Which way you pick???

Which way you pick???With wrist - elbow or whole arm???

Depends on what kind of music you are playing. The actual way to pick is just by moving the wrist (i.e Mr. Eric Clapton) But if your are into metal then drop the strap all the way down, and use your whole entire arm.

Originally posted by Tele Master
But if your are into metal then drop the strap all the way down, and use your whole entire arm.

I'd love to see someone play a fast slayer type riff using there entire arm. :D

For speed and endurance you should pick from the arm. Think of the motion a violin player uses when holding his bow, you should use the same motion in a up and down direction.

As far as adjustimg your strap heigth, your guitar should be the the same to your body wether your sitting or standing. Low hung guitars may look cool but they'll hinder your performance.

i normally just use my wrist but sometimes i'll use my whole arm. i use my wrist like 96 percent of the time.

also, the strap being too low is the dumbest idea i've ever tried out. it's harder to strum/pick and it's a lot harder to do any kind of reaching with your left hand.
bottom line: bad.

Originally posted by chris mood
For speed and endurance you should pick from the arm.

I dunno man. I think it depends on what your playing. If your playing at a steady medium tempo its cool to use your whole arm, but to pull off fast stuff. I don't think so, I've never seen or could imagine someone playing a fast solo swinging their whole arm. I mean picking every note, not hammer-ons and pull-offs. Again it would depend on what your playing. Violin players use their elbow, and they accomplish faster speeds with shorter strokes. That's how I pick, mostly the wrist but I also use the elbow from stronger picking. The only time I use my whole arm is for slower tempos.

elbow, that's what I mean, it's the same technique violin players use.
The big difference w/playing from the arm vrs. the wrist is endurance. You will have much more endurance playing from the arm (obviously, the muscle is 20x the size of the wrist).
If you have ever listened to fast Be-Bop players like Pat Martino or Jimmy Bruno you will understand the importance of this technique. These guys are picking every note, playing VERY fast, and taking 2-4 min solos. Jimmy Bruno has a whole book out on the art of picking. http://www.jimmybruno.com
A lot of rock guys will pick from there wrist. They are usually playing shorter phrases, shorter solo's, and doing more hammer on/ pull offs & string bending.
Average length of a rock solo 20yrs ago: 20 -30secs.
Average length of a rock solo today: 0 secs.

[Edited by chris mood on 03-03-2003 at 10:59 AM]

Yeah I agree. But I still say it's a personal thing, and depends on what your style is. I've been in some crazy metal bands. Black metal for example, and they play straight 16th notes at 240 bpm for 5-6 minutes. I never had a problem with loss of endurance or lack of speed picking with the wrist. It depends on the path you take, like in baseball you can't say pitching straight over is better than side-arm pitching. Each one is good, but both is better, I think. Especially for expression in your playing.

Your Right.
And I've seen some great professional players use some very unethical right hand technique: Van Halen, Pat Metheny, etc..
If you find you can't play as fast as you'd like too no matter how much you practice, or your always a little sloppy, or you get frustrated cause your a very hot or cold player,or you don't have the endurance to play long phrases, then you should examine your own technique and try something different. It is not easy to change technique! It will take a couple of gruelling months of practicing in front of the mirror before you get comfortable w/it.

Yeah, I can get alittle faster with bending at the elbow but my control suffers. I feel like I'm having a seizure (sp). Now I just use it for power picking, and I have more control with just the wrist. I'm going to keep working at it, but its still alittle unnatural. hehe

For slow playing , I don't think the way you pick realy matters technicaly , although different picking styles give different tones & attacks.

For playing fast , the main objective is having a less motion , that's why you should develope finger (the fingers holding the pick) movement ,wrist movement , and very slight elbow movement if necessary.

Guitarists who have impressive picking techniques (IMHO) are Malmsteen , Petrucci & Michael Angelo .

For picking fast I would think you don't want to move your arm at all. You want to get your wrist going as fast as it can handle. Therefore less movement of the entire arm, and less fatigue from the arm and wrist.

Try drilling the open E str. for as long you can moving from the wrist. Now try it moving from the elbow. which one fatigued out 1st?

Personaly I've never encountered pain due to a certain picking technique , but I've seen many people (here) complaining from pain in their elbows due to picking from the elbow.

Originally posted by chris mood
which one fatigued out 1st?

For me, it's my elbow. It's because I dominantly use my wrist so I have more stamina that way. Picking from the elbow is secondary to me so I have less stamina this way. It really goes by which one you use more, not muscle size. Clearly my biceps and triceps are bigger than my forearm muscles; it's just my forearms are more adapt to that motion.

In support, if you were to stack them evenly. I believe elbow picking might provide more stamina, but if your already used to wrist picking. It would be like starting over.

I'd say use them both, for each provides different advantages.

Originally posted by SLY
Personaly I've never encountered pain due to a certain picking technique , but I've seen many people (here) complaining from pain in their elbows due to picking from the elbow.

Could be just arthritis and it was probably caused by alot of things. I can't see how just picking can do any damage to the arm. My opinion. Im not a doctor. I have had problems with my thumb (the one I use to hold on the pick) but that is caused by over-gripping the pick and an old injury. My doctor told me that.

One of the most important things in establishing good technique is learning to relax when you play. Having the muscles tensed up while you play could eventually lead to a breakdown of cartillage or carpal tunnel or arthritis. Not to mention playing w/the hands tensed up will slow you down and cuase your muscles to fatigue out.
Some players will use breathing techniques to help them relax will they play. Are you one of those people who hold there breath will doing a fast or difficult run? Breathing techniques is like doing yoga while playing guitar. It is a known fact steady breathing helps keep the body relaxed and oxygen flowing to the muscles, as well as helps concentration.
Eric Johnson is heavy into meditation. I like to use visual imagery, imagining my hands being lighter then air or my fingers being made of feathers. Practice this technique will playing "air guitar" and then when you pick up your guitar try to keep the same sense of relaxation you had while using visual imagery.

What about picking just with finger-rotational movements?
I played with a man who picked this way, was very fast and clear. I pick mainly with wrist movements, but I'd like to hear a word about that way.

Mike

Yeah, it's called circular picking. I've seen some people who are very good at this also.
Your finger muscles are very small and weak, I don't know if I would want to depend on them for my technique. Plus, I can see this leading to some muscle strain or arthritis down the line, cause you really are working those muscles. If your one of those guys that plays 5-6hrs everyday I could see this becoming a problem.
An then there's the endurance factor. Would you be able to play a line that goes from your 1st str. 12th fret down to the 6th str. open back up to the 1st str. 12th fret without taking a pause using this technique?
The bottom line is that if it works for you, and your happy w/it, and your able to play what you want to play without any frustration then cool.

Well then, is there any recommended exercise to develop control nd stamina with finger-rotation, or just concentrate to play everything using ONLY this technique until I get used to it? And what about previous post about artritis? What warmup to avoid this?
Mike