Picking hand positioning? Hand Support?

[Christian Schulze]

Whaddup synners?

So. I recently watched an interview with Jason Richardson and he talked about playing in classical position ( which I adopted a couple of weeks ago) and the picking hand positioning. Having heard and seen that, I of course tried to adopt that too into my playing.
Here is my issue.
My picking hand is pretty sloppy. I always need my pinky finger as support for playing lead. How do you play without the pinky as support?!

Lemme ilustrate with pictures.

Any videos or tips and tricks to improve my picking hand positioning for more efficient playing?

 

[Jesse Salmons]

Whaddup synners?

So. I recently watched an interview with Jason Richardson and he talked about playing in classical position ( which I adopted a couple of weeks ago) and the picking hand positioning. Having heard and seen that, I of course tried to adopt that too into my playing.
Here is my issue.
My picking hand is pretty sloppy. I always need my pinky finger as support for playing lead. How do you play without the pinky as support?!

Lemme ilustrate with pictures.

Any videos or tips and tricks to improve my picking hand positioning for more efficient playing?

Hell dude i wish i could tell you but idk why my hand does it, but if i change from chugging, to leads, to classical position leads my hand just adjusts on its own. Before i learned to sweep (which caused me to start anchoring) i was a devout randy rhoads player, who of course always played classical position. my hand just does its thing and adjusts accordingly lol. I Still kind of am a lot like that, but i digress.

My advice would be practice very slowly in classical position, without anchoring your pinky. Run your scales, but stay mindful of your anchoring. You pretty much gotta change your muscle memory, or add to it rather. Like anything, walk before you run man! Practice!

 

[Jesse Salmons]

Whaddup synners?

So. I recently watched an interview with Jason Richardson and he talked about playing in classical position ( which I adopted a couple of weeks ago) and the picking hand positioning. Having heard and seen that, I of course tried to adopt that too into my playing.
Here is my issue.
My picking hand is pretty sloppy. I always need my pinky finger as support for playing lead. How do you play without the pinky as support?!

Lemme ilustrate with pictures.

Any videos or tips and tricks to improve my picking hand positioning for more efficient playing?

Also dude support yourself on the bridge! Almost as if your palm muting, but you’re only muting the strings your not playing. Also, using your pinky for support takes away from your attack, since it looks like your hand is completely off the guitar. If you rest on the bridge you have a lot more control over how sloppy/clean your playing is

 

[Christian Schulze]

Hell dude i wish i could tell you but idk why my hand does it, but if i change from chugging, to leads, to classical position leads my hand just adjusts on its own. Before i learned to sweep (which caused me to start anchoring) i was a devout randy rhoads player, who of course always played classical position. my hand just does its thing and adjusts accordingly lol. I Still kind of am a lot like that, but i digress.

My advice would be practice very slowly in classical position, without anchoring your pinky. Run your scales, but stay mindful of your anchoring. You pretty much gotta change your muscle memory, or add to it rather. Like anything, walk before you run man! Practice!

Thanks mate. Classical positioning is no issue anymore. But anchoring very much so. I will work on it.

 

[Christian Schulze]

Also dude support yourself on the bridge! Almost as if your palm muting, but you’re only muting the strings your not playing. Also, using your pinky for support takes away from your attack, since it looks like your hand is completely off the guitar. If you rest on the bridge you have a lot more control over how sloppy/clean your playing is

Damn....the bridge of course.

 

[Jesse Salmons]

Damn....the bridge of course.

Yeah dude i always rest my hand on the bridge it just works for me and thats what a lot of players do. Watch papa gates and syn’s hands in the lessons! Emulate what they do! Hell i think theres even a lesson on this somewhere on the site. Good luck brother!

 

[idssdi]

As far as my picking hand is concerned I try to use a floating wrist all the time


That's a gypsy jazz thing though so don't pay any attention to that if you don't like it

 

[Jesse Salmons]

As far as my picking hand is concerned I try to use a floating wrist all the time


That's a gypsy jazz thing though so don't pay any attention to that if you don't like it

Damn dude you’re awesome for that bc i dont think i could ever get used to that!

 

[John Robinson]

Also dude support yourself on the bridge! Almost as if your palm muting, but you’re only muting the strings your not playing. Also, using your pinky for support takes away from your attack, since it looks like your hand is completely off the guitar. If you rest on the bridge you have a lot more control over how sloppy/clean your playing is

Thats a piece of info i needed thank you

 

[Lindsey]

My pinky seems to be glued to the guitar, often causing cramps. This threat is great.

 

[Firsty Lasty]

I have heard of people getting actually hurt from pushing their pinky into the guitar all the time.

 

[Christian Schulze]

Wellp...I have been anchoring my arm on the bridge of my guitar, and to be honest my hand feels so much more free. I need now to control this new freedom. But thanks for the tip. I bet I can build much more speed this way.

 

[Lindsey]

I have heard of people getting actually hurt from pushing their pinky into the guitar all the time.

Yes, that’s very well possible.

 

[Jesse Salmons]

Wellp...I have been anchoring my arm on the bridge of my guitar, and to be honest my hand feels so much more free. I need now to control this new freedom. But thanks for the tip. I bet I can build much more speed this way.

Oh for sure man. Gives you a lot more control! Glad i could help

 

[Christian Schulze]

Oh for sure man. Gives you a lot more control! Glad i could help

Thanks my man!

 

[Lindsey]

Wellp...I have been anchoring my arm on the bridge of my guitar, and to be honest my hand feels so much more free. I need now to control this new freedom. But thanks for the tip. I bet I can build much more speed this way.

Your arm on the bridge? I can't visualise that in my mind.

 

[Christian Schulze]

Your arm on the bridge? I can't visualise that in my mind.

I meant wrist...sorry.

Here is a vid of me playing maybe that helps?

 

[Jesse Salmons]

This videos like 2 years old, but its when i learned the buried alive solo, you can kinda see how my hand just unconsciously changes position

 

[Lindsey]

I meant wrist...sorry.

Here is a vid of me playing maybe that helps?

I should have known you meant that haha.
I'll try it out too