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→Picking
== Picking ==
Start with picking. '''Your common picking motion should come from either your '''wrist or elbow, ''not'' your finger/thumb joints'''. It As your technique develops, you may be able to add inflection and accents using your fingers, but as a beginner, you don't want to get in the habit of using them exclusively. This can lead to difficulty crossing strings, strumming, and speed, as well as leading to injury. The motion is similar to waving hello to someone. You are "chopping", not "slapping" or "flapping". The relative distance from your hand to the guitar body should not change much during your picking motion. You want to "push through" the string, applying greater and greater pressure against the string until it slides off the tip of the pick. You do ''not'' want to apply some tension to the string then move the pick from the body, which I call "pecking". The motion you use to play a single string should also work for multiple strings by simply continuing it (if you are "pecking" it will require a pecking motion for each string).
=== Manipulating Dynamics ===