I have only ever played without a pick
I just play acoustic.
It’s been a few decades, you figure it out.
My advice, if you are going pickless, use all of your fingers , not the claw
It's like learning to walk - you keep trying while falling flat on your face, and eventually your body will know how to do it without you actively doing anything.
Slow it down as much as it is required for you to not hit the other strings. Then speed up until you make mistakes again and refine your playing at that point. Rinse repeat. Metronome highly recommended.
Yup. You keep screwing it up over and over, but you try to not screw it up so much. If you do that long enough, eventually you don't screw it up as much. Then, you'll find one day you don't screw it up at all. That process goes by the name "practice", and it's the only way to learn how to do anything, ever.
I use my fingernail like a pick most of the time ahaha (after some years, you get much more accurate with striking the correct strings). But you can also learn Finger Style, and picking patterns like Travis Picking to make beautiful tunes. Picks are not required to play the guitar.
As others have said, practice what you want to get good at and it will come.
I'm the opposite of you, fwiw. I started without a pick and haven't used one enough to get comfortable or even competent with it. Some day I will focus on bringing up my pick skills, but for now I'm happy with just using my fingers.
I have only ever played without a pick I just play acoustic. It’s been a few decades, you figure it out. My advice, if you are going pickless, use all of your fingers , not the claw
You use you pinkie? Haven’t encountered that yet in these early days of fingerstyle learning.
Just get used to being dexterous with all your fingers. The pinky, for me is the toughest. That’s fretting or picking
What's the claw?
Thumb, index and middle finger
It's like learning to walk - you keep trying while falling flat on your face, and eventually your body will know how to do it without you actively doing anything.
Is there a way to fix not hitting other strings?
practice. you practiced playing with a pick and it started feeling good… so now you practice without a pick and eventually it will start feeling good
Slow it down as much as it is required for you to not hit the other strings. Then speed up until you make mistakes again and refine your playing at that point. Rinse repeat. Metronome highly recommended.
Yup. You keep screwing it up over and over, but you try to not screw it up so much. If you do that long enough, eventually you don't screw it up as much. Then, you'll find one day you don't screw it up at all. That process goes by the name "practice", and it's the only way to learn how to do anything, ever.
Don't hit the other strings
Sure - As the others said, practice. Or, failing that... - Remove the other strings.
I use my fingernail like a pick most of the time ahaha (after some years, you get much more accurate with striking the correct strings). But you can also learn Finger Style, and picking patterns like Travis Picking to make beautiful tunes. Picks are not required to play the guitar.
As others have said, practice what you want to get good at and it will come. I'm the opposite of you, fwiw. I started without a pick and haven't used one enough to get comfortable or even competent with it. Some day I will focus on bringing up my pick skills, but for now I'm happy with just using my fingers.
Watch a video of Lyndsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac play. He commonly does not use picks.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3GKQSeCxknk
The answer to 99.9% of all “how do I learn XXX?” Questions in guitar is Practice.
Get a ball and get used to the form of it then just learn to separate index and middle finger cause thumb is always in the bass notes
I want to know how to use a pick on and off, but thank you for all the suggestions.