Picking Lesson for Beginners

There are two main guitar picking strokes:

Down stroke
The plectrum strokes a string or strings only when it moves downwards. Notes played
by this stroke have more 'attack' and 'weight'.
This article is focused on the downstroke technique.
Upstrokes: An upstroke (indicated with a V-shaped symbol) is played upward, toward
the ceiling. Start from a position below the first string and drag your pick upward across
the strings, from first to sixth. In an upstroke, you dont need to worry about hitting all
the strings. The top three or four strings are usually sufficient.
Alternate Picking
The plectrum strokes the string(s) when it moves downwards as well as upwards. This
stroke is more preferable when you need to play fast passages, because you can
significantly increase the speed playing two notes per one picking circle.
Downward motion is called downstroke and upward isupstroke.
Use your wrist to create the guitar picking motion and not the fingers as you might
expect:
You can also add your arm and forearm to the motion if it feels more comfortable to
you. The thumb and the index finger that hold the pick must not move.
Using the fingers to move the pick might seem an easier way to play at first, but it will
only limit your speed and accuracy of your playing in the future. Once again: use your
wrist instead.
Quarter-note striking: For quarter-note striking, play four strums for each bar of music.
The quarter notes tell you that the strums occur once per beat. Note that quarter notes
have just a stem attached to them.

Eighth-

note striking, twice per beat: For

eighth-note striking, you strum
twice
as
fast
(two
per
beat) as you
do for the quarter notes (one per beat). Instead of the previously used slashes, you now

face slashes with stems (the vertical lines attached to the slash noteheads not the
round, normal noteheads) and beams (the horizontal lines that connect the stems). Note
that eighth notes have stems with beams connecting them to each other. An eighth note
by itself has a flag instead of a beam.

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The Guitar Picking Exercise Down Stroke
Reading tab the guitar pick down stroke has a
Symbol and youll see it written like
this (it might also be written above the tab as well as below).

The Guitar Picking Exercise Up Stroke

The up stroke has a

symbol and is written like this -

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Fingerstyle technique

2.0.2 The fundamentals of fingerstyle technique according to Tuck

(1) The hand should be comfortably suspended above the strings, but stable and
undisturbed by whatever the fingers do. There should be no tension anywhere from the
hand up to the shoulder. The most useful principle I've found for this is overtraining. If
you have access to small children, stand in front of one with your arm in playing position
(without the guitar) and challenge the child to dislodge your arm by pushing, pulling,
climbing, etc. Practice exaggerated, forceful finger strokes even on full chords. Practice
forceful rasgueados and strumming. Constantly focus on relaxing.
(2) Location of hand: A classical technician would probably say the top of the hand
should be parallel to the guitar, far enough away to keep the second joints nearly
straight, with the knuckles directly above the point of intersection between the fingertips
and the strings. More and more the consensus would be that the fingers if extended
parallel to the guitar need not be perpendicular to the strings as in the old days, but
more diagonal. But I believe this is a subset of a broader, supervening rule: Do what is
appropriate and be flexible enough for your situation. We should all learn the classical
stance because it is bound to be the right thing sometimes. We should become
comfortable throughout the range between perpendicular and very diagonal, because
this gives tonal variety. Because I use my palm for muting and percussion, I also need
to be comfortable with the hand closer to the strings, meaning the second joints arched
up to 90 degrees. This means that the finger hits the string more on the tip, so I must be
comfortable throughout this range. I must then be able to lower my palm all the way to
the bridge. I also sometimes need to bring my thumb closer to the bridge than my
fingers for a brittle bass tone. So I must also practice raising my wrist farther off the
strings than my knuckles, until my thumb points all the way into the guitar. Practice all
the different strokes below in all the positions you need to use. Then practice changing
positions, so you are fluid throughout the range of positions.

