Dilemma...

Hey! I have a problem. I am used to play rhytm guitar without a pick. Playing rhytm with pick is unconfortable to me. But with soloes I wish to practise with pick.

This cause me dilemma because im only guitarist in my band so in gigs I play rhytm and solos, so Ive tried play also rhytm with pick, but its lot more crappy and sloppy and all with pick so I wish to keep that part without a pick.

Any tips, have you a similar dilemmas?

hmm do you ever use a mic stand in your band? if so use a pic holder and so when you come to the solo snatch one off and play the solo and then drop it when it comes the the rhythm. my friend had a similar dilemma and then he bought one and it helped alot.

Have you thought about trying the hybrid technique? This can help you to play solos with a pick and play rhythm with your fingers. I'm not sure if you were there when I typed up an essay about this around the time I joined the forum.

This will be difficult at first because you've got to get used to playing with the little finger too.

do you have a pickguard? or humbucking pickups where you could slip the pick inside while playing rythm? you could buy a pick holder and attach it to your guitar, let the truss rod cover hold it

Ive thought pickguards or pick holders... but it kinda sounds messy, cuz I usually wish start soloing smoothly fast after last chord...

That hybrid technique sounds a bit interesting, I could try it. But dont actually know how.

or you could practice with a pick, try difference shapes and sizes maybe.

curious, how do you do rhythm without a pick? do u do it with ur thumb?

I'll write a lesson on it now. Could help everyone.

my friend does this trick where he holds the pick in the palm of his
picking hand while finger picking and can quickly change back and
forth between both styles. i tried doing it but it just seems impossible.

@bbt

Its like holding a pick, With thumb and a first finger. I found it comfortable in rock rhytm and a double stops.

but if I do it with pick it is horrible result xD

Wrote the lesson, let me know if it helps, if not I'll try and explain it in a different way. :)

are you the singer?
if not just put it in your mouth for the rythm, just try not to choke on it.

Hold it with your third and fourth fingers, against the inside of your hand.

im another fan of doing that

ye you couldn try the lesson jazzy did. also maybe in between your fingers?

i did try once putting it in my mouth...didnt go to well...especially after the part where i swallowed it.

or just forget about the pick complete and just use your fingers or thumb if i remember correctly Wes just used his thumb had a corn develop on it. you could just grow a nail. through using the thumb makes tremolo picking harder (for me at lest I'm sure someone could do it) beside you get the faster tremolo using your fingers.


if you still like the pick i think blackholesun got the best option but that's just my opinion

Putting it in your mouth is such a hinderence. It takes time to put it in your mouth and to take it out. Performing live your timing needs to be spot on, putting it in your mouth could mess everything up.

Indeed. Actually your lesson was cool Jazzy, little hard on the start. Problem was that in that lesson I hold pick with my thumb and first finger and do solos(arpeggios?) on other fingers, I play rock and mostly with fifths so it was pretty painfull with my "weaker" fingers. Well, anyway... putting it to mouth is same that putting it everywhere else... so it mess things and harm the timing.

I tried BHS advice, it was pretty handy, unless I dropped a pick many times xD.

I recently remember Eddie van Halen had some pick stuff on his guitar... is that some sort of pick holder or is it his personal creation? :P.

Keep to it and hopefully you'll get the hang of it. That's a cool way of doing the arpeggios, what's your original tempo of playing?

Well it depends of song ofcourse. I like mostly play rock in 120 or 160.

one possible solution might be finger picking with all fingers without pick at all in solos, but i dun know how well it goes with distortion. I personally like so much sound of alternative picking so I wish anyway find a solution :P

Yeah, I took that lesson for practising anyway, I think its very good for improving coordination.

If you only use your thumb and first finger, then you could use your thumb and middle finger instead and use your first finger to hold the pick.

You could try something like this:


But it might not fit on the guitar since this is designed for bass. Also you would have to put your picking hand all the way up by the headstock, which would take longer than putting it in your mouth.

I think I've seen some that attach to the body, but those may have been for bass as well. Maybe a product like dis?:

http://hardicart.com/pro1005777.html

The only thing about solos with just your fingers is that you'll have a fairly hard time keeping to the tempo if you're playing on the same string for a while. Unless you're Paco de Lucia.

i don't seem to have a problem with it just takes practice i suppose. I'm not trying to comparing my self to Paco in any way

or this guy:

what about a thumb pick

I just want to say, I play rythym guitar the same way you do Empirism without a pick