Weekly Workout: Perfect Your Pick Technique

A quick survey of accomplished pickers will reveal big differences in technique. For example, pull up YouTube clips of Pat Metheny, Tony Rice, and Eric Clapton and you’ll see three guitar virtuosos with wildly differing pick techniques, and not just because of their musical styles. Compare Rice with Doc Watson and Dan Crary, for example, and you’ll see three bluegrass masters with very different pick approaches. In these workouts, we won’t get into how to hold the pick—that’s generally a personal topic best tackled with a good teacher—but I’ll give you some exercises you can use to work on controlling your pick.