(3) The source of the motion should be entirely knuckle. The knuckle is analogous to the
hip of a football player when kicking a ball. It is the grossest and strongest joint. Never
kick from the knee and never pluck from the middle joint.
(4) The first joint should never break (arch backwards) or even flex at all during contact
with the string. Both it and the middle joint should maintain their curved position until
after leaving the string, rather than absorb any of the power of the knuckle's stroke. An
exercise for this is to arch all three joints of your plucking finger, then press it against a
finger of the other hand, as if it were the string opposing the finger. As you push harder
and harder, there will be a tendency for the first joint to suddenly break as the middle
finger arches more to make up for it or vice versa. Practice until all joints keep their

exact orientation no matter how hard you push. After this the string will feel like nothing
and will not dislodge your position.
(5) The stroke should initially begin some distance from the string with the finger full
extended, accelerate and swing powerfully through the string, as in kicking a ball or
swinging a bat. After hitting the string, the finger should follow through, through the full
range of motion of the knuckle and middle joint, coming to rest forcibly against the palm.
Experience the string as insignificantly small, incapable of affecting the momentum of
the powerful finger stroke in any way. Visualize the target as the palm of your hand, with
the string being a minor obstacle on the way to the target. Snap a finger to see where
your fingers should end up and how hard they should hit. Fully open and close your
hand, forcibly, away from the guitar to experience what the overall stroke should feel
like. I call this stroke the flying pluck.
(6) On free strokes, the stroke should barely clear the next string after it hits the target
string, and this only because the middle joint curls slightly instantly after impact. This
makes the stroke as parallel as possible to the plane of the strings.
(7) Do not change the hand position at all for a rest stroke. The only difference between
it and a free stroke is what happens at the middle joint immediately after the stroke.
Instead of curling slightly, straighten it slightly so the finger comes to rest forcibly on the
next string. Visualize the target as the string the finger comes to rest on, just as your
palm is the target on a free stroke, rather than the string you are plucking. Therefore let
the next string stop your motion, rather than restricting it with your muscles.
(8) Learn the stroke which is between the rest stroke and the free stroke, what I call the
strum stroke. Each finger should be able to strum as many as five strings on one stroke.
Again do not change the hand position. Working on this stroke will make both free
stroke and rest stroke much easier and will help you switch easily between them.

(9) Start with powerful strokes, one finger at a time, very slowly. Worry about aim later.
Just perfect a powerful stroke. Aim will miraculously take care of itself. Play chords
exactly the same way; they should be a combination of multiple fingers making the
flying pluck. Later practice playing quietly using the same strokes.
(10) Later learn to start the stroke close to or touching the string, but with the same
power as if you had swung from a distance. Later learn not to follow through at all
without compromising the power of the stroke, but generally follow through as much as
possible. The more you do this, the better your strokes and the faster you can play
when you do reduce follow through.

(11) Learn to make downstrokes of equal power and speed. This will help you with
rasguedos and strumming. Even if you never use them for this, it will help you make
alternating upstrokes and eliminate tension. When playing upstrokes with alternating
fingers, learn to experience it also as alternating downstrokes where no string is hit
except on the upstroke.
(12) The thumb will more or less take care of itself. It is the least of your worries.

HOW TO PLAY FASTER, BETTER, SMOOTHER WITH PROPER RIGHT HAND

TECHNIQUE:

1. Use correct up/down pick angle:

The point of the pick should aim straight down towards the body of the guitar. The top of
the pick should not be angled downwards, which makes a down picking easier and up
picking difficult. Conversely the top of the pick should not be leaning up, which would
make upstrokes easier and down strokes more difficult.

A little too far down makes up strokes difficult.

A little too far down makes up strokes difficult.
rightHandUpward
An upward lean makes downstrokes tough.
If there was a line running from the point of the pick straight up through the top of the
pick, it would be perpendicular to the body of the guitar, a 90 degree angle to the body.

2. Then rotate pick to 45 degrees:

With the pick in its correct alignment from step one, rotate the pick 45 degrees. Your
thumb should rotate downward, all the while keeping the correct 90 degree up/down
angle from step one.
rightHandPicking

3. Use a thick, stiff pick.

Over 1mm is a good rule of thumb. But really, any pick that doesnt flap when you hit a
note is fine. Thin, flexy picks take too much time bending while trying to hit a note.

