Are you getting the best out of your guitar-picking hand? You might be using it wrong

Picking
(Image credit: Future)

It's very, very easy to fall into habits as guitar players. Some of these give us the individuality as players that should always be celebrated, others might be bad habits holding us back. It's always good to take a moment and question if we're doing fundamental things as well as we could – because they might unlock a whole new level of playing to us.

Picking motion and our picking hand position is a big one – it's so fundamental that you may even wonder why our friends at the Gibson Gazette would bother highlighting it, but it raises a very important point, especially for beginners. Where your picking motion comes from is everything.

Guitar Picking Motion & Hand Position - YouTube Guitar Picking Motion & Hand Position - YouTube
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A lot of it is in the wrist, as this Gibson app video above highlights. Check it out above and find out more about the Gibson app's lesson on the Apple App Store and Google Play

Rob Laing
Reviews Editor, GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars

Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.