# Djenty Pick Holding



## Wiz (Jun 6, 2008)

All over youtube I keep seeing mathcore/alternative metal guitarists hold the pick in a somewhat unusual way (for me) and apparently get really good results out of it when it comes to fast alternate picking of complex rhythmic parts.

Here's a couple of vids including our own lord djent:



or



Seriously what's up with that angle? I remember seeing this other video of a guy saying that he's the fastest picking person in the world (yeah, we've all seen 100 videos like that) and he stated that his secret was a different picking angle.

Does anybody happen to have an explanation of how that works and why one would use that technique instead of the good ol' one?


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## TomAwesome (Jun 6, 2008)

I don't think the angle has a hell of a lot to do with the djentiness. It's just a matter of preference. I like my pick angle to be parallel to the strings, personally, and I never had any trouble getting djent like that.


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## WillingWell (Jun 6, 2008)

I'm pretty sure the Meshuggah guys hold it parallel/normal and they invented djent.


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## adamgiroux (Jun 6, 2008)

i pick sort of like that.. (it wasn't a conscious decision, it just kind of happened) i don't know if it's especially useful for djent, but i like it because it makes upstrokes a little easier imo. but i think i remember paul gilbert saying that he used to pick with more of an upward angle but it hurt his thumb joint because it was bent back most of the time, so he switched to a more "normal" approach.


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## TomAwesome (Jun 6, 2008)

IIRC, I think Gilbert angles his picks down about 45 degrees. It adds a tonal character to the attack that he says sounds a little like a bow. Personally, I really hate that sound and try to avoid it.


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## El Caco (Jun 7, 2008)

It is easier for me to play with my pick angled 45&#8728;but you get that scratchy sound I hate that apparently is part of the Djent sound, I prefer the sound of holding the pick parallel but play better the other way.


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## Zepp88 (Jun 7, 2008)

......to get that sound really all you need to do is mute up high on the bridge (close to the pickups) and beat the living shit out of your strings.


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## TomAwesome (Jun 7, 2008)

Yeah, except you don't even have to pick that hard. Just move your palm away from the bridge a little, make sure you're not muting hard enough to make the strings go sharp, and bam, instant djent.


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## Zepp88 (Jun 7, 2008)

TomAwesome said:


> Yeah, except you don't even have to pick that hard. Just move your palm away from the bridge a little, make sure you're not muting hard enough to make the strings go sharp, and bam, instant djent.



A lot of the Meshuggah style stuff comes from abusing your strings though  

I whole "djent" thing works particularly well on a bright guitar I've discovered....


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## stubhead (Jun 7, 2008)

Santana & George Benson pick this way, there's a detailed explanation here, along with a detailed explanation of *every other possible way to hold a pick in the universe*, except may glue it to a dog and train him to jump up and down on your guitar:
Tuck & Patti: Pick & Fingerstyle Techniques

(It's 1.1.8....)


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## bulb (Jun 7, 2008)

i dont think it has a lot to do with the pick or the way you hold it so much as how you pick using your own technique (for me its picking hard with a firm 3 finger grip on the pick, but thats just me), alex and jake both hold the pick differently from me (similar to each other but use different picks) and all 3 of us can get djenty palm mutes.


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## metalmonster (Jun 8, 2008)

perhaps ... heavy strings ? what strings do you use ? i have some sludgy palm mutes ... must work on this i believe .


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## gaunten (Jun 8, 2008)

I've always held my pick that way, even when soloing and stuff.
I simply cannot hold my pick the "normal" way when playing anything.


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## metalmonster (Jun 8, 2008)

hum .

easy to get that djenty sound with a dual rectifier simulation , some good cab sim and my 7620 with new strings in guitar rig (hum , trial version , helps to try out some things ... ) 

the secret is putting lots of hi-mids before the amp . and , gaunten , how is your valveking cab with the 5150 ? just curious and looking for a good but not too expensive cab


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## DaveCarter (Jun 8, 2008)

IMO the only angle you should really ever pick at is totally parallel to the string, thats whats going to give you the clearest, most accurate result. Regardless, I think Djenting is more about the palm muting than the actual angle of the pick.


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## metalmonster (Jun 8, 2008)

hmm ... parallel picking all the way . and moreover , a very little part of the pick to just exitate the string and make it vibrate smoothly ... but strongly and with a heavy attack ,yet controlled .picking is like kissing a girl , you need to practice to do it well (strongly , with energy , because a lifeless kiss is the worst thing in the universe , but , slowly and with lots of love , i often feel like playing a guitar solo when kissing ... it's really nice when you know well about the trick and you can learn only by practiscing with your guitar/girlfriend your picking/kissing technique )

hum djenty sound ? i think it's all about palm muting and pick attack . don't hesitate to give some punch ...


