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How to Use a Plectrum and Why Use One

By Chris Moresby

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 02Apr2010 Word count: 504 Viewed: 183 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

For many styles of guitar playing, the proficient use of a plectrum is indispensable. For anybody breaking into rock guitar, blues, country, folk, or many styles of jazz, plectrums--or picks--must be used to play properly within one's chosen genre. Learning to use a plectrum is pretty straight forward, however, and with some practice, one will pick up on a variety of techniques that are virtually unachievable without it.

At first, you may be confused about how to hold your plectrum. Unless you're using a thumb pick, grip the plectrum with your thumb on top and your index and middle fingers below, squeezing most tightly with your thumb and index finger but using your middle finger for support. Be careful not to hold it just between your thumb and index finger or else the plectrum will seem flimsy and will wobble upon striking the strings.

When strumming with a plectrum, utilize a healthy combination of upstrokes and downstrokes. Many learning rock guitar make the mistake of either only using downstrokes or using them so frequently that it's hard to develop a technique conducive to developing versatility in guitar playing. Play guitar with somebody experienced, and watch how he or she uses upstrokes and downstrokes to strum simple progressions.

Similarly, when plucking individual notes with a plectrum, be sure you aren't just picking down, but alternating between upstrokes and downstrokes on individual notes. You should do this when alternating among strings as well, not repeating an individual upstroke or downstroke just because you began plucking a different string. The reasons why the use of both up-picking and down-picking are two-fold. First of all, like strumming with upstrokes and downstrokes, picking up and down will allow a guitar player to develop his or her ability to play multiple styles. A rock guitarist used to playing with all downstrokes will have a difficult time learning jazz guitar, for example. Second, picking up and down allows you to play faster. Playing faster provides you with the ability to play more songs and assists in your development as a musician creating original music. Inevitably, one of your biggest frustrations in the beginning will be the inability to play as quickly as your more experienced friends. By practicing the use of upstrokes and downstrokes, picking up, and picking down, you will soon be playing at the speed you always hoped to achieve.

While you should heed these suggestions when using most plectrums, the thumb pick is drastically different. It fits on the thumb of your strumming hand like a ring, and it is used either to strum, alternating between upstrokes and downstrokes, or to pluck the lower strings for the purpose of maintaining a rhythm or keeping a beat while the higher strings are picked with the fingers. Thumb picks are useful for those playing acoustic songs where the most desirable sounds are produced by a combination of fingerpicking and picking with a plectrum. Those who strum twelve-string guitars may also find thumb picks an appropriate choice.

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