Learning to play without a pick

[yankees26mlb]

Is beginning guitar without a using a pick a bad idea?

[bennettr]

if your into finger picking its cool. or if you want to play like wes Montgomery, legendary jazz guitarist. and I think warren haynes does that too sometimes. At the very least stick with it until you learn blackbird by the beatles, a must know song

[Taylor/Martin]

Is beginning guitar without a using a pick a bad idea?

Just starting off, I would definitely use a pick. Fingerpicking isn't really easy to do correctly, and just starting guitar in general, I would definitely start with a pick. Once you are playing guitar for awhile and are comfortable with it, then I would start trying to fingerpick.

[DMBWcUPA]

^ this is good advice right here. the majority of shit that you will play, unless you are a Classical guitar player, will probably be with a pick. and like Taylor/Martin said, it's not easy to learn to fingerpick properly. I don't even do it properly all the time, and I've been playing guitar for close to 8 years or so now.

[lestat1600]

Is beginning guitar without a using a pick a bad idea?
if your just learning take the time to play with and with out a pick, its good to be able to use one and not. myself, for most part, i rarely use a pick on an acoustic guitar. can play just about anything without one and i like the without sound better that the with sound. when i pick up an electric i tend to grab a pick, but even then there are times i dont. honestly the only time, now that i think about it where a pick is a must is for leads and melody lead type shit, aside from that i dont use a pick unless i have too.

[Dave45]

I dunno. Lately I've been really trying to FORCE myself to learn to pick correctly, and fingerpick... I really wish I did more than just strum chords for the first years of my playing, I feel I kinda got locked in to a certain style. Alternate picking and fingerpicking are definately challenges. But I wonder if it would be best to address them while you learned other things about playing... hmm...

[lestat1600]

I dunno. Lately I've been really trying to FORCE myself to learn to pick correctly, and fingerpick... I really wish I did more than just strum chords for the first years of my playing, I feel I kinda got locked in to a certain style. Alternate picking and fingerpicking are definately challenges. But I wonder if it would be best to address them while you learned other things about playing... hmm...
dude, thats how i learned. i tackled all that early on. i solely used a pick for my 1st 4 to 6 months. once i got that down i watched others strum and fingerpick without a pick. then went home and tried to do what they did with one chord over and over and over, once i got that i added in 2 chords, 3 etc....

for that reason i think its best for a new guitar player to jump in and learn different things early on

[chr35919]

fingerpicking well > playing with a pick well imo

[jas230314]

My rec:

Learn without pick at first. Get your chords down, and the ability to finerpick down up to songs like Christmas song/feelin Groovy/Blackbird

As time progresses, youll seek out a need for a pick in songs like the stone or tripping billies.

When you do pick up the pick, make sure you do it write!!!!! PM me if you dont know what to do, and need any advice

[Axel]

start with a pick then do a cross blend of finger picking/pick. then switch over to fingerpicking. thats the way i learned to fingerpick from a guitar instructor. 30 bucks an hour cant be wrong right?

[jiggajm18]

fingerpicking well > playing with a pick well imo

:thumbsup

however:

difficulty of fingerpicking well >>>>>> difficulty of playing with a pick well

[VanHorneDog]

either way it takes dedication and motivation to play the guitar. speaking of which, time to go play for an hour! woot tang clan!

[born 1991]

I started guitar about a year ago and never had a pick. I used my thumb or fingerpicked on songs and got pretty good with it, but now I have a pick, and I can't use it. Any tips?

[lestat1600]

I started guitar about a year ago and never had a pick. I used my thumb or fingerpicked on songs and got pretty good with it, but now I have a pick, and I can't use it. Any tips?
as with anything else, practice, practice, practice. most people hold the pick with thumb and index finger, aside from that practice.........
----again i think its best to tackle as many ways of picking as possible early on. have heard statements like the one im quoting alot. the reason its better to tackle playing with a pick and without is you havent established any set ways, habits, etc.. on how you play yet. once you have learned or taught self certain things it becomes harder to break away from those ways. another good thing to practice early on is the use of all finger chords and your pinky:D

[jmccue7]

your best bet is to learn with a pick and here's why:

Most of the songs you'll wanna play use a pick-->if you wanna get good you gotta practice-->you'll practice more if you play things you like

not only that but beginning guitarists need to work on fretting notes properly and get timing right between your fretting hand and picking hands. Starting with fingerpicking makes it harder to concentrate on the basics because you're worrying about too much at once.

so start with a pick, learn basic chords (in open position and barre chords), learn the notes of the fretboard, and most importantly...

PRACTICE WITH A METRONOME!!

proper technique will set you free!

oh and HAVE FUN!!!!

[born 1991]

Thanks guys.

[Crazy#41]

Just starting off, I would definitely use a pick. Fingerpicking isn't really easy to do correctly, and just starting guitar in general, I would definitely start with a pick. Once you are playing guitar for awhile and are comfortable with it, then I would start trying to fingerpick.


)===========:thumbsup