Picking For Tone Options

[Ben Higgins]

Hi Guys.. when discussing different ways of building speed and being efficient with the picking hand we rarely discuss the tonal affects of our picking.

Depending on how you angle your pick or where along the string you play, the note will sound different. It might sound fuller, brighter or thinner, duller...

In an ideal world, we would have a picking technique that works and uses the least amount of energy we can get away with but at the same time, delivers the best tone. You might have to sacrifice a portion of one for more of the other.

One thing I try to encourage other guitarists to do when practising is this: Pretend that the lick you are learning is only going to be played slowly. Pretend that your are standing on stage and you have to play that lick unaccompanied at a slow tempo. Now, knowing this, your goal is to make the lick sound as best as possible. Not think about technique, not speed.. but sound. Now imagine if you applied this to the lick whilst moving up through the tempos. Your goal is still sound. Sound. Sound.

I believe that the more we concentrate on how something sounds and less how it is achieved then our guitar playing will improve to our ears and to the ears of the listener. Yet how many of us think about picking with the best tone ?

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!