Do I Have to Use the Pick?

Don't give up on the pick too soon.

Many times a beginning guitar student will play with a pick for a few weeks and then decide it's easier to play without it. While this is true in the early stages, if you get used to not using the pick it becomes much harder later on. How do I know this? That's what I did! I spent the first 6 years of guitar playing using just my fingers until a friend of mine convinced me that some songs just sound better with a pick. After deciding he was right I worked on using the pick on at least a few of the songs. It was very frustrating, especially when the pick would drop into the hole or go flying across the room.

Start out slow, hold the pick tight enough to not drop it but don't make a fist.

As I got better at using the pick, I found that using a pick that had grips on it, (Jim Dunlop nylon), made it easier to control. The thickness was also much more important than I realized. The best thing to do is to try different picks and see which ones work for you. They're extremely cheap and there are lots and lots of different sizes, shapes, thicknesses and materials. A very general guideline is that a lot of accomplished guitar players use thicker picks for solos and playing fast, and lighter, thinner picks for strumming. Ask your guitar teacher, or better yet, buy a dozen and experiment.

Gradually build up speed and don't get discouraged.

Pick single notes first, be very deliberate, and make accuracy your top priority. The most difficult thing about starting to use the pick is finding the strings. Since you have no feeling it feels like you're kind of swinging the pick at the strings instead of striking them. A good way to practice is to pluck a note and let the pick rest on the next string. That way you learn to judge the distance between the strings. Set your metronome to a slow speed and aim for clear, crisp notes. Once you've mastered a few easy songs, work on scales, solos or fiddle tunes to increase your speed and dexterity. Repetition is the key to learning to use the pick.