#276 - The Ultimate PICK GRIP Lesson!

Hey James, Bernth has set up a secret Facebook group for VIP & Platinum members - he's giving feedback to student videos on a daily basis and it's a very helpful and constructive practice environment :) Feel free to join anytime, I think it will help with resolving the issue! Team Bernth

Bernd Brodträger

Been trying to work on this picking method. I already played with closed hand before but having the pick past the first knickle is still feeling a bit odd. But its getting better. However I seem to have lost the ability to hit pimch harmonics accuratly picking like this. Any tips for getting back up to speed with pinch harmonics with this new picking grip?

James

This lesson is foundational. You should have a collection of key exercises to getting started. This one should be at the top of the list.

Morten Nissov

The Help for my Picking Grip Problems

Monsi 666

So good

Very helpful video, thank you! Where I'm getting mixed up is if I want to do a pinch harmonic with this pick grip. Do I tilt my wrist, or perhaps roll the thumb down the pick? Greatly appreciate any advice on this -- I searched but did not find a video on pinch harmonics. Thank you!

it helps me a lot thaNKS BERNTH

Cj47

Hi I just signed up here, I'm self taught and have been playing since around '94. Personally I'm going to stick with my own pick grip, which is pretty much the same as James Hetfield's grip. Biomechanically a closed grip slows your picking speed because no matter how loose you keep the grip having the unused fingers curled creates tension in the forearm, a more open grip eliminates a lot of that tension. Try strict downstrokes with a closed grip, then with a more open grip, as fast as possible in both cases and you should see what I mean.

Bryan Gleeson

What if you have a Floyd rose? You can’t rest your wrist on a Floyd rose bridge

I think this lesson is going to prove to be worth this month membership fee, all by itself!

Wayne Swan

Feels like I'm relearning to play....

The problem I have when I try to hold the pick like this is the angle of my wrist and where to place my wrist. The 2 guitars I own are a Gibson Les Paul and an Aria Pro II LS-700 Les Paul. I am not sure if it is the Tune-O-Matic bridge not being compatible with this way to hold a pick but I feel like I'm about to break my wrist when I try to get any kind of playable angle and when I try to rest my palm on the bridge I am then picking above the bottom humbucker getting a very nasally tone. Can anyone help?

I've noticed this in a couple of videos you've done on this: Whenever you display this, you always seem to point the pick out of the knuckle straight out but then do a very subtle swivel to face it down and whilst that seems intuitive to you, you don't actually mention that we're not actually supposed to be facing the pick out of the I think some (including myself) take you a bit literally (you can see this about 4 minutes in the video). It goes from being at a right angle to the knuckle to almost parallel facing.

Richard

I have no control on movement and sounds crap and I've kept on trying since your 1st vid on it but loads of guitarists don't use this so I'm not threating quite yet

Thank you for bringing all of this together in one video. I’ve watch all of your grip videos and still had questions. Putting the pick past the first knuckle was the final piece of the puzzle for me. Thank you again 😁

Chris Kilmer

Wow this actually fixed a lot of my strumming and picking problems 🙏 sounds a lot better than how I’ve been picking

Always interesting... all the problems you mention with open hands didn't show up when I was using that technique. Instead using a closed hand approach my other fingers tend to accidently touch the strings. Especially while gripping the pick that high above the first knuckle. ANYHOW. What I had problems with while playing open hand, was I tended to rest my pinky and my ring finger on the guitar. Making me losing control and less flexible. So I tried open hand after all and right now I mostly use this for playing but not as extrem as you do cause, like I said, in that angle my fingers would absolutly touch the strings while playing. Practicing is mostly just close handed now (except playing downstroke riffs - still using open hand cause of no string noise and more control and power) Just live I tend to use open hand. Well.. I did this over so many years so it comes mostly automatically. So I would say I kind of use the best of both worlds for me and my playing. Long story short: Things like these hardly depend on everyones unique physique.

Sephiroth

Apologies if you''ve answered this question before, Bernth, but how long did it take you to switch over completely from your old picking grip to your current one? I know I should change the way I pick, but I have been doing it for many years and I am daunted at the thought of re-learning to pick from scratch again.

Pete Burges

I have trouble hiding the first knuckle on my index finger. I can't squeeze it enough inside, the first knuckle always tends to be the closest thing to the string when picking.

Really helpful video, I could feel the difference straight away from when I was just trying to copy your grip from sight, however the picks I have have a more rounded tip than the one used in video (I'm using fender heavy picks), do you suggest more pointed ones for metal guitar?

AlexM

The grip I use is the same but my pick angle is different. When I hold it facing the exact way you do it puts my wrist in a weird position. I have very large hands though so I don’t know if that’s why I’m struggling.

I currently use that reverse picking angle and have been trying to change, but nothing has felt comfortable and wouldn't cause my index finger to turn white with tension. I'm going to try out this grip. How does this work with pinch harmonics? Edit: It's easier to do them for me.

Adam Altemus

Thank you so much for this. I have been playing with closed grip and bought the same picks, and it is great. But for real the grip feels weird, but deffo better than how I played before.

Dimitar Boyadzhiev

This was very helpful

Brett Siler

thank you so much I played closed hand wrong the whole time now I finally know how to play it right

I've been correcting for months from your 1st grip, did see other lessons, a bit to review here, you did answer some questions. But, I'm having issues/questions on palm muting with this definitely improved grip.

Robert

Awesome stuff as usual, Bernth - been using this since I started playing now almost 2 years ago thanks to you... But also - we'll have some things to discuss in your upcoming guitar clinic 😅

Ivan V.

How timely! :-)

Michael Varney