https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/guitar-pick-hand-study-guitar-beginner
Let’s talk pick hand! We’ll cover how to hold the pick, the pick motion, and address the question of anchoring and hand position!
Discuss the Guitar lesson: Guitar Pick Hand Study
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Watching this Great video! I love all the decorations!
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When single string picking, is it OK for your wrist to touch the bridge? I feel like I should have my wrist higher, but if makes it hard to pick.
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You bet, yes. The only time my wrist doesn’t touch the bridge pins when flatpicking is if I’m anchoring somehow with fingers. I think it’s very helpful to have some kind of contact with the guitar to keep your bearings.
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I’ve tried some thick picks in the past and they seem to make my tone sound dull for some reason. Is it me, or am I used to a medium (.73) pick and the string noise?
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Thank you for this lesson. I’d like to see a lesson for the left hand. Specifically wrist positions and fingerings accuracy especially for the 3rd and 4th fingers.
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.73 is not too thin, though on the thinner side. Lots of variables here, like strings and actual guitar, and most importantly your own opinion of what sounds best.
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Yes, coming right up 
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A thinner pick will usually give you a thinner, “thwackier” kind of tone. A thicker one will sound rounder, and possibly duller, as you mentioned. You can always try moving up gradually (like 1mm or so) and spend a while getting used to several thicknesses to see which one you like best.
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I’m a fan of that Silver Play Button, displayed in true YouTuber fashion!
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Great lesson for someone like me just learning guitar while playing banjo for 4 years. Naturally want to anchor because of banjo so helpful to practice open and closed. Notice learning guitar has helped my banjo, too, especially practicing finger style as well as flat picking. Lotssssss to learn on both instruments so really appreciate how you break things down.
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Great lesson! I thought I generally had good pick hold position but then I went to play and realized I hold the pick with my index and middle finger along with my thumb! Do u think that it’s a bad habit I should change or do u think it’s not a big deal?
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I would try holding with just thumb and index for a while, as I show in the video, and see what fruit it produces. Keep me posted!
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Wow!! I’ve been playing guitar off and on since I was in high school. I took a few lessons from people but they never mentioned anything about how to hold the pick. I just held it like I thought it was supposed to be held. I learned a few songs and could do decent with them but any song that was at a faster tempo I would get so much tension in my hand. I tried working on what was causing the tension but I got so frustrated multiple times that I just put the guitar down and would play my banjo instead. After watching this lesson I realized I’ve been holding my pick wrong all along and I wasn’t rotating my wrist.
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Right now I probably feel like Ben did when he realized he had his banjo picks on backwards 
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To come close to that distinction, you’d probably have to hold the “drop” end of tear-drop pick and pick with the other end! Good memory though!
Awesome man!! It’s a long journey to be on but just noticing this and learning a solid grip/position is the most crucial part. It’s easy to get used to a grip that limits your power/tone/flexibility, so it’s great that you’re making a conscious effort now.
That was a great lesson . Do you change from open hand position to closed hand position in the same song. This one lesson was worth the membership price.
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Yes, I may do that from time to time when the tempo is at a certain speed and I’m attempting a technique that prefers one position over the other. I’m getting to where more and more I like the closed rhythm position, so I’ll switch when I go to arpeggiated crosspicking type stuff.
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Maybe in a future segment you could address pick angle as the pick hits the strings and what’s best for speed while still keeping good tone?
Great session, thanks!
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