The FLOATING TECHNIQUE For Non-Anchored Picking
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ค. 2020
- The sooner you avoid this common pitfall, the sooner you can pick with a feeling of total freedom.
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There are times when I will anchor a bit, especially my pinky finger, but overall I try to never lock down on the guitar. I'm just doing some preventative posting before all the "I see you anchor!" comments arrive. haha.
I've gotten used to having my hand float since I started three months ago. It was just yesterday when I watched a few videos on why anchoring is important and I was practicing all day trying to get used to anchoring at high speeds. I thought I developed a bad technique, but now I feel less guilty about my preference to float my picking hand. Although it's easier to float my hand, I find it almost impossible to play and maintain extremely fast tremolo picking without resting my hand on the bridge, lower strings or body of the guitar. Is it just something that I get used to after playing more and more, or do I need to learn to anchor for those instances?
Mark, since you just said above that you DO anchor your picking hand in some scenarios, please clarify which scenarios those are - so that we have a point of comparison for our own picking method to know when anchoring is acceptable or not. Thanks
Upon review of my own playing, I do not anchor except when doing certain things. Like you said. Pinky lands occasionally. But its just natural. I float the majority of the time, and it feels right. Actually I remember and older video of yours where you talked briefly about anchoring and its what kept me on the right path.
Hey mate I was just wondering, I think a good lesson you could do could be about little fills between chord transitions (mainly open chords) such as little hammer-ons, pull-offs, walking bass line into other chords etc. Just little things you can through into your chord transitions to add some flavour and variety!
Hey, i need some help...
ive been following along with the apprentice videos on the website...playing 2hours+ a day (really making progress)
and i had to take last week off cuz my freting wrist was hurting (i think i was bending my wrist at too much of a 90 degree angle)
i cannot figure out how to hold the guitar without having a bend in my wrist...i got a hand brace but idk if it's gunna help me in the long run
:(
Suggestions?
Thank you!!!
Getting a good and consistent picking technique has been the hardest thing for me to learn on guitar.
Same thing here
real
I've been playing for about 8 years and always anchored, just tried playing without and i immediately noticed that i can pick faster, also it felt quite natural. I fell like i have a little less control, but muscle memory keeps my hand above the right string without thinking (kind of like wearing new shoes, something feels off, but you can still walk without trouble). Thanks for telling us about this bad habit, i didn't even know my technique was wrong. Love your videos!
As a self taught guitarist (literally watched about 4 lessons or so if that) I literally just float cuz I didn't even think of anything else lol. Glad I got something right out of self teaching
Same here man.
Same, brother
Is your username a basterds reference?? Also, nice profile pic
As someone who doesn't have an electric guitar I have to practice on my classic guitar. The only option was floating. I will finally switch to something electric in a month.
@@TheDoomGuy420 nice pfp and name to you too, yes it's a reference to the Basterds
You're such a good teacher. I'm glad I watched this video. For some reason, it was always easier for me not to anchor anywhere, but I saw so many people doing it that I assumed it might hold me back.
Sometimes being a self taught guitarist can be really card, cause you may find a video after developing a bad habit for such a long time. And then it's like "damn, one step back again". But I am experiencing noticable difference after my first practise session with this technique. Thanks for the great lessons!
Hey, I love your vids. You have been a lot of inspiration in my guitar playing. Never stop making videos.
Kickstand down while riding a bike lol
I literally read your comment as he was saying the line . It was weird .
Isn't that a Motley Crue song? Kickstand my Hand?
@@TheArtofGuitar your thinking of Kickstart my heart
Brennan Hensley r/whooosh
@@brennanhensley80 r/Whooosh ✈️
Very well explained, I was resting my hand on the bridge and couldn't understand why I couldn't mute the strings.
Back to the drawing board☹️
I've been anchoring for like 8 years and have always wondered why it's harder to play higher strings fast than lower strings and why string transitions are so difficult. I guess I found out why.
I was doing that all the time, and i didn't know nothing about that, but that hand position was my natural position on guitar. Thank you for helpful video.
Thank you! I’ve really been struggling with this question. Good to get a pointer in the right direction.
Great video.
For someone playing guitar for less than two years, I can tell you that the floating hand is damn frustrating for the first few weeks. But, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I am now incredible efficient with it and transitioning from strumming to single string picking is much easier, more efficient and feels much better.
For example with the rain song, this requires a bit of both and i felt it really paid off in the long run. Now I am very happy I learned it early on in my guitar career.
