alternate picking. Your downstrokes should sound
virtually identical to your upstrokes.
Next page > Tuning > Page 1,
2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10
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