Benson Picking

[helly]

This is odd, I'm not entirely sure I get it, but if it's what I imagine it is, then it's how I pick normally except my finger is straight instead of bowed outwards or in. I also keep pretty darn straight pick to strings angle. I also definitely do not have hitchhiker's thumb.

 

[Arminius]

Speaking of different types of picking, has anyone tried picking like Marty Friedman?

 

[MF_Kitten]

Speaking of different types of picking, has anyone tried picking like Marty Friedman?

as i mentioned earlier, my tremolo picking technique kinda looks like marty friedman´s picking technique. it´s not quite the same, but it´s not far from it. i´ll show it off in a video (i´m making a new video soon)

 

[Manugo]

I've never heard of marty Friedman, but now that I just saw one of his vids on youtube, I realized that I have a very similar picking technique. I developped this technique 1 year ago when I was sick of the standard technique which wasn't giving the sound I wanted.
I realized that if you think with your fingers when you pick, you can actually move them very instinctively. For this to be possible, you have to have your wrist in the same position as Marty Friedman.
It is a really good technique because it allows you to add dynamics in your playing, by controlling your finger movements. As it is said in Tuck and Patti's article on picking techniques, it is one more muscular region that gets involved in the picking. One should be aware of every muscles in the muscular chain that links the brain to the strings, so the muscles that go from the head to the tip of your fingers.
I'm trying to combine a sense of finger awareness and the benson grip, which is giving me, since 3 days of intense practice, very good results.
I'm happy to find all these threads made by people questionning about picking techniques, it helps me a lot to clarify where i am and what i'm doing !

 

[celticelk]

Doesn't Vernon Reid hold his pick that way as well? I don't have a pick to hand, but I can't imagine bending my thumb joint in the manner necessary for that technique.

 

[Miek]

I do something like this when I'm playing more than 2 strings at once quickly, especially when palm muting. It just came about without me noticing. I use a more standard picking style for single notes, and I switch back and forth without really noticing. I was wondering if I should try and nip it as a bad habit, but it seems to have some technical legitimacy.

 

[Hemi-Powered Drone]

This may sort of be necroing, but I can't figure out what I need to change about my picking to do this.

Have I been doing this the entire time without noticing? If so, what's the normal way to hold a pick?

 

[SirMyghin]

Everyone holds it differently, it is a comfort thing. That would decidedly be 'not normal however. Most people use the meaty bottom of the thumb not the tip to my knowledge. I hold it between thumb and side of index finger (curl finger, place thumb flat, imagine pick in between, gives a larger area of contact.

 

[Hollowway]

As long as this is bumped, I have a question about that Tuck article where they talk about oscillating. They say to move your wrist like you're knocking on a door, but that makes zero sense to me. Anyone have any idea what they mean? I want to work on my speed and tremolo picking, and keep it from the wrist rather than elbow, but I don't have any idea what that article is getting at.

 

[ShadyDavey]

It's referring to a rotation rather than a strict "up and down" motion of the wrist. You're still moving the pick up and down but if you imagine that you're contacting the string at the apex of a curve, rather than intersecting vertically then you'll be on track.

 

[SirMyghin]

As long as this is bumped, I have a question about that Tuck article where they talk about oscillating. They say to move your wrist like you're knocking on a door, but that makes zero sense to me. Anyone have any idea what they mean? I want to work on my speed and tremolo picking, and keep it from the wrist rather than elbow, but I don't have any idea what that article is getting at.

Oscilation is 1 point on a plane moving only within that plane, think a standing wave. It will only intersect vertically, rotation is as shady describe, and something I think it is useful and more natural. Hold your arm out and keep your wrist flat, move your hand as far left and right as you can without moving the wrist bones, that is oscilation. Rotation will moving your thumb towards the ceiling or floor.

Remember it doesn't matter how many articles you read, there is no right way to pick, there have pretty much been players of every technique, every method of holding a pick or using it that have accelled by doing so. Find what works for you.

 

[Hollowway]

Oscilation is 1 point on a plane moving only within that plane, think a standing wave. It will only intersect vertically, rotation is as shady describe, and something I think it is useful and more natural. Hold your arm out and keep your wrist flat, move your hand as far left and right as you can without moving the wrist bones, that is oscilation. Rotation will moving your thumb towards the ceiling or floor.