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## PeteyG (Jun 8, 2008)

Don't pick like me (I'm the guy in the second video in the first post on this), I hate it, find loads of things way too difficult, drop my pick way too much, and I'm currently going through a massive transition in picking style, which is causing me such a headache.


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## metalmonster (Jun 8, 2008)

hum yeah

i love to change the inclination of my pick when doing sweep picking . more fluid feel (for soloing i'm sold to rosewood picks , smooth and warm jazz tone ... ) 

there are people i know in my town that play in an horrible way , they hit the strings , not controlling the picking movement with the wrist , ah ... it's strange and sounds like they raped the guitar ... you know that dwaooooowwwnnngggggg when you pick too hard . 

love my picking way , simple , yet really efficient and fast . nice for thrash/death metal with extreme neoclassical or oldschool blues leads (hate the slayer-style noise soloing ) ... hope i'll get a metalzone to boost the high mids in front of my amp (cutting bass and highs , with little dist an lots of level to have a nice tight djent sound) , it will help for djenty palm mutes i think ...

but , the vids have no real djent , it's only thrash/death classical palm mute riffing , the 2nd video's lead is beautiful , reminds strongly of the first demo of a band called obsidian (they had the djenty sound with a 5150 boosted with a TS9DX and EMG 81-equipped guitars ) ... makes me almost vibrate ... you can help djent by trying to move your palm for muting and press on the strings a little ... my SH8 invader does it really well now that i cut the tone knob and put a lots of mids on my amp . a huge amount of mids , less bass and the right amount of treble


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## DaveCarter (Jun 8, 2008)

PeteyG said:


> Don't pick like me (I'm the guy in the second video in the first post on this), I hate it, find loads of things way too difficult, drop my pick way too much, and I'm currently going through a massive transition in picking style, which is causing me such a headache.



I find it really strange that you'd say that, I watched the bulb vid and thought ''yeah thats pretty much how i pick'' then watched your one and was like "no wait, THATS now i pick!!". I dont find any problems at all using that picking style, it seems to work fine for djent, sweeps, alternate shred, chording, anything really. Unless you're picking up on something more technically in depth that I cant notice, which judging from what Ive seen/heard you play is actually quite possible!!


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## PeteyG (Jun 9, 2008)

Well to be fair it's probably down to me being dyspraxic which clutters up alot of my physical movements and always has, learning new techniques and things takes me longer than most people (I've been unsuccessfully learning sweep picking for years, still can't do it well at all).


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## DaveCarter (Jun 9, 2008)

PeteyG said:


> Well to be fair it's probably down to me being dyspraxic which clutters up alot of my physical movements and always has



Me too mate, hench my shocking co-ordination, terrible driving and illegible handwriting etc. etc. Yay for our _special_ picking!!


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## PeteyG (Jun 9, 2008)

chavhunter said:


> Me too mate, hench my shocking co-ordination, terrible driving and illegible handwriting etc. etc. Yay for our _special_ picking!!



Haha, I know about 2 other people than me who are dyspraxic, and no one knows what it is! Everyone always just looks confused and says "Is that a real thing?".

But yeah, powering through and beating it is so rewarding, and I'm proud to be an alright guitarist and to have had to struggle and push my patience to the limit sometimes with it.


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## gaunten (Jun 24, 2008)

metalmonster said:


> and , gaunten , how is your valveking cab with the 5150 ? just curious and looking for a good but not too expensive cab


 
well, to be honest, I'm not entirely satisfied with the sound. although, that might as well be because my total noobness in tweaking the amp


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## DaveCarter (Jun 24, 2008)

PeteyG said:


> Haha, I know about 2 other people than me who are dyspraxic, and no one knows what it is! Everyone always just looks confused and says "Is that a real thing?".
> 
> But yeah, powering through and beating it is so rewarding, and I'm proud to be an alright guitarist and to have had to struggle and push my patience to the limit sometimes with it.



Yeah, its the same as saving up for ages for a piece of gear; when you eventually get there, you KNOW that you've earnt it!! And just to state the obvious, you're more than an 'alright' guitarist!! Damn impressive is what it is!!


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## kershyboy (Jun 24, 2008)

I tend to switch the position of my pick from angled to parallel, depending if i want a bit of the scratch to my picking sound or want it more polished so to speak. Also for the faster djents and wantnot i tend to bring my pick closer to the bridge pickup, that for me tends to bring more clarity & tightness to the picking which helps when picking them faster

peace out


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## sakeido (Jun 25, 2008)

PeteyG said:


> I'm proud to be an alright guitarist



I understand the desire to be humble  but honestly man, you are a very very good guitar player. I've been watching your vids on Youtube for some time now, I didn't know it was you.


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