Your Own Picking Style

I have my own picking style which I no longer teach because I do not have the hubris I had when I was a young teacher. Back then, I thought it was important for me to teach my method—who else would? But there’s no evidence that my personal style is better than others, and some that it may be limiting. So I keep my style for myself, but am sharing it here to invite comment.

My style is based on the method I use for the right (strumming) hand. I assign the thumb to the lower strings (4,5,6) and each of my first three fingers to each of the high strings (1,2, 3). If I have a note repeating on any string I don’t use alternate fingers, which slows me down, but it also enforces an exact position of my fingers for each string, so playing melodies across strings is very easy and deliberate. It’s also easy to play chords interspersed with melody in this fashion, because the chords are always right under your finger tips, ready to be instantly played. It also is a great way to play arpeggio passages, or to invent melodies from chords just by striking strings in various sequences with their assigned finger.

My Guitar Bliss point here is that it’s okay to develop a style that reflects your enjoyment of the instrument. I’m sure some would disagree, including some who could out-play me, but I want to offer my opinion here that if a picking style works for you, it’s not wrong. You discover yourself in your music, and it’s reasonable and natural if your style is all your own.