I wish I'd seen this video when I first started picking. It took me forever to start to figure this out, and I am still working on it. My hand is more comfortable open, which then leaves me to deal with my ring and pinky fingers catching a bit on the high strings as I pick the low ones (my hand is not particularly large). My open fingers move around on the pickguard/guitar face a lot...a "soft" anchor like Schon. I'm going to experiment with a closed hand and see how it goes. Thanks for this video Mike!
Im planning on being a musician and after 3 years Im I'm taking a wrench to my training wheels once again. This is great I love the palm muting and my overall control of string plugging is going to increase. Pair that with practicing picking just enough to go through the strings I will become a sage with these strings 😎
Always had done this cause of my teacher, though I didn't know the reason behind why apart from muting. Thanks for expanding on this technique!
been anchoring no for all 18 years playing,back to basics i guess! makes so much sense when you explain it like that,i am guilty of not being able to play some guitars because i can't rest my fingers or palm somewhere
I NEEDED THIS VIDEO SO BAD, THANK YOU.
I started practicing without anchoring my hand a few weeks ago and feels so nice and I also notice some of my playing is a lot smoother
Thanks for all the good ideas,and just help in being aware
Whaaaa thanks so much for this 😊👍🏻. Self taught here, picking things up again after years- and hopefully properly this time!. I've been obsessing about my pick hand position, thinking I had it wrong by not planting to the bridge etc. as I've seen many advise. Just like you demonstrated though, my hand was having this weird unnatural angle and motion by planting, whereas my natural hand position I had more of this floaty/ resting on the strings method anyway, so this is such a relief that it's actually the best 👍🏻😊 I guess just practice, practice, practice, for picking accuracy now. Cheers
Awesome lesson!
Very good lesson love this
This is great insight because one of the things holding me back a little is definitely a muting issue... I can play considerably advanced stuff at this point but there's residual noise, so it's only half the work... I never anchored with my fingers but I'm super-guilty of anchoring on the bridge... Definitely one of the down-sides of being self-taught is you have to do correctional work to at least some degree later on...
Wow, Young Doug Marcaida sure knows a lot about guitar! Your new improved picking skills....will kiiiiill!
Man. Light bulb moment.
I’m a heavy bridge anchor guy when I play and it’s hard to break that habit but seeing this, definitely helps 🙏
I am new to the guitar and this sounds like solid advice. I have work to do.
An alternative to brush the thumb base against lower strings is to put the bone on the pinky side of the palm just above the wrist against the bridge, but move this "anchor" up and down the bridge depending on the string being played. This also lets you rotate the hand/forearm, and palm muting will take just a small adjustment.
Very good info!
I have a tiny pinky/small hands in general so anchoring was never really an option for me. Had to learn it the hard way from the get go and I’m glad for it now!
Had no idea! Such a helpful lesson, thank dude.
Can you do a video on more complicated strumming patterns?
Thank you!
Funny thing, I'm self-taught too, and I do this brushing from the beginning of my playing all along.
Been "floating" for more than a decade... it's a magic carpet ride! I don't think I could play rock or blues quite like anyone here--but floating has worked wonders for playing jazz. I tend to brush my knuckles against the strings to cut out string noise. Keep your wrist loose. Combine large and small muscle groups (forehand rotation, thumb finger flex, and the larger movement of the arm). Practice playing into the string with rest strokes, you can get some solid and strong tone when you float because you are using more than just fingers to push the tone out of the string. Practice string skipping and picking arpeggios. The best part of floating is that you can go from single notes to full chords seamlessly, without changing your technique. Just be prepared to take a lot of crap from people who anchor all the time and think that anchoring "is the only right, and traditional technique"--or whatever that means :)
VERY useful lesson for us beginners...! Many thanks!
You'd be surprised, a lot of experienced players too. :)
Very true. It can be difficult to not touch the guitar at all. Sometimes I just grab the high e string with my pinky.
Anchoring is generally bad but touching your guitar certainly is not. There are are actually probably more issues with closed fist:
1.) Tension - curling your fingers into a fist creates tension VS no tension with your fingers naturally placed
2.) Balancing/Distribution of weight - Having fingers touching a body of a guitar does not mean automatically anchoring. You can just balance your hand this way (Petrucci might be the best example of this). Balancing is impossible with closed fist.
3.) It generally does not work well if you play from your elbow and want to speed-pick. Suitable for rotation movements.
Some years ago I tried to play with closed fist for several months just for the reason you mention in a video - not to depend on a guitar. I failed miserably. All the issues above arised and I was really sloppy. Yes there might be an obstacle (volume button/pickup) to your pinky but usually all you need to do is move your hand closer to the neck where there are no buttons/pickups and the problem is solved. Now I'm happy I returned to my original hand position.
