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Strat Users- Where do you pick?


antimatter

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Really Odd. I bought an Agile LP and have been playing that for the past few weeks.

 

Then I broke out the Strat, and for some reason I was very aware of where my pick went. What's crazy is I couldn't remember where I picked before the LP invasion! I never really thought about it, just kinda you know, played.

 

I seem to stay in between the middle and neck pickups, but I also feel comfortable between the bridge and middle PUPs too. And just maybe, I moved all over anyway, and just never payed attention.

 

:confused:

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A simple test will reveal how much pick location can affect the sound of your guitar...

 

For that reason, it's part of my playing style to move the pick to the place that creates the type of sound I need at the moment.

 

It's pretty unconscious now, but it's worthy of practice and experimentation if it's new to you.

 

Perhaps the most extreme things to try are strumming over the neck, way up by the 15th fret to get a real "mellow" strumming tone. And then try some "chicken pickin'" stuff way back by the bridge.

 

Or how about "behind" the bridge on a LP style guitar where the string passes to a stop tail... it's a wierd sound you won't otherwise get.

 

michael

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Check out my music if you like...

 

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I never gave this much thought before myself, but now that I think of it, I tend to pick close to the middle on my Strat, as well as on my Ibanez acoustic-electric guitar, and also on any other guitar that I may happen to pick up. If I consciensely look to alter my tone in a given moment, I'll pick elsewhere, but for the most part I keep to the middle.

Robert J. ("Bob") Welch III

 

"If you were the only person who ever lived, God still would have sent Jesus His only Son to die on the cross for YOU, because that is how much HE LOVES YOU!"

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you could of course just lower it til it no longer gets in the way of your picking. If your tradition has single-coil pups and the middle one is wired out-of-phase with the others, it can act as an effective hum-bucker for them.

Originally posted by bbach #1:

The middle pup on my Tradition is a stacked and I hate that thing. No only do I never use it, but I hit it with my pic. I'm swearing off all three pickup guitars.

I used to think I was Libertarian. Until I saw their platform; now I know I'm no more Libertarian than I am RepubliCrat or neoCON or Liberal or Socialist.

 

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Picking in only one area is like missionary position for your entire life with only one babe. Did I say that out loud?

 

Really, there's more tones in any guitar than a lot of players ever see, simply because they aren't getting all up in there from every angle. Anywhere along a string has a different balance of overtones and amplitude relationships. And relationship to the pickup position.

 

Don't be dull and unimaginative. Make 'er scream, make her beg and plead, make her wail*

 

 

* for Lee this may be different

.
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Originally posted by greenboy:

Picking in only one area is like missionary position for your entire life with only one babe. Did I say that out loud?

 

:D

 

I was just thinking about that first place you instinctively pluck when you pick up the axe and strum a chord or do that first warmup scale. I'm sure most people don't even think about it.

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depends on what i am doing. palm muting puts your hand in one spot and strumming is cool over the neck as already mentioned. i tend to play in the middle to rear pickup area most of the time but thats only when i am not going for pinch harmonics, on a "strat" with a humbucker i wrap my pinky around the pickup ring (pacifica). but i still can move quite abit from there.
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It's strange making a change from tune-o-matic setups to a strat style system because without the ash tray instaqlled you're not likely to rest your hand there any more.

 

It is an odd feeling but you immediately fine that there is a range of sounds, tones and consequently reasons to pick all over the place.

This is also influenced by the thickness of your pick / desired outcome and those who finger pick.

 

Any of you who pick with other devices ever get caught in public.

pens, keys, straws, crayons... :D How do you explain that :freak:

I still think guitars are like shoes, but louder.

 

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I'm glad you asked this question. Over the years I've mastered the art of proper plectrum placement picking between the neck and middle pickups, middle pickup and also between the middle and bridge pickups. I've posted a short MP3 to demonstrate thusly. Note the subtle shadings that can be achieved.
You shouldn't chase after the past or pin your hopes on the future.
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I usually play between the neck and mid pups. I like the "fuller" sound.

 

I do have a tendency, however, to gradually gravitate (say it 3x quickly for an award :D ) towards the bridge when I use the mid / mid-bridge / bridge positions (3, 4 & 5?); winding up closer to the bridge with each position change; but never past the space between the mid and bridge pups.

 

FWIW, I'm really an old converted acoustic player, and always played this right over the sound hole; although I would go towards the bridge when I wanted it to sound like an electric :freak:

Gotta' geetar... got the amp. There must be SOMEthing else I... "need".
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Originally posted by greenboy:

Picking in only one area is like missionary position for your entire life with only one babe. Did I say that out loud?

 

Really, there's more tones in any guitar than a lot of players ever see, simply because they aren't getting all up in there from every angle. Anywhere along a string has a different balance of overtones and amplitude relationships. And relationship to the pickup position.

 

Don't be dull and unimaginative. Make 'er scream, make her beg and plead, make her wail*

 

 

* for Lee this may be different

yup, what greenboy says.

