Hey Friend,

Yesterday I talked to you about developing your touch - the way your picking hand approaches the strings.

It’s pretty easy to hear the difference between the soft flesh of your finger or thumb plucking a string versus a pick. There is a clear change in the characteristics of the resulting sound. 

Skin has give to it and slides off a string with a brush-like quality, while a pick has hard edges that catch against the string and scrape. 

That’s not to say that one sound is better of more pleasing than the other - they can be used interchangeably to play through a song. It just helps to recognize that you have the power to easily change what your playing sounds like by how you pluck the strings.

I play primarily with a pick, and have learned over the years to mimic finger style playing when I need it. This isn’t the most efficient technique, though.

Using the thumb and fingers to pluck strings simultaneously gives you more options when playing through a passage, especially when the picking/finger pattern is more intricate. 

However, most of the time with Rock music, you don’t really need to think about finger style playing, so working on your picking technique is a good place to focus. 

I want you to think about something for a second...

When you’ve taken lessons or watched videos about learning guitar, how often does the instructor focus on your picking hand? 

If your experience is like mine, not very often. The focus is typically on where to place your fingers on the neck to play the notes and chords.

But that is only half of the equation. You still have to affect the string with a second “tool" to produce the sound you’re fretting. 

And how you affect the string determines what the note(s) will sound like.

Hit them hard with a pick or thumb and you get a very aggressive sounding result. Touch them lightly and the sound is soft and soothing.

Try it. Take your pick and lightly brush the strings. Notice how it sounds.

Now drive the tip of your pick hard against a string, pluck it downward and listen to the difference. The string almost clangs from the force.

Hear the difference in dynamics?

Practice your touch by playing a single note and adjusting you amount of force you pluck the string with. 

Also, vary how tight your grip on the pick is. A lighter grip allows the pick to glide over a string, while a tighter grip forces the string to bend more as you pluck it resulting in a harder, louder sound.

Talk to ya later...

Peace~

Dave