4. Hold the pick between your index and thumb.

Keep remaining fingers lightly curled in and out of the way. The key here is that the
curled index and thumb position sort of restricts movement here. We dont want the
fingers moving the pick.

5. Use your wrists natural hand wave motion to pick notes.

The big wrist muscles, not the thumb and finger, are designed to move back and forth
quickly. So make sure your thumb and index finger are used only to adjust the step 2
pick rotation angle and nothing else. Let the wrist be the up down motion to hit notes.
This tip came from the excellent article by Mark Wingfield here.

6. Move everything up and down without anchoring.

Now, with our pick constantly in the correct up/down (90 deg.) and rotational angle (45
deg.), and using our wrist to move the pick up and down, move this whole assembly
up and down to access higher and lower strings. This means you cant anchor your
pinky or palm anywhere on the guitar.

For higher pitch (thin) strings, rest the side of your thumb and palm on the lower pitch
(thicker) strings. As you move toward the thicker strings, move your arm upwards and
rest your palm on the body of the guitar above the low e.
Moving the pick hand up and down to play different strings really helped me. I could
play the higher pitch strings ok, but if my palm was anchored, when I rotated up to play
the lower pitch strings my pick angle naturally went flat making it hard to play. By
moving your picking hand up and down, your pick will stay in the perfect position for all
strings.
PRACTICE THIS SLOWLY AT FIRST

While you practice keep a sharp eye out that the angles are correct. Ill stop and hold
my right hand still and then look down the neck of the guitar to make sure my up/down
pick angle is correct. Then look straight down on my pick hand to make sure my 45
degree angle is correct. I like to just mute the strings with my left hand and hit notes with
my right. Do three or four notes per string and move up and down from high e to low e.
HOW DO I KNOW IF IM DOING IT RIGHT?
If you practice this and really try to get all the parts working together with nothing left
out, youll suddenly find that hitting notes will become easier. Once you hit that moment
when you are smoother and hitting notes just seems fluid and easy, then you know you
are doing it right. When hitting notes feels difficult and the pick is sticking to the strings,
then stop and slowly go through the steps again. Carefully reinspect your technique.
Angles ok? Wrist motion moving the pick? Not anchoring? Proper technique will put you
in that everything feels right zone. Once you feel it, you wont stop until youve got it
full time.
PROPER TECHNIQUE IS A CRITICAL PART OF PLAYING FAST
When I played tennis there were times when I could hit the ball as hard as I wanted and
never hit it out of bounds. Everything felt right and I could control the ball. The moment
things didnt feel right and I was spraying balls all over the place, my coach would watch
and usually find one small thing wrong with my technique. Oh, forgot about stepping into
the ball and following through. Once the technical mistake was corrected, I was back to
hitting the ball well.
Same with guitar right hand picking. If your technique is spot on and all steps are
correct, youll get into the zone. Be mindful of the small details: pick angles, wrist
motion, keeping the thumb and finger fixed, using your arm to move your picking hand
up and down. If one is forgotten, itll throw a wrench in the works.

CONSIDER USING THE CLASSICAL POSITION TO HOLD THE GUITAR

Classical position is left foot raised with guitar resting on left leg. Some of the shredder
guys use the classical position. I like how the guitar is angled up a bit so it is easier for
me to get into my perfect 45 deg. pick angle with the right hand, and its easier on my
left hand because Ive got better access to the whole neck.

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Diction-If you can't understand it, the message ain't gettin' through!" It jhas two
components to diction, the consonants and the vowels
Basic Diction principles

The "oo" vowel is really the best place to start. The person who suggested dropping the
consonants and singing vowels only as the next step also has a good idea, but this is
difficult for children to do. When they are moreadvanced, that works fine, if they know
how to produce the vowels already.

1. I ask the children to imagine what it would be like to talk with the shape of a hardboiled egg in their mouth. Then I demonstrate what it sounds like when I do that. This
creates the kind of space you want in the mouth for singing, and the children think it is
very funny when I talk like that. With this feeling of shape, I have them sing on "oo".

