Problem with using a pick

Is it common to have a hard time learning to strum with a pick? When I use my thumb everything is smooth and I can hear the song and the rythymn but when I use a pick I just hear a bunch of rough noise with no rythymn ? I have layed ukulele for about 3 years and so use to just playing chords and rythymn strumming with my thumb. I do not know if that has anything to do with it but I feel I need to solve this issue

Hi there,

I don't think there's anything wrong with using just your fingers to strum. A pick might be useful if you're trying to pick out something very fast and complicated, but if you're simply strumming, or playing a few riffs here and there, your fingers will do just fine.

There are a number of really guitar players that don't use picks at all. I wouldn't worry too much about it!

I don't use picks very often myself!

-Billy

Personal opinion, I don't think it's a "common" experience for guitarists to have a hard time strumming with a pick. My own experience? I found it about as difficult as drinking water.

So I'm having an empathetic stab in the dark here, as my experience has been different. I can certainly strum with either my fingers or thumb for effect or tone, but much prefer a pick most of the time.

Have you tried every different type of pick material, thickness and size of pick? It does make a difference, especially to string attack and consequent tone and rhythm.

For strumming tone on an acoustic, unless wanting muted pianissimo, nothing I've tried yet beats a Dunlop nylon pick of the thickness e.g. .38, .46, .60. .73 selected for the desired tone. Give a .38 or .46 a try. I suspect you'll be surprised. Soft attack is unavoidable with a .38 and it glides over the strings with rhythmical fluidity for wont of a better phrase coming to mind.

Funny, my problem is the exact opposite, I can play just about anything with a pick but I’m like a kidnergardener without one, I used to pretty much finger pick and use a regular guitar pick about half the time each up until the last couple years, all I do 99.9% of the time now is use a pick, to the detriment of my fingerpicking, now when I try to just use my fingers I can’t seem to play anything.

Originally Posted by: vanityphotostudio

Is it common to have a hard time learning to strum with a pick? When I use my thumb everything is smooth and I can hear the song and the rythymn but when I use a pick I just hear a bunch of rough noise with no rythymn ? I have layed ukulele for about 3 years and so use to just playing chords and rythymn strumming with my thumb. I do not know if that has anything to do with it but I feel I need to solve this issue

thanks asking this question as i came in the forums to ask exactly this, im also coming from the ukulele and am finding it hard to use a pick the thinner dunlop ones as manXcat mentioned are easier but not the same, like you im not sure whether to spend some real time getting it right or carry on as i am i dont want to find out later i really should of masterd it before then. But thanks to the anwsers here i think im going without a pick, let me know how you get on.

Jay

Originally Posted by: jaysteves22 im also coming from the ukulele and am finding it hard to use a pick

Jay

A noteworthy coincidence.

I wouldn't worry about any initial awkwardness fellas. You'll get it with application and persistence - if you want to? Clearly, you've both developed a certain strumming technique with uke which is now a habit you have to unlearn to meet the standard you expect from guitar.

You can still finger, or thumb, strum with guitar if that's the strumming tone you want/prefer, but recognise that certain disciplines notwithstanding, classical, flamenco, fingerstyle, or arpeggiated play of a piece e.g. "Hallelujah" or "House of the Rising Sun" which roughly falls into fingerstyle, the overwhelming majority of guitarists and almost all electric guitarists use a pick. Their pop, rock, blues, metal compositions whether rhythm or lead, were composed intended to be played with a pick which depending upon the piece varies only in style of attack AFAICS. There are of course exceptions. e.g. The legendary finger 'plucked' riff from "Smoke on the Water".

Good luck with it. Personal persistence and determination will achieve pretty much anything you [u]want[/u] to.

[br]Cheers

Two of my guitar heros, Lindsey Buckingham and Mark Knopfler, prefer using their fingers over a pick, so there's no right or wrong. As with everything, practice is what changes proficiency, so if you want to learn using a pick properly, get a big sample pack and try 'em out. I personally ended up with rather thin Dunlop picks, and I have to admit that I'm having problems with doing this properly as well.

Jeff Beck, went from using a pick to using his fingers. The man has one of the widest tonal ranges in the world today. Once again... it is skill, not equipment.