How hard to pick strings?

Eric Philippsen · From: Central Florida USA

I think its pretty accurate to say that timidly or lightly picking strings results in poor tone and note definition. But, if that's so, then is the opposite true? That is, is picking the strings HARD a habit one should generally use?

In support of that, and please correct me if I'm wrong, I thought I read a post by Franklin where he wrote that, as a rule, he picks very hard.

Or, put another way, if you were teaching a beginner, how would you answer their question, "How hard should I usually pick or strike the strings when I'm playing?"

Thanks.

Paul Sutherland · From: Placerville, California

It's awfully hard to argue with Paul Franklin regarding how to get good tone. I happen to agree with him.

Pick every note as if you mean it. Pick with authority. Once in awhile a musical passage might call for a softer touch, but generally you want to pick hard.

Tom Gorr · From: Three Hills, Alberta

Interesting question...in my limited experience, if i'm playing in my living room, I get a better tone picking just on the lighter side of comfort, and when I'm with drums and bass, the harder side of comfortable....I use 0.015 gauge picks FWIW. A brighter silkier tone that I preferred over my 0.025's. I will say that I've always been on the light gauge side of picks even on six string compared to my colleagues, so no saying I got it right, just gives me the 'feel' that I like.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

I'm gonna go with Paul. Although, with practice, one can pick softly with tone.
I recommend just pick hard and achieve quiet with the pedal.
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chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

maybe 'firm' is a good word. the strings need to (generally) be picked 'firmly' enough to vibrate with a true tone and distinct harmonic overtones.
someone else said pick agressively. not like a madman but with conviction. once you've gotten familiar with the tonal differences of lighter and heavier techniques, you have that much more of a palette to paint from.

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Buddy Charleton told me to pick really pretty freakin hard all the time. He said I should be able to feel it behind the bar whenever I pick. Also get as much of the meat of the pick on the string as possible.
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James Sission · From: Sugar Land,Texas USA

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

I don't pick too hard or try not to pick too hard, mainly because I guess that's how I've been playing for fourteen years, but in Tim McCasland's video, he said if you pick a string too hard, it would be kinda rough-I guess he meant you could break strings that way. There are times though, when I've picked hard and didn't realize it.

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

James Sission · From: Sugar Land,Texas USA

Bob, I get it. Thank you. That will take some practice. But I will certainly work on it...Thank you...

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Roger Francis · From: kokomo,Indiana, USA

I had the Franklin courses on cassette tapes back in the 70s, Paul talked about finger exercises saying that when you do the exercises pick hard and that it was like a baseball player puting weights on his bat before batting to make the bat feel lighter when he batted.
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richard burton · From: Britain

I would try to pick both soft and hard (and somewhere in between), and see what works best for you.

If I pick real hard, I don't like my tone, but that is probably caused by a bad picking technique (irreversible now, 'cos I've been playing for too long), but everybody's different, and picking hard may suit you.

Jerry Jones · From: Franklin, Tenn.

I found that for me, the best tone comes from picking the strings hard, but not burying the picks. Use just the tip where the pick will have a bit of flex.
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Jerry Jones

Tommy Detamore · From: Floresville, Texas

I can corroborate Bob's statement re: Charleton. Buddy stressed authority in picking, to the point that you could feel the strings "snap" under your left-hand fingers that were spread out behind the bar. And I can still hear his voice when he caught me being lazy: "You're babying your thumb!"

Buddy said that the thumb was really the key to the whole right hand thing. If you pick hard with your thumb the fingers naturally follow. I think all of the masters know how to "pull" tone out of a guitar with the hands.

Right after my pal Bruce Bouton snapped this pic Lloyd launched into some fierce right hand action and I was shocked at how hard he was picking the strings. Dang-near knocked the bar out of my hand!:

I think that a harder picking approach demands a bit more bar pressure on the strings (more than just the weight of the bar). But there's tone to be had there too. And more pressure can actually help intonation in some cases too, believe it or not. But that's another can of worms Wink

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John De Maille · From: On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.

Back when I was learning, I used to pick at night with the amp turned off, so as not to disturb anybody. It made me pick harder, to hear the notes. I believe it helped me with my attack. Of course, over the years, I've learned to play softly when needed. Also, the relation of your picking hand to the pickup has a lot to do with the tone that comes out. Closer to the pickup, sharp,clean almost brittle. Further away, more mellow,softer, sort of muted. Just another point to ponder.

Jim Palenscar · From: Oceanside, Calif, USA

From a totally different perspective- during a lesson that I took from E he told me that I "pick too hard".

"You say tomato....."

Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

Thanks for sharing some great stuff, Tommy.

Like some others here, I practice a lot without an amp, which is good for domestic relations and better for my hands....

Kenneth Caine · From: Pennsylvania, USA

How does picking hard fit in with Jerry Byrd, the "Master of Touch and Tone"? Did he pick hard? When I think of touch, that says to me skill in how hard to pick the strings to get the tone desired. Perhaps Mr. Ray Montee can help here.

Is the hard picking done do increase sustain and then controlled by the volume pedal? I look at the steel as another instrument that would have the same musical rules as say a trumpet. Does a trumpeter play every note his loudest and then adjust with a pedal, no, of course not, he varies the volume by his blowing on the horn. His breath control is what makes him a unique player.

Our tone is then made by how hard the strings are picked, the blocking, left and right hand location, vibrato, pedal use and all the rest of this Rube Goldberg contraption we love so much.