Remember it doesn't matter how many articles you read, there is no right way to pick, there have pretty much been players of every technique, every method of holding a pick or using it that have accelled by doing so. Find what works for you.

OK, then I guess I am oscillating. And I know that there might not be a "right" way to pick for everyone, but I definitely believe there's a right way per individual. For years I picked by moving my fingers, and just could never get fast. Then I retrained myself to use my wrist and BOOM, 2 months later I was already faster than my older technique. So I just want to make sure I give all options consideration.

 

[niffnoff]

Wow, didn't realise it had a certain name, I've been picking like this since I had a fascination with Big Stubby picks, I've always been called weird for the way I pick.

The More You know....

 

[123321123]

I angle my pick based on what technique I'm using - for alternate, I angle it toward the strings, for downpicking, I tend to reverse the angle as it gets a lot more chunk out of it.

 

[Mvotre]

finally i can play the damn guitar without the pick moving around

frustrated for years, bought almost any kind of pick in this planet, and at a time tried to quit playing with picks at all. Tried making a hole in them, two, three holes, gorilla snot, scratch the surface... nothing worked properly, but now that i saw this topic and searched more, with this weird looking technique i can play properly

i found some nice pictures
https://sites.google.com/site/jmgras/bensonpicking

since my thumb bends a lot, i can do the benson grip, and the pick never moves without tension. Problems? Of course. Muting on the lowest string is a bit hard, and pinch harmonics now involve a complex motion

if any of you have problem with the infamous moving pick, give this method a try. It might change thing for good, like it did for me

 

[penguin_316]

I used to hold my picks with mostly the tip of my index and thumb, but over the years have swapped to a more comfortable/efficient version of this Benson technique. Basically, i use the tip of the index but match that up with the pad of my thumb. Makes the pick angle up towards my face like this benson technique, versatile for everything from sweeps to chugs to intricate alt picking runs...just feels natural.

Only downside, I get hang nails on my index fingers sometimes, cause the pick rests against the side on the nail

 

[Mvotre]

damn.. the benson picking worked really nice, but my wrist is killing me right now

so we are back to zero
What should i do? Can someone recomend a nice book/dvd on picking? I know its a personal thing, but if i need to start all over again, might try for the cleanest technique available.

 

[Konfyouzd]

The best description I can think of is to keep your fingers like this picture, except you invert the first knuckle joint so that is points toward the palm, instead of away from the palm. This should reverse the angle of the pick with respect to the standard way of holding a pick.

I pick like this, but I mainly only did it because jazz IIIs are really little. I didn't know it was a special way to pick.

 

[Hollowway]

damn.. the benson picking worked really nice, but my wrist is killing me right now

so we are back to zero
What should i do? Can someone recomend a nice book/dvd on picking? I know its a personal thing, but if i need to start all over again, might try for the cleanest technique available.

Right there with you. I hold the pick like you, but I've recently tried switching to the "traditional" method to force a cleaner wrist technique. But I want to make sure I'm practicing the most efficient way.

 

[ShadyDavey]

damn.. the benson picking worked really nice, but my wrist is killing me right now

so we are back to zero
What should i do? Can someone recomend a nice book/dvd on picking? I know its a personal thing, but if i need to start all over again, might try for the cleanest technique available.

There are just so so so so so many available that it's totally confusing when confronted with all the options. Luckily if you're dead set on spending money there really haven't ever been improvements on Paul Gilbert's Intense Rock I and John Petrucci's Rock Discipline....Rusty's "Art of Picking" is pretty good and Al Di Meola certainly kicks a lot of ass, along with Steve Morse.

My advice look at the masters of the technique, go to YouTube and you'll find dozens of their lessons.....no need to spend money, lots of inspiration and practice material......

But do bear one thing in mind.

As you noted it's a very personal thing so keep an open mind on how to hold the pick, which picks to use, how to pick, what excercises to practice and all the other variables. Variety is the spice of life and I know that a lot of folks have found that drawing ideas from many different sources pays bigger dividends than simply examining one.