Picking angle style and tone

alund

alund

Well-known member
Upward slant, downward slant, leading edge, following edge, no angle or edge, alternate picking vs economy picking. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’m an upward pickslant, leading edge type of guy. Occasionally I can downward slant but it throws me off.

Recently in lessons with Darth @Techdeth, I have found that while working on “chugging” (I’m not a chugger so it’s novel for me but the technique is important), I cannot chug proficiently without using my pick’s leading edge with an upward pickslant as this is a comfortable hand position. I guess this is how my hand works most ergonomically. When changing pick angles and edges, I can create different tones from the strings. I guess there is no right or wrong UNLESS I’m trying to copy a lick from someone. My natural position gives my tone an ever so slight scraped tone (bowstring effect) I guess. This might not work for certain styles of music. Idk yet. There is not much of a question here, but I would like to entertain opinions on those here who can utilize different angles of string attack. Also, alternate pickers vs economy pickers natural string attack…. Do economy picking guitarist have a flatter (no pick angle attack) vs alternate pickers? Does the leading or following edge of the pick make a difference in the style of music played, 70’s 80’s 90’s and forward? I guess a question would be: what picking technique is good for certain types of music…. ? What is the ultimate picking technique if there was one? Food for thought.
 
There’s no right or wrong way, every one of my guitars needs a different grip pressure, pick angle and certain spot I’m anchoring my hand to hit the “chunk spot” I call it if you’re looking to chug. My strat I can lighten up my grip and move farther back on the bridge and it just sings, where my Godin is way more towards the neck and likes to be laid into, my Kelly is somewhere between. I like thicker strings and thinner picks so when I’m laying in the pick “bounces” off the string instead of pulling it along and getting floppy
 
RaceU4her said:
I like thicker strings and thinner picks so when I’m laying in the pick “bounces” off the string instead of pulling it along and getting floppy
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The guitar differences I’ve noticed. I’m terrible about using a multitude of guitars so I have to ponder each and how it reacts.
The thinner pick I have not contemplated. As I’ve gotten older, my picks like to be thicker. Unless I pendulum strum then a bit thinner is better for me (70s funk)
 
I tend to play with an upward pickslant, leading edge, but for whatever reason I switch to a downward pickslant if I'm playing a single string passage. I'm trying to get comfortable with two-way pickslanting like Troy Grady talks about on youtube, it seems like the ultimate playing method
 
I use different pick gauges depending on what I'm playing; 1.0mm for heavier riffs & speed picking, .88mm for rocking out, .73mm for acoustic. Fairly recently I've started using the round edges of the pick for certain things that call for a smoother attach and different kind of pick control. I'm normally a traditional alternate picker, but certain things I like to economy pick if it sounds or feels better, I dabble a bit in hybrid picking.

I play a handful of different styles though. My current band is a drop A metal project. The previous one we did a lot of classic rock & blues covers, occasional acoustic shows, and hard rock original tunes. Pretty much any music that falls into the guitar nerd category, I at least noodle around with.
 
For years I was completely alternate picking. About 2 years ago I tried to switch to economy picking and spent a lot of time trying to relearn my picking that way. I got used to it and play that way now. With economy picking I can play runs much faster and while it took time, it feels natural.

I figured out that I will turn my pick slightly when I want to accent something, but it’s natural, not a conscious thing.

I think the type of material of the pick makes a huge difference as far as being biting or more rounded off sounding.
 
stratjacket said:
For years I was completely alternate picking. About 2 years ago I tried to switch to economy picking and spent a lot of time trying to relearn my picking that way. I got used to it and play that way now. With economy picking I can play runs much faster and while it took time, it feels natural.

I figured out that I will turn my pick slightly when I want to accent something, but it’s natural, not a conscious thing.

I think the type of material of the pick makes a huge difference as far as being biting or more rounded off sounding.
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This is pretty cool. With no formal instruction, I was a strict economy picker from the very beginning. I tried in earnest a few different times to change over to strict alternate picking - but try as I might I could never master 'outside' string crossing. All of my Paul Gilbert / Racer-X style stuff is accomplished with inside string crossing. I totally get that strict alternate picking lends itself to more consistent rhythmic patterns - upbeat always falls on an upstroke - but I just can't do it (!) So its really cool to hear from players who went against the conventional grain of strict alternate picking and went economy.

I also agree with Exo: I am past analyzing it and just let my right hand figure out how to navigate the groups of notes I want to play. (And it always ends up strict economy picking - LOL)

And weaving this back to the OP - I find that too much pick-slanting - upward or downward - does tend to throw off smooth economy transitions between strings. So when I am playing picked runs, my pick ends up being pretty flat / parallel to the strings.
 
Exo-metal said:
Totally aware of all this but move past analyzing of it and just play, relax and play what comes naturally. Use it all bro...
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I think about it now because there is a tone difference with angled pick attack vs Flat on attack when chugging. The angle causes a bowing effect maybe and the flat on is machine like. I didn’t grow up chugging so now that I hear and attempt it; I sense a difference in how 10 degrees of an angle for the pick makes
 
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I'm getting confused just reading guys say "upward/downward pick slant" and then go on to describe what sounds like the opposite with "leading/trailing" edge.

Reverse picking gives a brighter tone and cleaner attack.
 
RaceU4her said:
There’s no right or wrong way, every one of my guitars needs a different grip pressure, pick angle and certain spot I’m anchoring my hand to hit the “chunk spot” I call it if you’re looking to chug. My strat I can lighten up my grip and move farther back on the bridge and it just sings, where my Godin is way more towards the neck and likes to be laid into, my Kelly is somewhere between. I like thicker strings and thinner picks so when I’m laying in the pick “bounces” off the string instead of pulling it along and getting floppy
Click to expand...
This hits home for me. Have to learn where the sweet spot is on every guitar and adapt to it. That’s why it can be hard to judge a guitar that’s new to you until you’ve really spent some time with it
 
On bass I use a thin pick.
I guitar I use a thicker pick and my upstrokes use the trailing edge are angled like I’m signing my name.

Complimentary bass board.
IMG_5466.jpeg
 
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