Picking problem

[TheTroller]

I prefer to pick near the neck (on top of the neck pickup), but whenever I alternate pick fast, my wrist scratches the three lowest strings, creating a muffled sound, where it sounds like I'm playing a muffled open chord while alternative picking at the same time. It feels more natural picking near the neck, than the middle of the bridge, and the bottom of the neck seems to produce a cleaner and more isolated staccato than picking in the middle or bottom of the bridge.

Keep in mind, that I'm not referring to the pickup selector, but my hand placement.

 

[idssdi]

I really just pick wherever feels comfortable. When I play gypsy it's closer to the bridge and when i play electric it's wherever my hand naturally falls. On my electric that's typically fairly in the middle of the guitar. If you take a strat as reference it's really if use the nut as an orientation point right before the middle pickup.

 

[William B.]

I'm not referring to the pickup selector, but my hand placement.

There's subtle dynamics in the sound playing at different spots.

whenever I alternate pick fast, my wrist scratches the three lowest strings, creating a muffled sound

Try not to do whatever it is causing it by going slow or try to mute the strings somehow when going faster, with either or both hands.

Last few months I've been trying to focus keeping my first finger to mute more when making chords, like a moveable Barre chord/fret wrap if I tried to describe it. It's hard sometimes cause it's new for me but thinking about it and going slow to get it right has been doing a lot of good.

Maybe you get more staccato cause more of your picking hand can cover the strings near the bottom neck

 

[Adin Shepherd]

It's hard to say without seeing your picking style, maybe a short video of you playing slow then fast from this position may help with correct advice.

Your explanation sounds like you have no issue with your hand 'floating' above the strings at slower tempos but as soon as you ramp up the speed your hand wants to anchor, resting on the strings and muting everything.

If you must play that close to the neck, you will need to learn to keep your picking hand up away from the strings (possibly using your pinky as a point of contact with the guitar if it helps, although this could create other movement restrictions). Alternatively, move to the more traditional bridge picking location allowing your hand to rest on the guitar without the muting issue.

 

[TheTroller]

It's hard to say without seeing your picking style, maybe a short video of you playing slow then fast from this position may help with correct advice.

Your explanation sounds like you have no issue with your hand 'floating' above the strings at slower tempos but as soon as you ramp up the speed your hand wants to anchor, resting on the strings and muting everything.

If you must play that close to the neck, you will need to learn to keep your picking hand up away from the strings (possibly using your pinky as a point of contact with the guitar if it helps, although this could create other movement restrictions). Alternatively, move to the more traditional bridge picking location allowing your hand to rest on the guitar without the muting issue.

Makes sense. I've tried to pick with my wrist to the side, but that's too awkward. I could definitely try out some anchoring techniques with the pinkie

 

[William B.]

Makes sense. I've tried to pick with my wrist to the side, but that's too awkward. I could definitely try out some anchoring techniques with the pinkie

I've been trying to anchor or use my pinky as a reference and it's working for me. Trying to not anchor my palm like the opposite so the wrist goes outwards. ystnyer does it too when he goes fast. From one of the lessons the advise was not to press hard and not really anchor but for reference of distance.

 

[Jesse Salmons]

The way ive always done it, is i “karate chop” the bridge with my picking hand, form my natural picking hand, and go from there that way i can naturally change from my style of lead to rhythm without moving my hand and wasting energy!