I ask them to keep that shape on everything they sing--put the inside shape of the "oo"
in the words (not the roundness of the lips). For many, this is all it takes

2. "Imagine you are imitating an English person speaking." Then I go into a discussion
of how in England they speak with a different accent than we do in America, and how
they speak at a generally higher pitch, with more pitch variation, and more precise
diction. I demonstrate the idea.

3. Speak the words in rhythm in this sing-song, spacey, higher pitched style--you
demonstrate and have them repeat.

4. Have them sing with the same sound. Start with you singing, they copy. (It may be a
bit more difficult with a man demonstrating, but maybe not.) Stop them if they don't give
you what you want. Demonstrate again.

5. When it gets to r sound at the ends of words, I tell them they have to speak like they
are from Boston, when people drop all of these r sounds. I speak a phrase like "Park the

car in Harvard Yard" ala Boston, without the r's. I have to translate it for them, because
they don't understand it.

How to Handle the "r"

Only sing "r" before a vowel sound.
Don't sing "r" before a consonant sound.
Don't sing "r" before a pause.
In serious music, flip the "r" between vowel sounds.
Activities to promote Good Diction:
1. Read the words to the choir line by line, with correct pronunciation, enunciation and
articulation.
2. During the rehearsal, isolate the a word the children are having trouble with and
invent silly story of two or three sentences. Have the children repeat it
3. Use white experience chart paper and armed with magic marker , draw up a chart
that looks something like thethe following examples:
-when (hoo en,, not wen)
-too bright (forward "oo")
-slee puh
-four (teen) an(gels)- (dont sing nangels)
4. Children have tendency to cover uncovered vowels with a consonants, example " We
three kings of orient tar" Have children sing it in the wrong way, then the connect way.
BE careful that they do not separate "orient" frim "are", otherwise the legato line will be
spoiled. The trick is to leave the "t" on orient, and have a gentle,glottal attack on the
word are.
5. Have the children sing a descending Eb scale singing this exercise ask the children
to make up alliteration and incorporate them into a chile. The tip of the tonque the teeth
the lips exercise is "oldie but goodie"

6. Callenge the children to sing only vowels omiting consonants use this exercise
prequently w/ more experienced choirs when learning new rapertoire.
7. Sing through the firts section of the work and have the children stand and sit each
time they omr across a word with say "ow" on it One child can be selected to come to
the front of listen to the choir sing this particular vowel diphthong or consonants & then
say if the choir sang it correctly or not.
8. Have the exaggerate consonants as they whisper words.
9. Have the children sing vowels pp & consonants ff while practicing a song.
Rhythmic Diction
Every sound within every word must be placed within a rhythmic context.
Be sensitive to consonant releases; often the release is more "delicate" off the beat
rather than on the beat.
Always give the vowels of a diphthong proportionate rhythmic values; usually the
primary vowel sound receives the greater proportion of rhythmic time.
Try solving diphthongs in words that come before pauses by singing the primary vowel
sound to the release, placing the "whole" diphthong on the actual release point in the
rhythm of speech. Thus, the completion of the diphthong and any consonants that
follow it will be heard slightly after the release beat.
Don't sing words; sing all of the sounds of the words.
Distinguish between strong and weak (unaccented vowel sounds) and avoid making
them all equal.
Expressive Diction
Look for the emotional words within a phrase; look for the dramatic words; look for the
words that "must" be understood if communication with the audience is to take place!
Make sure that these words are clearly understood. To do this may require one to slight
or "rob time" from less important words so the important ones will emerge clearly within
the context. Many monosyllable words fall into the category of being "less important."
These include "the," "a" and "an," "and," "as," "of," "than," etc. When they are followed
by an emotional or dramatic word, don't hesitate to use some of the duration of these
words to emphasize the initial consonant of the following word, for example: Sing the
lines yourself to find the best solutions.

Make sure that you overlay the singing line with a verbal thought. This will also help the
development of phrase shape and dramatic meaning within the phrase.
When words are being sung very quickly, don't try to make each word or syllable equal.
Make the important words stand out. Our ears will supply much of the rest because of
communicative context.
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