Techniques for Picking

[tmahan]

I have been playing for about 6 months. I usually play without a pick because I feel like I have alot more control over which notes I play, but I prefer the crisp sound that comes from playing with a pick.

The problem is that I am having trouble strumming with the pick, mostly on the up stroke. It sounds like I am using a rake rather than a pick and the pick seems to get hung up on the strings.

Is this something that I will just have to develop the touch for, or could I be doing something wrong.

I usually hold the pick between my thumb and index finger

[Appfro]

there's a very happy but small medium to holding a pick too light and holding one too hard. too light and you get that rake sound and could lose your pick (which by the way is very embarrasing when doing open mics). too tight and it gets stuck in the strings and the sounds gets bassy. also if you're playing in your room or something, and don't want to make a lot of noise, so you're using a pick, but trying to be quite, that's a great way to get the rake noise.
so my suggestion is when playing w/ a pick, experiment w/ how hard you hold the pick along w/ how loud you play the guitar. if you listen carefully to a lot of acoustic music, you can still hear that sound, even out of pro's. it doesn't really go away, just gets better.

[JaDaRu]

I had the same problem with upstroking....it definately takes time. It may also have more to do with your wrist position and how you are rotating your wrist, so experiment with that. Try to keep everything loose and flowing

Jason