I had a great call yesterday with Denise.
She won a 30-minute Zoom call with me from in the Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy.
It’s always a pleasure to chat with Denise.
We covered some really good stuff – mostly on the dark art of strumming.
Some of the things we covered were…
How to hold a pick…
Tips for improving upstrums…
…And the choice of pick.
Right there and then, we got some improvements going on with her strumming, which was great.
Strumming is a really subtle art, and there are quite a few things that make a difference.
One being the pick you use.
At first, Denise was using a shiny pick with zero grip.
Personally, I hate those sorts of picks.
They slide around my fingers like me sliding around on my backside whenever I’ve been ice skating.
Over the years, I’ve tried many picks – some being far better than others.
Well, about six months ago, I decided I wanted to get my own picks made.
Both for playability and branding.
I started researching companies who would make custom-made picks for me.
It was a longer search than I anticipated.
There were a lot of companies creating shiny novelty picks.
They had nice designs, but those sorts of things are not great for proper guitar players.
Eventually, after lots of searching, I found a company here in the UK who are the real deal.
A good sign was that their website was pretty basic.
I’ve often found the best independent makers of guitar-related stuff tend not to have great-looking websites.
…Instead, they spend most of their time working on the actual product.
So I got them to make me a variety of picks.
After some testing, we hit the jackpot.
The picks themselves are made from “delrinex”.
They feel, sound, and look great.
There is the “red one” which is slightly thicker and great for single-note picking.
…And there is the “black one” which is thinner and designed to be used more when strumming.
I tested them with my private students too, and they love them.
I now have two types of custom-made picks with my branding on them that I love!
I’m super excited about this.
A good pick is very much like a good pair of shoes.
You have to find one that fits you.
…But a good pick AND good technique equals some lovely playing.
As you know, I focus about 70% of my playing on NOT actually using a pick.
But when I do use a pick, I make darn well sure that the pick I have feels and sounds great.
I’ll be announcing how you can get these picks soon.
Along with some other very cool things (including my brand-new book, which I’m crazy excited about).
For now though, if you want to improve your picking, then the lessons inside my blues course will help.
Of course, if you prefer, you can ignore all this pick-talk and just play the stuff in the course with your fingers.
Either way, if you like the blues, here is the link to find out more…
The Beginner 12-Bar Blues Mini Masterclass
Happy pickin’
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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