GUITAR PICK ACOUSTIC
GET YOUR GUITAR PICK
Guitar pick is one of the most attractive and most demanding accessories for all guitarists. Varieties of design, different material including size and shape makes it as a part of fashion for a guitarist. To be specific, for an acoustic guitar player, this pick plays an attractive role for making different tones and bringing variation of guitar sound.
Choosing the right guitar pick depends on your music taste or music genre you love to play. As a beginner you may not understand the difference of pick, as you will only use it just to grow a habit of using pick and for practicing your daily lesson. And definitely, for that you need to know about guitar pick, how to use it. In this article we will discuss all these.
What is a Guitar Pick?
Guitar pick is also known as plectrum is a triangle shaped small tool which is used for plucking or strumming on guitar strings. Pick is not something only used for playing guitars, rather it can be used for any kind of string instrument.
You may find guitar picks of different material, shapes and sizes. This might be confusing for a beginner to choose the correct guitar pick but, it all depends on individual preferences. So, once you start playing your acoustic guitar, you may try different guitar picks and choose your comfortable one. Good news is, guitar picks are very cheap so you can get multiple guitar picks for your own. Although, there are very expensive guitar picks also in store. We will discuss below.
Material of Guitar Pick
In todays era, you may find most of the guitar picks are made of plastic. However, earlier guitar picks were made of tortoise shell. Nowadays, Nylon, plastic, wood, and even metal is used for making guitar picks. Each type of material will produce a different tone on Guitar Strings while during stroke which will allow players to customize their own suitable sound for guitar.
Nylon or Plastic guitar picks can be a good choice for beginners to start. They are more flexible, light and easy to play on acoustic guitar in terms of both strumming or plucking. You may find these guitar picks of different sizes, shapes and thickness. Even if your guitar picks carry your choice of design, you can also look for that.
Wooden and metal guitar picks also have their own unique style which reflects matured player standards or professionals. However, while playing with these guitar picks you have to be careful of your own strumming pattern as these are harder than plastic or nylon guitar picks. Your playing style will allow you to produce exceptional tone on your acoustic guitar with these type guitar picks.
Get your Acoustic Guitar Picks
Guitar picks are in general a complimentary item from the guitar store once you get your own guitar, The shop may offer you several varieties of guitar pick and tell you to pick 2-3. And definitely you can get your one among those. But as a beginner, if you do not have ideas about guitar picks you might choose the wrong one.
It is preferred to get a thin guitar pick, preferable size between 0.65-0.72mm. This size is considered the best size for a beginner. At the beginning of guitar learning, you might need to practice more on strumming. Because of this, a thinner guitar pick is more comfortable to play. However, if you plan to get multiple guitar picks which you should, then you get some varieties of thickness from thin to thick. Once you go to the shop to get a pick, you will find a label printed on the pick mentioning the thickness or lightness.
- Extra thin (also known as ‘extra light’) are under 0.45 mm in thickness.
- Thin (also known as ‘light’) are between 0.45 mm and 0.70 mm.
- Medium picks vary somewhere between 0.60 and 0.80 mm in thickness.
- Heavy guitar picks are between 0.80 and 1.2 mm in thickness.
- Extra heavy guitar picks are anything above the 1.2 mm thickness.
Now let’s talk about the size and shape of the guitar pick. The standard and commonly used picks are like having a sharp point with a curved triangle. But there are picks which 3 points can be used for playing. These all depend on the individual guitar pick company. They maintain their own signature, material and designs. Different guitar players use different sizes of picks. However, once you choose for your, do make sure it is easy for you to maintain the grip and also it goes with your playing pattern. Sometimes, small guitar picks are more friendly than a bigger one.
USING A GUITAR PICK
To use a guitar pick, first of all you need to learn how to hold the guitar pick. Guitar picks are used by the thumb and first finger. The pick is to be placed over the first finger and press it with the thumb firmly keeping the thumb nail towards the front. The picture can be better for you to understand the guitar pick holding method.
Once you start playing guitar with guitar pick, adjust the angle of guitar pick in a manner, so you do not need to bend your wrist, rather the pick angle should be adjusted 90 deg angle on your hand and perpendicular to the string. For strumming with pick, focus on the moving elbow not the wrist.
Guitar Picking Lesson
Once you start the strumming with a pick for the first time, play down stroke several times to understand the tone and comfortable playing pattern with your new guitar pick. Thereafter you may add chords and upstroke to get your desired tone and playing style.
The first lesson as a beginner with a guitar pick is to play single string one up and down movement. Do not start the picking directly with strumming. Choose a single string and start picking down with a small movement, and maybe several down movements on that string, then add some up movement. Do this slowly at the beginning, then you may speed up the movement.
While doing this, you may find sometimes, the picking is jumping into another string while picking without your intention. So, this problem will be solved after several practices. You must hold your patience before jumping into the chords and songs. Try to grab the skill and comfort of picking single strings before starting your strumming lesson.
NOTE THAT, WHILE PRACTICING PICKING, PLACE YOUR PALM ON THE BRIDGE OF GUITAR TO KEEP YOUR HAND STABLE WHILE PICKING INDIVIDUAL STRING.
Once you get yourself comfortable with the picking, now you can move for strumming. Strumming with a guitar pick is the same as strumming with your hand. Only difference is that you are using the head of the pick for strumming. During the strumming, angle the pick slightly towards the direction of your stroke. If you keep the pick exactly perpendicular with string, this might get stuck in between strings. So, for keeping the constant movement of strumming, you can make a slight angle. Start the strumming with a soft stroke. Do not be rushed over stoking. At the initial stage, you may find your finger is also touching strings while strumming while holding a pick. So, initially remain slow on strumming for both up and downstroke. Once you are comfortable and feel flexible on your stroke, you can add variation of stroke pattern for strumming.
Mistakes
Sometimes it might feel more difficult to play guitar with a pick than using your finger. However with practice it can be solved only if you are using the correct way. Once you are using guitar pick for playing do ensure you are not doing following mistakes:
- Not holding the pick firmly is the first mistake one can make. You must hold the grip firmly with your finger. Hold the pick in a manner so that only a small amount of tip is exposed and the rest is covered by your thumb.
- Wrong movement of arms may cause fatigue and tiredness when playing the guitar. Positioning your arms in the correct gesture and also the movement of the arm from the elbow is important to freely strum on strings with pick.
- If the pick is difficult to hold or if the size of the pick is not suitable, it might fall down from your hand while playing. So, selecting the correct pick is important.
- The most familiar and known fact of guitar pick is that it might get into your guitar sound hole while playing. Keep firm grip on your pick while playing, or else it might get stuck on string and get into the box of your acoustic guitar.
