Picking at 90° angle....

[GodOfRhythm]

I don't know how I got stuck with this... I pick in a 'normal' angle, but whenever I'm riffing or galloping or anything with alternate picking I automatically bend my fingers and hand in a weird way so the pick hits the string at a 90 ° angle, like so:

(---- = string)
-------|-------- instead of normal: -------____-------

Here's another picture to try and exemplify:




Now I know you can pick in different angles to get different sounds, but all the difference I get is perhaps it sounds a tad bit more 'muffled', but very very little.

My question: is this bad? I mean I've been riffing like this for a long time, but I'm now wondering if it's not a bad habit, if so, I'm screwed...

[Ace]

Re: Picking at 90° angle....

Who's to say what's bad? Jimi Hendrix broke ALL the rules when it comes to proper guitar technique. He played with his thumb!! I hit the strings at about a 45 degree angle when galloping, but I use a pointy pick to give me a more defined attack.

[guitarsjb]

Re: Picking at 90° angle....

Whatever is comfortable and works for you.

[Tom B]

Re: Picking at 90° angle....

is that your guitar ?

[GodOfRhythm]

Re: Picking at 90° angle....

Perhaps you guys are right. It doesn't really matter how, as long as the notes sound good, I guess. Thanks guys! [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]



No it isn't , Tom, I probably should have mentioned that. It's off someone of these boards (forgot who) it's a yellow firecrackle SL. Beautiful guitar.

[xenophobe]

Re: Picking at 90° angle....

I pick at about a 30-40 degree angle... any more than that and there is extra noise from the pick that I dislike.

[Tom B]

Re: Picking at 90° angle....

[ QUOTE ]
Perhaps you guys are right. It doesn't really matter how, as long as the notes sound good, I guess. Thanks guys! [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]


No it isn't , Tom, I probably should have mentioned that. It's off someone of these boards (forgot who) it's a yellow firecrackle SL. Beautiful guitar.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the great thing about playing electric guitar, You don't really have to care about technique, as long as it works good for you, and it sounds good

Very nice fire crackle indeed

[GodOfRhythm]

Re: Picking at 90° angle....

Well I do think technique is important. But you should just adapt it to you.

[jazzman]

Re: Picking at 90° angle....

If it's not posing any problem, I wouldn't worry about it. If you don't think you are picking clean enough, I would get a Paul Gilbert instuctional video. Watch how he picks. You'll either learn a lot or sell all your gear and quit music. He's pretty fukking rippin'!!

[maddog]

Re: Picking at 90° angle....

If it is posing a problem with what you want to do now then that is fine. It could become a problem in the future. But as Jazzman said,thats when you by a Paul Gilbert video!