AHA--

John Hardly writes "Learning to play without anchoring my right hand".

*THAT* was the other thing that I had to practice, practice, practice to change, but which (along with the heavier, thicker, sort of tackier pick) made all the difference in the world.

I now have guitarists with much more experience, talent, style, and musicianship tell me I should anchor my right hand with the pinky on the pickguard. No way will I go back, but I do wonder if I've limited my ability to play by training my right hand to "float" out there over the strings. Besides making it easier to hold onto the pick, it also means I can change the sound by strumming further up the neck, or closer to the bridge; I can also change the sound by changing the way I angle my wrist--it gets more "soft" or "brittle" depending on how I cock my wrist. I don't anything about whether this is good or bad technique--I've never had consistent formal instruction, just the passing directions of better guitarists in jams and workshops and such.

Like a lot of stuff in music (and life too, ain't that surprisin'!) what works for some won't work for others. But getting my pinky off the pickguard was a quantum leap improvement for me.

just my $0.02 fwiw. And I agree with Bob R's reiteration--you gotta practice practice practice and then practice some more. Great tools will never compensate for a lousy craftsman and fancy picks will never make a great guitarist.

V