A Music School’s Take on Pick Control: Guitar Lessons Made Better

As a music school in Aberdeen teaching guitar to those who attend is much more than just learning a few chords and rhythms.  There is so much involved in becoming a well-rounded player.   As part of the experience at Fresh Music Aberdeen we incorporate theory and technique as a staple to become the best guitar player you can be.  All students at Fresh Music Aberdeen are taught not only how to do certain things but also why we do certain things. 

Pick control is something that’s very important to learn when you’re learning guitar at our Music School in Aberdeen.  This is because it will make your playing better and your playing will sound so much better because of it.  As a guitar teacher it’s important to teach the importance of pick control as well as the functionality of the technique.

There are many types of picking in guitar – speed picking, alternative picking, sweep picking, travis picking to name a few.  If you want to learn guitar in Aberdeen you have to learn the importance of these techniques and of course, how to use them.

Most students learn guitar first by using flat picking only.  Holding the pick correctly is important and resting your pick on the string below can be helpful when trying to practice control.  We don’t want to hear other strings if they’re not included in what we’re playing.  Within every guitar lesson with Fresh (unless the student plays solely fingerstyle) you will be required to use some sort of pick technique at some point.  The second step is to move to alternate picking.  Why I hear you ask?  Because in the long run it will speed up your playing and allow you to start shredding the neck as you play scales/solos.  As a music school it’s vital to ensure each student has at least some idea of what the pick is used for and how we can benefit from it if we use it in the right way.

Guitar lessons are there to teach you how to use the pick properly so that you can play any song no matter how tricky the pick pattern is.  Speed picking uses down strokes of every first note of every new string ascending and an upstroke for every first note of every new string descending.  This allows us to play quicker.

Finding a quality Music Teacher in Aberdeen who can teach you these things is vital and by perfecting these techniques you will become the best guitar player you can be.