Learn An Easy Guitar Picking Song to Help Develop Your Picking Technique and Pick Hand Control

Does your picking hand feel uncomfortable or unstable when you are playing the guitar?  Do you sometimes feel like your pick hand is “unsure” of where the correct string that you want to play is located?  Developing confidence and consistency in your picking technique is created by using a good pick hand setup and becoming aware of how to pick properly so that you can get a consistent sound out of your guitar and feel confident in your pick hand control.

Today I want to show you how you can learn to start creating a confident feel in your picking hand that will help you develop a good sound on the guitar.  We will use an easy guitar picking song that sounds good and will help you ingrain the right feeling and picking technique in your picking hand.

Watch this free picking hand guitar video that will show you how to develop confidence in your picking hand and play the example below. You can hear it here.

This lesson will also help you develop your confidence in locating and picking the correct strings without having to watch your pick hand.  It is very difficult to play consistently if you constantly have to move your eyes and focus back and forth from your pick hand to your fret hand. 

The easy guitar picking song has a very simple fret hand part—this is so that you can focus on your pick hand and locating the strings that you want to pick.  The picking technique motion we are going to focus on involves playing the third, second and first strings using a single downstroke.  Here is the sequence in tablature:

Play the repeating sequence of notes using down strokes with your pick hand.  Play it several times making sure that all the notes ring out clearly and evenly.

Now, try to play it without looking at your pick hand.  Close your eyes or look up at the ceiling while you are playing it.  Is it more difficult to play it without watching your hand?  Even though this is an easy guitar picking technique it can be difficult to play if your pick hand is not set up in the proper way.  If you are having some difficulty with it, let’s look at how we can make this picking technique easier for you to play.

This free guitar picking hand video will show the correct way to set up your picking hand so you won’t have to watch your pick hand while you play.  Watch it here.

Let the side of you picking hand rest on the top of the guitar near the bridge while picking the notes.  This will give your pick hand a feeling of being secure while playing the sequence of notes.  It should feel somewhat similar to how your hand feels when you write.  Think about that for a moment—when you write, you rest the side of your hand lightly on the desk.  Doing it that way gives you much more control over the pen or pencil.  Otherwise, if your hand is floating above the desk, you will have a sense that you don’t have control over the pencil.  The same is true for your pick hand when playing the easy guitar picking note sequence.

To get comfortable with this sensation in your picking technique, repeat the picking sequence for a minute or two at a time while not fingering any notes with your fret hand.  Lightly rest the side of your pick hand on the body of the guitar near the bridge.  Resting your hand will give you a sense of security and will truly allow you to more easily feel where the strings are.

Here is the entire easy guitar picking song.  Focus on not watching your pick hand.  You may use any finger on your fret hand that you are comfortable with to play the notes.  You will need to watch your fret hand to make sure you are playing the correct notes—let your picking hand learn to feel where the correct strings are without looking.  With a little practice, your picking technique will develop and you will be able to feel where the correct strings are. Pick slowly and evenly.

Remember to let the side of your picking hand rest lightly on the guitar near the bridge.  This is a very important key to developing your single note picking technique.  This will give you a “secure” feeling in your picking hand and will allow you to begin to “feel” the location of the strings with your picking hand.

Easy guitar picking starts with the proper setup of your picking hand.  With the right setup, your hand will become more confident and your will be able to play individual strings without having to watch your pick hand.  Take it slow, set up your pick hand correctly and watch your single note picking technique improve quickly.

Watch the free guitar picking hand lesson video and learn how to incorporate the correct picking technique into your playing now.  You can watch it here.

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