What Kind of Guitar Pick Should I Use?

What's the difference in picks?

There are tons of choices when it comes to guitar picks. Different thicknesses, shapes, materials, themes, and who knows what else. I've seen picks made of metal, plastic, tortoise shell, wood, rock, and even had students use a piece of a milk carton or a coin! We'll cover the important differences, then it's up to you to decide. Since picks are extremely cheap, the best advice is to buy an assortment and see what you like.

Shapes and sizes.  Triangles, teardrops and ovals. Those are the basic shapes and there are variations. A lot of people use a triangle shaped pick with rounded corners except for the point. The main thing is to not get one that's real big or real small. After you've experimented with different picks you'll probably find one that you like more than the others.
Thicknesses.

There are almost as many thicknesses as there are shapes and sizes! They vary from simply light, medium and heavy, to thousandths of an inch. My personal favorites are Jim Dunlop nylon picks with a .073 or .088 thickness. They have little bumps on them to help you grip them which is great if you play outside when it's hot and humid. Plastic picks tend to slip and become more pliable in the hot weather. Again, try various picks to see which ones you like best. My advice to my students is to not get one that's real thin or real thick to start with. The thin ones tend to make a slapping sound when you play and the real thick ones can cause your wrist to hurt.
Pictures, cartoon characters, famous people.  There are lots of people who collect picks since they're inexpensive and it's fun to find something different. We've had Star Wars, The Simpsons, South Park, Elvis and many other souvenir type picks. A personal favorite that I own is from Chuck Berry. It has a picture of Chuck on one side and "Roll Over", in honor of his song Roll Over Beethoven on the other side.  Finger picks and thumb picks.  If you play banjo or use your fingers to play, you'll also need a couple or 3 finger picks and a thumb pick. Like their flat pick counterparts they also come in gauges and different materials. Again, they're relatively cheap so see what you like best. Most people use a plastic pick on the thumb since metal on the thicker, wound strings tends to sound raspy.    So take a trip to your local music store and let the experiment begin. If you're in doubt ask your guitar teacher or a guitar playing friend for advice, but be warned that you'll get lots of different opinions.

The 3 Elements of Music

Music is made up of Melody

The melody is simply the tune to the song. Sing Yankee Doodle, Happy Birthday, or Jingle Bells and you're singing the melody.

Harmony

When you have a chord, or 2 or more notes that sound good together, that's harmony. Think church choir or a vocal group like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Simon and Garfunkel, Peter, Paul and Mary and that's the definition of harmony.

Rhythm

The tempo or pace of the song and/or keeping a beat. Rhythm seems to be the most puzzling of the 3 as far as being able to catch on to it, but it's not too hard if you break it down. The next few blog posts will deal with basic rhythms, time signatures, and keeping a beat.

Most beginning musicians and either some who have been playing for quite a while seem to be confused about rhythm. It's a subject that could use a lot more emphasis than it gets. I've had quite a few students with previous lesson experience be totally lost when it comes to keeping a relatively simple beat.

Staying the Course When Practicing

What are you working on?

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what practice is. When you get your guitar out for 15 or 20 minutes, noodle around with a few songs and licks and then put it away, does that count as practice? Or, do you have to be your own taskmaster and force yourself to have every minute of playing be goal oriented? I hope it's obvious that the answer lies somewhere in between. My beginning students seem to be at one extreme or the other on this, with no visible middle ground. Most guitar teachers will encourage you to do both, play for fun and play to improve. Maintaining your focus is hard sometimes, but is a necessary part of advancing. Set aside a specific amount of your practice time to work on something that's holding you back.

Self assessment.

I would say that most of us know what we need to work on and sometimes it appears to be too difficult. The best thing to do is to pick one small improvement you could make and stick to it. Does your timing need help? Get out the old metronome, you DO have a metronome don't you, and set it to a comfortable pace. Smooth out what needs work and then move on. Are you missing the same notes over and over? Slow down as much as you need to so that every note sounds good and is clean and clear. There's no sense in practicing mistakes and I see way too many students do just that. I've heard it all before, it doesn't sound good slow, I can't get it, I don't like this song, it's too hard. Muscle memory is what you're trying to learn, so if you're teaching your muscles the wrong notes, that's what they're going to play.

Play for fun too.

After you've put in your work, play for the sheer enjoyment of playing. I know when you're first starting out that's not easy, but there must be at least a couple songs you can play well and enjoy doing. End on a positive note, leaving yourself open for more improvement next time.

Crystal Clear Notes and Chords

Do Your Strings Buzz When You Play?

String buzz or vibrations are caused by only one of two things: either you're not pushing hard enough or you're not close enough to the fret. To eliminate buzzing, be sure you push the string down against the fingerboard and keep the pressure on. Once your fingertips toughen up you won't have to use as much pressure as you do at first. Don't forget, the frets are the metal bars, not the spaces in between. Playing too far back towards the nut will cause buzzing regardless of how hard you press the strings down.