Eric Philippsen · From: Central Florida USA

I thank everyone for their contributions.

Sometimes I think there's too much of a tendency to say "well, it all depends" or "not necessarily" when asked a question about, well, almost anything, including how to play the steel. Of course it all depends. Of course there are exceptions. Of course there're no hard and fast rules about anything. It's all relative. Sigh.

But there's a problem with that. Let me put it this way. As new students or beginners, we don't start with, nor do we want to hear "well, it all depends" when we ask questions, do we? Really, a newbie wants to be told "Do this". They don't want to hear what amounts to something that sounds like "Well, I can't answer your question about picking, blocking, foot placement, bar control, etc., etc, because there are all kinds of exceptions to whatever I might tell you. It's all relative." If I heard that from a teacher I would soon be looking for another.

Rather, as a newbie I would want to hear an answer that started with "DO this", just like what Buddy Charleton told his students. Then, maybe later on, I might want to know about some of the exceptions.

As always, just my thoughts. Thanks.

Mike Wheeler · From: Delaware, Ohio, USA

I agree with you Eric 100%. Giving someone a clear starting point from which to begin learning is very important. That's why getting a few lessons from a reputable teacher are vital. A teacher can make adjustments in his instruction to the student to optimize the learning curve for him, taking into account his physical and musical abilities.

Not taking advantage of a teachers instruction leaves a newbie at the mercy of opinions, and his own experimentation...which can take years to correct. And opinions about how something should be done are a dime a dozen, and can even be detrimental to the students ability to learn.

No one who became great in his field every got there by following the opinions of others. He followed in the footsteps of the greats that came before him then branched out to make a path for himself.

Well, that's my take on the matter. Smile

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Mike

Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

Interesting thread... Smile

For a beginner it is probably best to learn one way to pick that will work, and "picking hard" will work for most players in most cases, until they (over time) learn to vary their attack-approach to get the sound they want/need in each case.

It is my impression that when players discuss how hard to pick, they often leave out what angle(s) picks hit the strings with, and whether or not they tend to "pick deep" and/or grab and pull the strings. Such details may be useful to beginners.

I started by learning "one right way" to pick and how to shape and wear those picks, some thirty plus years ago. Picking force was on the "hard" side, finger picks was pretty ordinary "spoon shaped", and to a degree I grabbed and pulled the strings a little before letting go.

In the beginning this worked fine, but after a few years the playing style and sound I produced felt a bit "static" - everything sounded too much the same and too much like that of my teachers, so I experimented with everything from pick-brands to shapes to attach-force and attack-angles until I after about ten years found combinations and variations that worked for me to modify angles and how the picks hit the strings on the fly, to produce the wide range of sounds I wanted.

Took that long (ten years) because every time I allowed myself to pick "my way" alongside other players, some more experienced player would "correct" my style back to where I started. After years of being "corrected" I quit bothering with what anyone said, and stuck to my own methods until I mastered it properly. No going back now Very Happy

As a general rule I (still) pick hard - or maybe "firm" is a better word. Since I for the most part pick with the tips/edges on straight picks, I wear out regular, softer, steel guitar picks to the point that they become unusable - scratched up at the edges - in a matter of hours to days.

Luckily I had one set of thumb and finger picks made of steel - can't remember why or what I bought them for, and these have lasted well since I first shaped and polished them for steel guitar playing back around 1992. Last spring (2013) I even found good replacement for these very hard and a bit springy finger picks, so now I won't have to worry about losing my 2 good finger picks. Still haven't found a steel thumb-pick that suits me though, they are all too soft.

Zeke Cory · From: Hinsdale, New York USA

While I am not one to argue with the pros, I believe it depends on how you are running your setup. I have been able to achieve the most speed by running my volume pedal and amps very hot, and just touch the strings going by in a sideways motion, never down into them. This has allowed me to increase my speed tremendously. Also, on the slower stuff, a minimal touch is also all that is required as well. There is one drawback with my system - when you blow a lick you really notice. On the positive side of this drawback, this can serve to generally help you clear up those mistakes and become much more articulate. Tonewise, there is a sweet spot for the right hand just somewhat left of the pickup. You just have to find it on any specific guitar. Also, vibrato enters into the equation as to tone and sustain as well. Jeff Newman told us in class that you cannot speed pick and block properly and cleanly without palm blocking - but Paul F. apparently does so very well - a good example of different styles by different players. By examining many of the top pro's, one will find as many different approaches. To say one is right and the others are wrong is not realistic. They all sound very good as they have all perfected whichever overall approach they have chosen - not always the exact same style as others in every case. Find what works best for you. Just wanted to add another perspective to consider. Best Regards

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

I pick hard. I had been fingerpicking acoustic 6-string for a dozen years before I started on steel. I also wear my picks on an angle, so that they hit the strings squarely, with their full surface.
Sorry for the fuzzy pic, old, old camera.

Will Cowell · From: Cambridgeshire, UK

I'm really glad that this topic is up here, it's confirmed a suspicion I have had for a couple of years. My buddy and mentor John Davies really gives the strings hell - I was shocked at first to see how much stick he gives them, but boy, he has plenty of sustain, and great tone too.

I started off too light, got no sustain, and probably indifferent tone as well. I have seen the light, and try to be more assertive now, but I do think there is a time for something more gentle, every once in a while.

If it's good enough for LG, it's good enough for me....
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