HOW TO HOLD A PICK

Start with a medium gauge pick, ones that aren't too flimsy, or too hard.
Pay attention to some industry standards. MEDIUM PICKS
This is the best for light strumming to picking individual strings for single notes.
The following explains how to hold, and use a pick. Your "picking hand" is the
hand nearest to the bridge of the guitar, left or right handed.

1. Open your picking hand, and turn the palm to face you.
2. Close your hand to make a very loose fist. Your thumb should remain
   beside your index finger.
3. Rotate your hand until you are looking at it's profile, with your thumb's
   knuckle facing you.
4. With your other hand, slide your guitar pick between your thumb and
   index finger.
   The pick should be approximately located behind the knuckle
   of the thumb.
5. Be sure the pointed end of the pick is pointing directly away from your
   fist, and is protruding by about a half an inch. Hold the pick firmly.
6. Position your picking hand over the sound hole of your acoustic guitar,
   or over the body of your electric guitar. Your picking hand, with thumb
   knuckle still facing you, should hover over the strings.
7. Do not rest your picking hand on the strings or body of the guitar.
8. Using your wrist for motion (rather than your entire arm), strike the
   sixth (lowest) string of your guitar in a downward motion. If the string
   rattles excessively, try
   striking the string a bit softer, or with less of the pick surface.
9. Now, pick the sixth string in an up wards motion.
10. Repeat the process several times. Try and minimize motion in your
    picking hand:
    one short picking stroke downwards, then one short picking stroke
    upwards.
    This process is referred to as "alternate picking"
11. Try the same exercise on the fifth, fourth, third, second, and first strings.

Tips:

1. Holding the pick in this manner will invariably feel awkward at first.
   You will initially have to pay special attention to your picking hand
   whenever you play guitar.
2. Try and create fluidity in your alternate picking. Your down strokes
   should sound virtually identical to your upstrokes.

Forguitar.com                                                                                       2003