What undertakings are you currently doing to improve your playing?
What undertakings are you currently doing to improve your playing?
I figured to spark some discussion by asking what kind of projects and foci you are currently working on to improve your playing?
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Working on my picking hand. I've always felt my picking hand was pretty accurate, but I know I have some bad habits that should be addressed. I started to become more focused on how I hold a pick, the type of pick I use, and adjusting things to improve my attack, technique, and overall accuracy.
In some ways, it's a little like starting over after 30+ years of playing. I can't play every riff, solo, or full song as well as I do when I fall back on "bad habits", but I know the persistence will pay off. The YouTuber and pro-musician, Bernth, was a bit of an inspiration for me to assess my picking hand technique and start the process of improvement.
Since I've been working on my picking technique as well, what were the biggest flaws in your picking technique now in hindsight? I'd be interested to see if I can identify some of them as well
I have played with my picking hand fingers more flared out like an “ok” sign and tend to anchor my pinky finger against the body at all times. I’m not opposed to maintaining an anchored pinky for certain techniques, but curling my fingers more like a fist instead of an “ok” sign is helping control unwanted string noise. It also is changing (for the better) how I attack the strings with a more controlled angle.
I also pinched the pick (for lack of a better description) between my index finger’s tip and my thumb. My index finger was more straight than curled. Now I’m trying to hold the pick with the pick against my index finger’s first knuckle (after the finger nail) and the side of the finger while curled vs the pinching method.
I hope that makes sense.