The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Posts 1 to 11 of 11
  1. #1
    I wanted to clean my technique, was trying the "cracking the code" method of trying to keep a constant high speed to find a better picking motion.
    I normally pick in "reverse slant", which I've found both on this video:
    and apparently mentioned here as "Benson picking".
    (but my hand isn't as low as with Benson and players imitating him, that feels terrible)

    So, I do string hopping, and grip rather lightly/badly(the pick shakes a bit/feels unsafe)...
    Doing the code thing I found out "common slant" is better for picking, HOLY MOLY my speed was severely limited, and now is more secure/"grippy".

    Da problem:

    I was ok last night, but when training this afternoon it started hurting after some time, at the fingers that hold the pick.
    (And while not related to Jazz, I am way better with muting techniques on my old grip...)

    Erm, what do I do?
    I wish to avoid damage and pain, I am not worried about "top speed".
    Just wanted to avoid handcapping myself...

    I've even considered focusing on fingerpicking or getting a thumbpick, but that would be rather the change, and of dubious advantages...

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

    User Info Menu

    Gripping a pick can cause quite a bit of strain. New grip, new forces, untrained muscles.
    There are limits to exercising. Less than 1 hour per day. You can play much longer but technical exercise will lead to damage.
    I’ve read an article about it long time ago. It was because I got pain playing piano (found out it was because of computer typing and a low stool), a friend of mine quit guitar playing and he was a superb finger picker with huge ‘spider grips’. He plays cello now


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  4. #3

    User Info Menu

    This form of picking (backward slant, Benson picking, whatever else it's called) seems to me to approach near religious fervor for some. Everybody's neuromuscular system is different and finding the way that works for you is a better idea than trying to introject somebody else's approach. If it hurts, it's maybe not the right technique.

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Cunamara
    This form of picking (backward slant, Benson picking, whatever else it's called) seems to me to approach near religious fervor for some. Everybody's neuromuscular system is different and finding the way that works for you is a better idea than trying to introject somebody else's approach. If it hurts, it's maybe not the right technique.
    Mind you, that is the way I naturally play, I am NOT wanting to learn 'Benson picking'.
    I am exactly trying to find a better/more efficient way.

  6. #5

    User Info Menu

    So are you gripping too hard?

    Try to slow down and observe what you are doing and what hurts, at the very detailed level.

  7. #6

    User Info Menu

    saw this years and years ago recommended here on JGF. A rare and detailed interview with the great Johnny Smith.

    For notes on tension while picking, watch from about 16:17



    Watch the whole thing as well.

    I got bad tennis elbow cause I tried to create a floating technique from "Benson Grip". IE, my right hand wouldn't make contact with any part of the guitar. The grip as well as the forearm rotation didn't do me well. Couldn't play guitar for months. Went to a physical therapist for a little bit.

    Listen to what Don says a comment above me

  8. #7

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by SixStrings_Monk
    I wanted to clean my technique, was trying the "cracking the code" method of trying to keep a constant high speed to find a better picking motion.
    I normally pick in "reverse slant", which I've found both on this video:
    and apparently mentioned here as "Benson picking".
    (but my hand isn't as low as with Benson and players imitating him, that feels terrible)

    So, I do string hopping, and grip rather lightly/badly(the pick shakes a bit/feels unsafe)...
    Doing the code thing I found out "common slant" is better for picking, HOLY MOLY my speed was severely limited, and now is more secure/"grippy".

    Da problem:

    I was ok last night, but when training this afternoon it started hurting after some time, at the fingers that hold the pick.
    (And while not related to Jazz, I am way better with muting techniques on my old grip...)

    Erm, what do I do?
    I wish to avoid damage and pain, I am not worried about "top speed".
    Just wanted to avoid handcapping myself...

    I've even considered focusing on fingerpicking or getting a thumbpick, but that would be rather the change, and of dubious advantages...
    Pain is Nature's way of saying, "STOP!" when you are doing something you shouldn't be. I will never forget the time I was studying the altered scale and was obsessively practicing for hours a day, ignoring pain, resorting to braces on both wrists. If it hadn't been for the crash of 2008 and the subsequent loss of gigs I'd have practiced myself into permanent disability. Find another way, before it's too late. For your own sake.

  9. #8

    User Info Menu

    Regardless of the specific picking technique discovered by using an iPhone to train the Hubble telescope on the right hand, one simple thing I tend to forget that always helps: relax the grip. Grab the pick only as tight as needed to keep it from flying away.

  10. #9

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by timmer
    Regardless of the specific picking technique discovered by using an iPhone to train the Hubble telescope on the right hand, one simple thing I tend to forget that always helps: relax the grip. Grab the pick only as tight as needed to keep it from flying away.

  11. #10

    User Info Menu

    It is hard to tell from the video just how you are holding the pick, but joints bent backwards under compressive load may well cause pain and eventual injury. I'd like to know more exactly how you are holding the pick.

    If you look at a common ordinary pick with the pointy end toward you, it resembles the infield of a baseball diamond, which suggests a way of describing where one holds it and how one orients it with respect to the lateral or longitudinal axis.

    This helps makes descriptions like pick slant, pick tilt, and grip position clearer by referring to parts of the pick as the bases and base lines.

    So, the pointy tip is home base, a line through home base and second base is the longitudinal line about which pick tilt is described, pick slant is revolution about the lateral line between first and third base, and the base lines can help describe the location where one grips. That leaves describing what parts of the fingers are gripping the pick, and where.

    I wish this or some other system was standard because it is not always clear whether it is the back end (second base) or the pointy end (home base) which is slanted up or down when you see DWPS or UWPS. Likewise, when tilt is described as up or down, it is not clear if that means the first or third base side of the pick is raised or lowered (not everyone knows the existing conventions and may describe their picking "incorrectly").

    For example, I hold my pick so that my thumb (pad near the tip) and index finger (side near the tip) are centered on the third base line, my thumb points to the tuning keys, my index finger tip points straight into the guitar, and the pick's third base is closer to the floor a little relative to first base. I don't slant at all because I've never picked a rest stroke.
    Last edited by pauln; 03-23-2021 at 12:28 AM.

  12. #11

    User Info Menu

    I was trained to pick that way when I was a kid. That was before I heard of Benson.

    I've seen really excellent pickers with all kinds of screwy looking techniques. What works for you works for you, and it's usually something like what you started with. i think it's more about practice and repetition than having the "right" technique. Change is always possible and it may be fruitful, but pain should always be the sign to back off some.