I've always played with the floating technique but I've heard that was wrong so I've been trying to Anchor my hand in the bridge but it's a habit just how I play but it's nice hearing that it's not so wrong.
Exact same deal with me my man
Such a hugely important topic! :)
nice i was wondering about that ♥
I don't remember if I picked this thing up on TH-cam or developed it myself, but I ended up using the finger kickstand thing as another muting technique, by resting those extra fingers on strings below the ones being played. I noticed in videos that a lot of guitarists don't anchor at all, so I started training myself in that direction. I find now that I still use that muting technique in certain circumstances, but I'm not so dependent on it anymore that it slows me down. And gaining experience on the guitar reduced the fear of getting "lost" and hitting the wrong string.
Woof. I've anchoring my pinkie since the very beginning. that's a difficult ask
Somebody needs to tell these guys: John Petrucci, Marty Friedman, Joe Stump, Michael Angelo Batio, Steve Morse, ...
Thank you so much! I'm a beginner and have been floating by default with no anchoring. But my hand floats at a greater distance from the strings than yours so after watching this video i noticed i had to make a significant change in order to allow for palm muting. This is invaluable for me because i want to learn slide guitar and i know palm muting is an important factor there. But one question i have is does any of this differ when you're playing finger style? Thanks again, awesome video!!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏
I only recently switched to floating after having anchored with my pinky since I started playing the guitar 3 years ago. I would like to emphasize that anchoring is not bad per-se (also many great guitarists are doing it, e.g. John Frusciante in Snow)! Its better to point out the advantages of one over the other rather than saying one is wrong or a bad habit. I myself see the floating technique as the solution for my struggle interspersing chords and single notes. When e.g. playing Under the bridge from RHCP you cant really anchor as you're picking single and and two notes in between chords - so there it comes naturally.
I’m still pretty new. I rely on anchoring. This is something to aspire to. Another thing. 😎
Good topic. I've started 'letting go' this year. Mostly so I could get my hand away from the Strat vol knob and trem. Great for that but gives a helluva lot of freedom in transitioning from picking and strumming... it's the same dang motion! Do it as soon as you can! Some folks get it right away, some need decades 🤣.
You can anchor for different purposes, lots of famous guitarists (with chops) anchor.. Like Petrucci! But for some situations it’s easier to not anchor. Just make sure you don’t stringhop too much, it’s exhausting
Funny to see that I did that floating picking right when I star (except for the muting part with the palm). Locking to the bridge or something was just too uncomfortable
I started self teaching a month ago and literally tried all the positions above. I anchored with middle finger at first and my hand tears to work on higher strings. Tried anchoring with wrist next and felt quite handicapped. Had to float in the end. Still have some trouble locating the strings but I guess it's just the road to travel. Wish I saw this video earlier lol.
At first when I started playing I didn't use to anchor my pinky finger and what that did was that my hand use to cause exaggerated picking motion where I would take more time reaching the next string which I was supposed to be playing later.
Then I changed my technique and started to slightly anchor my pinky finger and I found out that it actually reduced my picking motion and could play faster than before.
But still the problem to this day remains that when I am playing the spider exercise on the upper three strings, my hand can't slide down accordingly to compensate the farther distance that I am trying to pick as u have shown earlier in this video kind of like a pendulum motion which I am finding very difficult to play. So I hope u Mike and other fellow guitarists could suggest any solution to this technical flaw if any coz I don't want again to go to that unanchored picking technique.
I know it's been too long already for u to learn this but I hope u will help me out with this technical flaw I am going through.🙂🙂🤘🤘
I watch a lot of your videos been some time now but I just noticed I hadn't subscribed yet lol
Super lesson! I could not anchor either of those ways without fatigue, I thought there might be something wrong with me LOL. Have any of your students had problems with index fingernail brushing the strings? I may have a positioning problem because it occasionally happens.
Thanks for clearing this up! I was under the impression that I *needed* to anchor my pinky when playing, I thought doing it freehand or "floating" was technically incorrect. I always thought that was strange since picking felt more natural without anchoring.
On my acoustic however (when doing fingerstyle) I find anchoring the palm to the bridge is enormously helpful in positioning my hand comfortably. Any fingerstyle tips?
