Hi guys, my name's andy and in this lesson
I'm talking to you through what a pic is these things are also known as a plectrum?
why I think you should [get] one and my recommendations for doing, so
So a pic is the best way to get the loudest and brightest sound from your guitar [those] two things that [are] real advantage
Especially in the early days, so it's a worthy investment and they do cost just a few pence
So it's really worth getting the pic
now some beginners are really put off from using a guitar pick because they can move in their hands or
Generally, they just prefer to use their fingers, but it does give you a certain sound and I'd really recommend
Persevering with a pick and it will become second nation to you
And you may even prefer it to using your fingers in the long run
So it's a very different sound we can get as well. This is my image accord the first chord
[we'll] go for in the course with a pick
Hopefully that sounds quite professional to you guys. That's the sound we're going for we can just strum it with your thumb, but
Give us a very different sound a much more subtle sound much more delicate
Now some people will prefer that sound and they may those people may want to become fingerstyle guitarist
however in my beginners course I'll be teaching you to use a pick and it's pretty essential to get used to using a pick to
Do the strumming patterns that we're going to be doing and this course focuses [on] the basics of guitar and one of those?
Basics really is learning how to use a pick now you can get a pick style of playing by using the outside of your nails
sort of in this fashion and
That will sound nice and loud and bright and that style
Including sometimes using the phone has been popularized somewhat in these days by Ed
Sheeran and other popular acoustic guitarist that are popular at the moment
However if you do want to play that style of music
we have to begin by
[using] a pick otherwise what you'll find is you'll get blisters on your fingers and on your thumb
And you likely won't be able to recreate that sound in the early days, so we need to get used to using a pick first
Especially if you want to play that style of music that I've just mentioned
In regards to holding a pick you'll want to place it between your thumb and your first finger
So if you hold your hand [like] you're giving the thumbs up sign, and then relax your hand slightly
So your fingers aren't quite as tight as that
We place the pick on top of your first finger like this and then place your thumb on top of that
around in the middle of the pick so there's only about
Three or four or five millimeter of the pick showing you don't want to have this amount of pick showing
And you don't want to show too little so that the strings always catch your thumb in the skin here
So this is how I'd really recommend
persevering with holding a pick and my hand kind of feels like now like I'm holding a microphone or like an ice cream cone and
Placing the pick on the side of your first finger creates a slight angle which means that the pick runs across rather than rubbing
Against the strings if you do get very frustrated and the pick [keeps] spinning in your hand, or you keep dropping it
There's no problem in these early [days] of holding the pick with two fingers rather than one where you would hold it like this
This is how [I] first started using a pick and it wasn't until I became a lead guitar player
So playing lots of single strings all the time that I was encouraged [to] hold this pick on the side of my first finger which
Is now the way that I play everything but holding it like this if it makes you persevere with a pick. That's okay
So picks come in different materials and different
Thicknesses my favorite is a [Jim] [dunlop]
Maxi grip
0.73 [I] really think these are great
They don't move around your fingers quite as much as a standard pick does and I've always been a fan of these nylon picks
Right back from when I was a beginner that is just my personal preference
I'm not endorsing those picks any more than just [to] say they're what I find most comfortable personally
And I do recommend them to my students dunlop do also make these tore textile picks, and they are very cool
And they're very popular among the professionals, but my preference is [for] the nylons
And then there is this plastic style pick that are very popular and you can get in lots more different designs
And there can be a bit more flashy
Personally I've never really been a fan of those plastic type picks
I've found our broken strings with them and because they don't have quite [as] much bend in them
It can be quite aggressive, especially for the early days again
Those [are] just my personal choices because these picks are cheap
I do recommend that you get a variety and see which one works for you
Certainly for the absolute beginners that are likely watching this video. I don't advise you go any thicker than
0.73 and actually the thinner the better to be a bit more forgiving on the strumming hand so you can even go down to
0.38 which is one of the thinnest picks available
But somewhere between there and point 7 3 you should find a pick that you're comfortable with and it is worth spending
Just a few pounds or a few dollars you know getting a range of picks and seeing which one works best for you
So that's how [to] hold a pick and how to choose one do join me in the final lesson of these
Basic skills videos well I'll be briefly talking about how to read Chord
Diagrams and how to read something called guitar tab which is how single notes are written and displayed in guitar music
So I hope see in that next lesson before we get on to level one [of] my beginners course take care of yourselves
And I'll see you there
[you] [can] download this video and the e-book that goes with this entire course by clicking
In this [area] here click over there to watch the next lesson here on [YouTube] please subscribe
If you haven't already and all those links are in the description if you are watching over a while
you