For a while I thought there was something wrong with the way I prefer to hold a guitar pick nowadays. I blame The Cult's Billy Duffy – I read an interview where he not only explained why his love of Johnny Thunders (and being gifted one by the man himself) led him to playing Herco picks, but he used them 'sideways' – picking the strings with the shoulder part.
I tried it and it instantly felt right – especially with the textured grip of the Herco picks adding a chimey Edge-like quality to the sound (the Edge also uses his Herdim picks in this unconventional way with U2). What I lost in the sharper end I felt I gained in being closer to the strings with a more comfortable grip on the pick itself. Was I mad? Well, it seems Nashville guitar ace Guthrie Trapp does it too.