Great video(as always!!!) do you have some tips on keeping in sync with your hands? when i use the spider exercise, going from 1 to 4 all sounds perfect, going from 4 to 1.. with 1 i really need to an extra effort keeping it in sync. ..hope that makes sense :)
Awesome👍🏾
Thanks for a great video on a hugely important topic! Could you talk a little about the one place that you do anchor - the flesh of your forearm near your elbow kind of on the top of the body of the guitar? When I try anchoring that way and not anchoring at all (nothin but pick) I find that I'm very inaccurate when I am not anchoring anything at all. Also, have you ever noticed any inaccuracy or discomfort when playing a guitar with a body that is shaped differently? (Can't help remembering my old Gibson ES-175!)
I'm playing an acoustic for 15 yrs now and anchored for 12 or so. Looking back at it OUCH. As I said, the guitar was acoustic, and because it has that STUPID HOLE in the middle of the body ( :P ) , I ended anchoring my pinky down towards the fretting hand and actually strumming and playing around 18th fret. Yes, you read right, I was playing the pick around the 18th fret or so.
I got so used to it, it's still giving me some problems. One thing that I did for some time though was using a small piece of paper, or just a random small thing in my right hand to hold with the ring and pinky finger. It was helpfull at the beginning at least :)
I just happened by this video and this is exactly what I need to work on. I actually had gotten into the habit of hooking my little finger under the high strings as an anchor. 😂 I did this exercise once and it feels wierd as hell, but that must mean I'm doing it right now! Thanks for the tip, and all your videos are great thank you! 🤘
In terms of anchoring I dont really rest my fingers below the pickup but I make like a claw testing on the body when playing high strings
3:38 - 38 Special 👀
I've fiddled around on guitar for almost 30 years and recently invested more effort into learning proper theory, I often anchor on the higher strings, this makes me want to just give it all up because it's like starting over. I can't even synch my fret and picking hand when I float and try to play fast.
Yes the SG.
I find that my picking just unconsciously becomes a mix of anchor and floating. I'll either do the 2 finger anchor or I kinda do a "floating thumb" type anchor with my wrist behind the saddles but moving to the string I'm on
I've always just anchored with my pinky, using three fingers is kind of extreme. It's not a bad thing to anchor your picking hand, many great guitarists do it as well, like Michael Angelo batio
Yngwie also. But still, I think that at least 99% (if not all) people are more effective without the anchor.
Also Glenn Tipton from Judas priest does it
The difficult part about this is, first you are floating. But then, you are basically "anchored" on the strings. That little gap can have a lot of variation. I do agree that the pinky method is counter productive in the long run. The bridge anchoring can indeed be straining on the wrist. But only if you pivot around the same point? Could you maybe do a combination of the bridge anchor with your method? Still anchor on the bridge, but instead of pivoting you just lower your hand as you do, to play the higher strings? But you are all the time connected to the bridge?
im sort of picking ambidextrious, which is because i can change from anchored to floating depending on the song and stuff, it makes alot of things easier for me personally, because in some circumstances anchored helps me i feel
DOUBLE UPLOAD
How do you alternate pick with the floating technique?
I’ve never anchored from the beginning, glad I didn’t get into the habit!
Do you think you could do a Habits video on John McLaughlin?
Ironically, my accuracy suffers when i anchor my hand and is better and easier with my hand floating. Matter of fact I'm trying to focus on anchoring and i keep reverting to floating when i don't pay attention.
It started early on when i had a cheap guitar with a Fender type tremolo. I took a digger and ripped up the palm of my hand. The saddle's height screws were too high and they kept opening the lacerations on my palm and after a week or so my hand just wouldn't heal.
I never you focused on shredding, so it wasn't an issue and actually made it easier to adjust my pick attack for dynamics. Now I'm trying to work out of i downward slanting works better, or the upward 2:00 type etc.
Hey mate I was just wondering, I think a good lesson you could do could be about little fills between chord transitions (mainly open chords) such as little hammer-ons, pull-offs, walking bass line into other chords etc. Just little things you can through into your chord transitions to add some flavour and variety!
All that stuff is on my lesson website.
@@TheArtofGuitar Oh okay then I'll go check that out thanks a lot!
Can I apply this on acoustic guitar too?
What are your thoughts on lightly anchoring with pinky while you play low E and A, and then just release into the rest of the technique you showed? I used to do it exactly as you show here and then was taught to anchor with my pinky/ring finger, and I felt it awkward at first but as I practice, the switch as i'm moving up the board feels easier obviously but also makes the playing just a little easier. Sweep picking for example. When i'm floating I always struggle starting on the A string and sweeping up the board .
