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Pick still slipping when downpicking

Ben Thorpe

Free Bird Player
Nov 11, 2019
162
1
I know I’ve already posted about this but I feel like this is my biggest obstacle with the guitar. Whenever I make a mistake it always seems to be because my pick isn’t at the same angle as when I started playing because it’s readjusted, ESPECIALLY when downpicking. I know that the secret to fast downpicking is to relax your wrist, but when I do that it also naturally weakens my grip on the pick, causing it to slip. Then I try gripping tighter and this tenses up my entire hand, meaning my wrist gets tired after 20 seconds. Please could somebody give me some tips that I can put into practice to downpick faster without my pick slipping?
 

idssdi

Sold-out Crowd Surfer
Nov 11, 2019
5,336
6,749
Groningen
11
I simply try to relax my wrist as much as I can but not really the fingers if that makes sense. You don’t really need to grip your pick extremely tight for it to stay in position so try to find the minimal te soon you need for your pick not to slip.
 
J

Jak Angelescu

Guest
Unfortunately Ben, the logic of anatomy doesn’t really allow us to fully relax the wrist without relaxing the fingers. The muscles and tendons connect so much, to where even if you just barely squeeze your thumb and index finger together, you’ll feel the muscles contract and tighten in your wrist. So evidently if you loosen your wrist too much, your pick WILL slip. I don’t know if this helps, but I have a few suggestiions that may help.
1. Perhaps you could try using a different pick. I had to switch picks from a basic fender medium (I don’t know the exact type, I just know it’s slightly thin, plastic and smooth) to a Dunlop Tortex and even a gator grip occasionally.
2. What gauge strings do you use? I use to play on 12’s for rhythm and the thickness made any contact with my pick slip CONSTANTLY. I switched to 11’s and it got better. Significantly easier with 10’s
3. How hard to you hit the strings? I’m a pretty raucous rhythm player, and my pick slips all the time the harder I hit.
4. Unfortunately, it may come down to just regripping it when you can. I use my pick the way Papa Gates shows here now, and I occasionally will make contact with my middle finger and kind of “scoot it back into place”. If you’d like me to make a video of how I do it to better demonstrate it, I’d be more than happy to.
Sometimes I think things like this are inevitable. I actually recall even seeing Syn regrip his pick on stage. Mostly because I’m sure his hands get sweaty, and pick slipping may be one of those unavoidable things we have to learn to quickly fix in a pinch. I hope any of these help. Don’t give up! You’ll get it eventually
SIDE NOTE: I can’t believe how much my singer’s anatomy classes have helped me on this site, lol! She’s a massage therapist and she practically had to go to nursing school of anatomy classes in the beginning. They’ve helped me understand things in so many ways, lol!
 

Ed Seith

Supreme Galactic Overlord
Staff member
Legend+
  • Nov 11, 2019
    3,882
    15
    6,603
    54
    Marana, AZ USA
    soundcloud.com
    35
    Came here to mention different picks, but Jak covered it. Tortex are much grippier than standard picks, and others have grooves, notches or other patterning to make gripping easier.
    It will always slip a little, but you can work to minimize it in addition to getting used to constant adjustments.
     

    Kevin Welton

    One Stringer
    Nov 11, 2019
    54
    0
    Try this:
    1.Grip the pick like you usually would when playing, normal position/normal tension relaxed wrist
    2.now without adjusting finger/thumb placement, pull the pick in slightly (and i mean slightly) towards the base of your thumb, what you should notice is that the grip on the pick has got tighter but the force you use to grip hasn’t increased!!
    3.now just play something on the guitar and play around with moving the pick towards and away from the base of your thumb in small increments until you find a place where it is still comfortable to play and the pick doesn’t move! It will feel a little odd obviously (all adjustments to picking technique do) but the goal is to find the best place without adding excess tension to the wrist when playing
     

    Jake Young

    Free Bird Player
    Nov 11, 2019
    193
    1
    I think you’ve got all the technical advice above!..But if all else fails, they used to sell some stuff called “gorilla snot” that was slightly sticky to keep the pick from slipping. Eddie VanHalen used to glue little pieces of sand paper to his picks haha try that? I’ve never had any trouble gripping the pick, but about 6 months ago I switched picks (once and for all lol) and although they still don’t slip it’s a very smooth pick. So I take a razor blade and make 4 slashes towards the upper part of the pick then 4 more slashes in the opposite direction to make 4 “X” shapes on each side of the pick..just don’t cut too deep or the pick will break..also it makes the pick feel like a lighter gauge. But I like the feel and the extra added grip