By Dr. George Bien, Ph.D.

  There are many schools of guitar playing today that rely on "hammer-ons" and "pull-offs" and so-called "sweep picking," often times to avoid the difficulty of the alternate pick-stroke. Perhaps they are right. I know, from experience, that countless hours of dedicated practice are needed to perfect the art of alternate picking. What if, however, there were an invention that could facilitate this process? The Stylus Pick, from TriGram Music Inc., may be the answer.

  The Stylus Pick was basically designed to help facilitate high-speed alternate picking by training the picking hand to pick with more precision and accuracy. The booklet that comes with the pick claims that "the Stylus Pick utilizes a method of forced accuracy and a patented guiding factor to increase awareness of the elements of fast picking." The literature goes on to say: "After practicing you discover a definite improvement in your ability to gauge your regular flat pick for alternate picking at higher speeds." Let's see if the Stylus Pick is everything that it claims to be.

  At first glance, the Stylus Pick appears to be nothing more than a gimmicky device that could easily find itself in the pocket of the average beginning heavy metal guitarist. But looks can be deceiving. I found it to feel extremely comfortable in my picking hand and I could see how it can force a person to pick with the tip of the pick. I then had about fifty guitar students of various playing levels try the pick and found something very interesting. The lower the level of expertise, the more difficulty the student had playing with the Stylus Pick. Could this mean that as less adept students develop a natural playing ability with this pick, their precision and accuracy with overall playing would also increase? I decided to do some research.

  As an assignment, I had students in my guitar classes at York College, CUNY, purchase the Stylus Pick and do all their practicing with it exclusively for a month. The results were fantastic and an increase in picking accuracy was obvious in over 90% of the students. As they became more comfortable playing with the Stylus Pick, their precision and control improved dramatically. 

  Now I needed a pro, other than myself, on whom I could test the Stylus Pick's effectiveness. I lent one for a week to Carol Polizzi, one of New York's hottest young guitarists, and she said: "Maximum speed with alternate picking is attained when you utilize the very tip of the pick since this causes less resistance against the strings. The Stylus Pick forces you to pick properly by correcting any slight errors in depth gauging. It is extremely effective and I recommend it highly."

  The Stylus Pick proves to be a valuable tool. My only regret is that it wasn't around when I was learning how to play because it probably could have saved me a lot of time. If you feel that your picking could use some improvement (and whose can't), buy the Stylus Pick; it works!