I feel it is necessary to anchor because I find it hard to gain any leverage on the strings.
Bro you should do more tutorials.big fan
That’s what my entire lesson website is. :)
@@TheArtofGuitar but still videos Focusing like say arpeggio soloing , 12 bar blues, looping etc wil be nice 😶
I think it comes down to what you are comfortable with. A lot of top players have at least a couple of fingers on the guitar. Guys like Micheal Angelo Batio, Yngwie Malmsteen and Eric Johnson. I myself just lightly rest my little finger on the guitar. I've tried the free floating technique and it just doesn't work for me. I get more speed and accuracy with the way I pick but that's just me so to speak. For me I guess it's if it works don't F with it.
I don’t anchor but I extend out my fingers that aren’t holding the pick. For some reason I only do that playing guitar but not bass lol.
I got a problem.
My little finger always stays with my ring finger. It seems like he doesn't want to separate and move little further from him. How do I break this relationship and make my little finger more free fluid and stronger?
Nice
For me pinky finger anchoring gives much better results. The trick is use the side of the pinky to anchor the guitar. It feels very natural.
I always anchor my little finger, and palm mute the strings on the bridge like the floater you do. I have to disagree with the statement you made about something being "Wrong". Ain't no wrong when playing guitar. I have no problem playing cross strings cause that pinky lets me know where my hand is and besides I use the triangle shape pick Fender medium. That tear drop never felt comfortable. Still a another great little lesson, keep them coming.
i anchor my pinky and ring fingers,i find it really comfortable. how can it be wrong if it works? in the end i suppose its all just opinions. saying that ,i do love your channel.
I'm just beginning and I was using my picking hand to mute the higher strings and anchor. Started to try your approach and it feels weird. I'm having to straighten my thumb. Is this correct?
Is it bad that I stick my fingers out when I pick? Instead of keeping them closed into my palm? Like Middle finger, ring finger, and pinky, stick out when I play.
This vid is cool!
But to me...There is many ways to hold a pick depending on what music you are playing But... I did learn certain ways to hold a pic from watching and studying Rik Emmett, Eric Johnson(finger picking while picking with pic) and Jason Becker. I sometimes when sweep picking I keep my picking hand third and fourth fingers touching the guitar only when calls for it. But I dont do it when I am palm muting sweeps.
The minute I tried resting my fingers on the bottom I noticed I couldn’t get to the low strings.
How can I get private lessons from you?
Holy moly, and there is an another thing to re-learn. I grew even worse habbit. My pinky is anchored to high E string. I guess I'll start learning to play the guitar properly, after 10 years of smashing the strings :D
Well if it’s working for you then run with it. :)
@@TheArtofGuitar Nah, I absolutely suck! :-D That's why I watch your cool channel ;-) You made me stop playing songs and start playing the guitar :-)
what kind of guitar is that?
really digging it
Gibson SG
so its ok for your forearm to rest on the back of the guitar though right?
what is that? a tremolo system on your SG? what is it?
Mey Mike, Appreciate your videos...
my friend owns cobra kai. Do you train there?
So hard to not anchor my fingers on the bodyb
Slash actually always plays anchored, I used to do it too, but it's not efficient while playing fast alternate picking licks. Tbh trying to learn the solo to TOS was very helpful 'cuz the majority of the solo can't be played with beginner's bad technique.
wtf is tos
Oooh, OK, I'm going this route when I play my electric now. On another note, never been an SG fan, however, that freakin' guitar is gorgeous! Specs please? I gotta know that color (gonna Google for it, so who wins this race).
I thinks it’s just a darker heritage cherry
Idk man but its not comfortable for me, yes its comfortable for 1st time but after doing this 1 month its fell kind weird, im always hitting wrong string or allways look down to guitar body for navigating the string and it not help me to mute other string, im always anchord my 3 and 4 finger on pick guard note im play on acoustic guitar
I've been anchoring just my pinky for a year (since I started playing) and just recently started wondering if I shouldn't be doing that. So I've been going back and forth trying to decide what feels right vs. what is right. If it feels right, should that have some weight in deciding, etc. So this video was great timing for me. Will work to let go of that pinky crutch!
Anchoring fingers is not good but anchoring your wrist on the bridge is actually the best way to go
Even if it feels weird at the start, having that reference point every time will make you pick accurately a lot faster and easier
It makes no sense to float your hand if you really think about it, how do you pick the same way every time If your hand doesn't have a reference point, how do you practice that? I won't say it's impossible, but I will say it's just waaaaaay harder than it needs to be
Do Eric Johnson technique