What's That Muffled or Deadened Sound?

The other most common obstacle to clear notes is a muffled or deadened note. The top cause is something being in the way. A sleeve, a piece of jewelry or another finger can block out a string. Bend the fretting hand fingers at both joints and arch them up so they don't hit the other strings. Push up your sleeve and remove the jewelry. The other causes are touching the fret or not pushing hard enough. Make sure your finger isn't right on the fret and that you're using enough pressure to make a clear note.

Follow these steps and your playing will sound better in no time!

Bob Lucas Guitar Studios
123 W. Clinton Place, 2nd Floor
Kirkwood, MO 63122
www.blguitars.net

Take Me Out To The Ballgame/Fingerstyle Guitar

Since it's opening day I thought I'd post my fingerstyle guitar arrangement of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. This was influenced by the picking of Doc Watson, Merle Travis and Chet Atkins.

To Play Fast, Learn to Play Slow

Learning to play fast.

At some point everyone sees or hears an amazing guitar player who seems to be able to effortlessly play at blazing speeds. How do they do that? The beginning guitar player sees no way to learn to go that fast, insists they sped up the recording, or used some other electronic trick. Then, they see that guitarist in person and realize he or she is capable of playing fast. So, how do you learn to increase your speed?
Believe it or not, the best way is to learn to play slowly. When learning guitar, you need to remember that if you can't play it slow there's no way you can play it fast. Yes, it's really that simple. Here are some tips for learning to increase your speed.

• Get a metronome and USE IT! I have students who buy metronomes and drum machines, use them for a short time and then give up on them. The most common mistake is setting a speed that you can't keep up with. Then the excuses start to come out. I can't play that slow, it's boring, the song or exercises don't sound good slow, and many more. Set the rhythm to a slow pace, concentrate on picking each note exactly on the beat, with each note being clean and clear. Don't try to play complicated songs or exercises at first. Don't speed up at all until you can play each note in time without missing a beat.
• Work on major, minor and pentatonic scales. Every song is based on a scale, so practicing scales is a valuable use of your time. You'll learn to recognize the sounds of the different scales which will help you develop the ability to pick out songs by ear.
• Listen to the masters. There are amazing guitarists in all kinds of genres. It doesn't matter if you like rock, metal, country, folk, classical or bluegrass music, with a little research you'll find someone you can relate to.
• Practice every day. You don't need to spend hours on exercises but you do need to work on them. One of the quotes I use is: if you think scales are boring, practice them until they're not boring. If you don't think scales are boring, practice them until they are boring, then repeat step one.
• Get help. A guitar teacher can help you progress by watching and listening to you play and giving you valuable tips and ways to improve.
• Find a practice buddy. Do you know someone who also plays guitar or perhaps another instrument that complements the guitar? Is there a particular style of music that you'd really like to play? Find someone to practice with and to hold you accountable. You can do the same for him or her.

There's lots of printed material to help you improve your speed, so check out all of the resources that are available. You can find books, online lessons, CDs and DVDs to help you.

To learn a song note for note, I highly recommend Riffmaster Pro Software. (Affiliate Link). The software enables you to slow down songs without changing the pitch, set up loops so you can work on individual phrases, change the eq settings to emphasize certain instruments, and export the slowed down songs you so you can record and practice them.

Should you purchase the program and have any questions about how to use it, just email me or leave a comment on this blog and I'll be happy to help you figure it out.

How Do I Know I'm Still A Beginner?

Are you still a beginner?

At some point every guitar student wants to know what they've achieved. With no one to compare their playing to, there's always a desire to find out if they're ahead, behind or comparable to someone that's been playing the same amount of time. The problem with this is that everyone learns at a different pace, has a different music background if any, and has put in more or less time. A student who practices an hour a day should be better than someone who practices a half hour or less. However, just like the number of years playing doesn't count, the amount of practice time may not indicate how well one is doing.

Quality practice vs quantity practice.

Beginning guitar players need to have a clear direction when it comes to practice. Getting the guitar out and running through your favorite songs isn't necessarily the way to practice. I encourage my students to play music they like, but that's after they've spent time concentrating on improving their playing. Take a page out of the sports coaches' book and warm up, work on specific skills, and then do the fun stuff. To warm up do some fretting hand stretches, right hand picking whether it's with your fingers or a pick, and loosen up. Too many students, beginners and advanced, ignore the advice about stretching, then they're amazed that they "play better after 15 minutes."

So, are you still a beginner?

I tell my students that on average it takes about 6 months to get off of the total beginner stage. At that point you should be able to play the notes in first position, be able to keep a basic rhythm, and play most of the open position chords. In addition, you need to be able to move from one chord to the next without losing time. Keep in mind that these are suggestions, not rules that are cast in stone. For example, you may not read music at all if you're more interested in playing and singing, or you may have concentrated on notes and not really worked with chords that much. That being said, the guidelines and milestones above should give you an idea of where you stand.