Anchoring hand to the bridge? Bad thing?

[MattyCakes]

prior to some people telling me that your picking hand should barely be touching the bridge of the guitar, when you are picking fast, I always layed my hand on the bridge. not palm muting mind you. it would be difficult for me to switch strings alternate picking say across 4 strings with my hand anchored as i would always wind up picking over my bridge pickup, and messing up. I was wondering, what you all feel proper technique is. right now im trying to get this "lay hand on bridge" lightly technique down, but i would just like some more opinions before I get serious into practicing this way

[daemon barbeque]

well i still anchor my hand over the body.This is the easiest way to achieve a stable picking ,mostly for palm muted riffing.But i wouldn't do it on the bridge.I don't think that's good for the sustain anyway!

[Newc]

Well, sustain has absolutely no bearing on fast picking - the whole point of picking fast is not letting notes sustain

Anyhoo, it does take practice to not clamp your hand onto the bridge. Try resting your arm on the body itself and your hand away from the bridge, or use your pinky tip on the surface of the body to use as a pivot.

[drockilles]

I don't know about anchoring to the bridge, but do what's comfortable. I usually "anchor" my pinky to the body by the volume knob when I'm picking. I've noticed some guitarists do, some don't. It's all about comfort. Look at the way Marty Friedman plays, or the way Eddie speed picks. Not exactly conventional, but definitely works for them.

[MattyCakes]

yea im relatively clean picking wise, when i play fast, i have just had troubles switching strings because my hand was glued to the bridge, ive already started to get the hang of it, thanks guys

[Sinistas]

It's difficult not to do it for me, I've been playing like that since I started. Damn you, James Hetfield.

[Tashtego]

I used to play that way all the time but have spent the last year retraining myself to stop resting on the bridge. The change has been accompanied by a big improvement in alternate picking speed and accuracy.

[shredmonster]

I tend to be a little different. I use to achor my hand on the bridge. The faster I got the lighter I found my hand anchoring.

Now my palm usually sits right about where the saddle edges are where the strings meet them at the bridge - a little bit before atcually. My hand sits very lightly more on the strings now than the bridge.

Provides for very efficient muting and extremely fast picking. When I need more sustain I just lift my palm up very slightly.

[jjw]

do what works for you-there isnt realy one way to play,you do what works for your body

[Spivonious]

My hand is anchored all of the time. This is probably the reason that I hate "Tune-o-matic" bridges.

[Adam]

I anchor too. In fact I think I do the exact same thing it sounds like Shredmonster does, but I'm not exactly a shred monster myself. (I can play, but not Yngwie songs.)

I find that skipping 2 or more strings when alternate picking or switching strings when I pick really fast will hang me up and it won't transition smoothly. There's usually a clunker in there somwhere. I think it's because I have to angle my hand to hit different strings and it throws my pick angle (and wrist motion) out of proper alignment.

[Spivonious]

I anchor too. In fact I think I do the exact same thing it sounds like Shredmonster does, but I'm not exactly a shred monster myself. (I can play, but not Yngwie songs.)

I find that skipping 2 or more strings when alternate picking or switching strings when I pick really fast will hang me up and it won't transition smoothly. There's usually a clunker in there somwhere. I think it's because I have to angle my hand to hit different strings and it throws my pick angle (and wrist motion) out of proper alignment.

That's interesting. I never thought about the pick angle. When I move across the strings, my thumb and forefinger moves but my hand stays the same. I also come across problems when attempting a fast passage. This could be because for each string my picking is different and when I hit a string that I don't play on a lot, or need to switch between strings quickly I get hung up. Very interesting...

[kmanick]

I'm used to anchoring my hand very lightly on my floyds.
My hellraiser 7 is the first "non" floyded guitar I've owned in a long time and having the TonePros kind of screwed me up a little at first,
but now I just lightly anchor my hand on the strings right in front of the bridge and it's actually made my "anchoring" lighter with my floyds.
Just do what works and feels comfortable.

[MattyCakes]

my jackson is a tuneomatic, and it seems im having more trouble not anchoring on that bridge than on my Ibanez

[Tashtego]

I have found pick angle makes a big difference in smooth string changing during rapid alternate picking. leaning the pick into the direction of the string change, as you would if dragging a pick across the strings is the obvious angle to fool with. I find it harder to do going from low to high strings but very natural the other way. I also play with rotating the pick a bit so that I hit the string with the edge of the pick rather than the flat. More rotation seems to make transitions easier but has more of a degrading effect on the sound generated.