Vinny Cervoni

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greenboy,

Make 'er scream, make her beg and plead, make her wail*

 

* for Lee this may be different

Like, "Make 'im moan, make him groan, mold him into your own tone."? :D

 

Lee, absolutely NO offense meant here :cool:

Just tryin' to let people see things from a woman's perspective too ;)

Gotta' geetar... got the amp. There must be SOMEthing else I... "need".
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I've got to go along with bluestrat. So, in metal mode it's sort of between the bridge and the middle but closer to the middle. And the rest of the time it's more over the middle and just a little bit more towards the neck.

With me, arched top LP's almost force me to rest my palm on the bridge because that bridge is so high off of the main body. Any Pete Townshend "wind mill" strumming and I usually amputate any hangnails I used to have, and creat newer injuries.

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I tend to move where I pick quite a bit. I don't really think about it, I just move the hand to where it sounds the way I want it to.

I find different guitars cause me to pick differently, and in different places, as well. Adjusting to my Artcore (hollow-body, archtop) took a little while, after playing a strat for so many years. :eek: The relationship between the strings and the body really affected me at first, but now it's second-nature again.

May all your thoughts be random!

- Neil

www.McFaddenArts.com

www.MikesGarageRocks.com

 

 

 

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I agree completely. That's why I've got different axes.

The switch to the hollow-body was the biggest change for me (I was used to my strat, my Les Paul, and my acoustics), and it took me about a week to get really comfortable with it. It's feel and tones are different from my other guitars, and it does make me play a little differently. And I'm still quite smitten with it. :thu:

May all your thoughts be random!

- Neil

www.McFaddenArts.com

www.MikesGarageRocks.com

 

 

 

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Originally posted by michael saulnier:

A simple test will reveal how much pick location can affect the sound of your guitar...

 

For that reason, it's part of my playing style to move the pick to the place that creates the type of sound I need at the moment.

YOU STILL DA MAN!!!! :thu:

 

On average, I tend to be close to the center pickup. But depending on the sound I'm looking for, I'm all over the place. I never even think about it anymore.

So Many Drummers. So Little Time...
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I fingerpick, or fingerstyle, about 90% of the time, but FWIW, when my old tele started getting the squeals, I began looking for another solid body guitar. I wanted to hang on to the tele, but because of its age, didn't want to take it traveling, and didn't want to replace pickups, frets, etc. that would reduce its collector value. I found a really great early nineties Strat Plus at Kansas Guitar Exchange (no spam - just a great little shop). It looks like Blackie, has Lace pup's and a sweet neck, but I had one hell of a time adjusting to the pickup positions and lack of the tele's ashtray bracket. Now, my hands know both configurations. When flat picking, I usually hit between the middle and bridge pup's, but I can't tell you why.

 

Henry

 

"I started out on burgundy, but soon hit the harder stuff.

Everybody said they'd stand behind me when the game got rough.

But the joke was on me, there wasn't nobody left to bluff.

I'm going back to New York City, I do believe I've had enough."

 

...Dylan

He not busy being born

Is busy dyin'.

 

...Bob Dylan

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Yeah, like Guitplayer and many others have said here, I also pick in different places- and in different ways- to achieve different tones, different amounts of attack, and to level the string-to-string balance on chords.

 

(Try all of this on an acoustic guitar, too, if you've got one handy...)

 

Pick some single notes right near the bridge; then where the middle pickup is (or would be). Then try picking the strings directly over the spot where the 24th-fret would be, generally over the neck-pickup for a Strat, or a Les Paul's neck-pickup's polepieces, for example.

 

Then try picking any one of the open strings directly over the 12th-fret; listen to how deeply bell-like the note is, like it just went >kerplunk< into a deep pool under a bridge at high-noon, right there where that old sunken boat's been collecting moss all these years...

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Originally posted by greenboy:

Picking in only one area is like missionary position for your entire life with only one babe. Did I say that out loud?

 

Really, there's more tones in any guitar than a lot of players ever see, simply because they aren't getting all up in there from every angle. Anywhere along a string has a different balance of overtones and amplitude relationships. And relationship to the pickup position.

 

Don't be dull and unimaginative...[/i]

Despite greenboy's very astute observations, I usually hover between the middle and neck pickups, often closer to the neck. (This is true when I'm playing other guitars, too.) It takes all my concentration just to try to play the right notes without having to think about moving the pick around to color them. Besides, GB, if you play enough notes fast enough the timbral differences among them don't really matter... :D:D:D

 

 

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Originally posted by J J:

no answer, just a quick question

what do you think of your agile?

I think im gonna order the 3000-prestige LP model in a few days or so.

Well besides messing up my Strat pick placement, I'm happy. :D

 

I still want to bring it in to a good tech for a setup. It arrived with very low action, and had some buzz on the lower frets. I'm still getting used to the P90 pickups, and finding my amp settings for them.

 

And again, the build quality is very impressive for a $230 guitar(Agile 2500).

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