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Can anyone suggest how I might improve my "floating fist" style flatpicking? I'm trying to clean up my pick technique for the sake of accuracy, feel, speed, and general ease-of-playing. I use the "floating fist" hand position a lot (hand and wrist floating freely, as opposed to anchored on the face, strings, or bridge of the guitar), but I can't play beyond a certain speed without resorting to some amount of anchoring, because the rebounding force from pushing the pick back and forth through the string starts to make my hand bounce out of control. Talking about single-note stuff, not chords...

I've been trying to address this by focusing on keeping my pick-strokes in a flat plane and keeping my grip loose enough so that my fingers will absorb some of the bounce before it creeps up into the hand and beyond. I've also been focusing on generating some of the picking force in the elbow, as it has to at least counteract the force of the string pushing back against the pick. I've been practicing alternate-picking on a single string, and at slow speeds I can keep it together and it feels pretty good. But again, past a certain speed the bounce creeps in and my hand starts to bounce off the strings.

Maybe some amount of anchoring is just unavoidable for playing fast runs, but I'd like be able to reduce my dependence on it.

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Why don't you want to anchor? It works... – slim Nov 14 '12 at 11:47
How much of the pick is sticking out past your fingers? – snailplane Nov 15 '12 at 16:37
Usually about 3/8 to 1/2 inch of pick extending past my fingers. I might have to choke up some, as I keep seeing 1/4" suggested. I've been watching some clips of Chris Broderick's playing and I like his right hand approach. It looks like he anchors a little, letting the tips of his comfortably-curled fingers brush unplayed strings. That's kind of what I'd like to achieve, a best-of-both-worlds technique. – ivan Nov 15 '12 at 22:24
Oh, interesting. I prefer to keep it closer to 1/8", myself. – snailplane Nov 16 '12 at 0:26

2 Answers

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I've had luck loosening the grip on the pick, so I would suggest working more on that...the trick is making sure you're not sacrificing tone. However, I'm not sure if this is the most common solution. I think it's relatively rare (depending on style of course) to not anchor finger(s) or wrist. Finally, have you experimented with different picks?

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I am in the process of a thorough round of pick experimentation :) I like the sound of your suggestion— I'll try focusing on that. Articulation ;) – ivan Nov 16 '12 at 17:07
up vote 4 down vote

Generally a floating hand can be either accurate or fast. For speed you will end up using the elbow and upper arm muscles, but that loses accuracy, so it isn't best suited to fast single note picking. For accuracy you want to have an anchor to give you precise feedback.

I would suggest using a floating hand for chords and for slower picking, and then anchoring just for those fast picking pieces. This is what I do, and what I see a number of my contemporaries doing.

It's all about using what is best for the particular purpose.

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