How do you hold a guitar pick?

Holding a guitar pick properly is an often overlooked skill to acquire. Holding it too tight can cause discomfort, and holding it too loose can affect your technique. While there is no right or wrong way to hold a pick, there are proven guidelines to follow that most guitar players adhere to. There are a wide variety of picks available ranging from very thin designed for acoustic strumming, to very thick for lead and rhythm playing. There are no hard and fast rules here. In time you will determine what pick is right for you and your style, but let's start with the following guidelines.

• Relax your picking hand, and bring your thumb and index finger together.
• Close your remaining fingers towards your palm to make a very loose fist with your thumb still beside your index finger.
• Place the pick between your thumb and index finger with the tip of the pick exposed. This is the part that will contact the strings.
• How much the pick is exposed can affect the accuracy when trying to hit the strings. In time you will learn how much of the pick to keep exposed.
• Check out the picture to get a better idea of how to hold the pick and attack the strings.