Using a pick and losing my place

Newbie question here: When I am using a pick I keep losing my place.  Should I be planting my pinkie finger on the face of the guitar as an anchor so I don't get lost?  Thanks! 

Emily

I have tried the pinky but it didn't work for me, I think it just takes time to find what feels right and go with that. I had problems with dropping the pick, the pick rotating in my hand... all good now with more time in.

Good luck.

To anchor or not to anchor seems to be a contentious subject. All I can say is that there are plenty of top guitarists over the years who anchor. There are some who do not. I have found that anchoring has worked for me, but as you see from William MG's reply he found it better not to anchor.

It's what works for you.

Good Luck

First, ensure you’re holding the pick as directed in the lessons.  That actually was a problem GT helped fix for me after decades (!) of bad habits that spoiled my picking.

Possible next step, rather than worrying about anchoring your pinky, see if you can find the “spot weld” (shooting term, sorry) for your arm - where your arm contacts the guitar when the pick is positioned and ready to strum in the place you desire.  If you use that spot as a beginning place for your arm, you’ll drift less as you pick.  Then maybe try anchoring the pinky again.

Personally, I don’t anchor the picking hand when I strum/flatpick/etc but strangely enough I do while fingerpicking.  Go figure.

Hope that give you some ideas.

Thanks!  I will try these suggestions.

Emily

Thank you for the response.  I waver back and forth between anchoring and not anchoring right now.  Neither is particularly accurate yet. :/ I guess it just takes time and practice (and patience) for a style to emerge as the winner. 

Thank you for your response.  I will keep trying with and without anchoring to see what feels right overall.  

Good luck with it Emily, take your time, it will come together.

Re: the anchoring-the-pinky issue while using a pick:

It may be a good plan for certain styles of picking, such as playing melody - as it stabilizes your hand and allows you to maintain a better sense of orientation to the strings.

But for rhythmic strumming, the achor-pinky is going to take away from the power of using your hand, wrist, and arm to play a rhythm. It's likely to make the rhythm feel constricted, held-back.

Maybe best to get used to both techniques, so you can choose as appropriate to what you want to play.

Hope this helps a little!

-Lisa

Thanks so much Lisa. This is very helpful. 

Emily