As I said, (I love quoting myself)--"...most people seem to instinctively pull the pick up and away from the strings." I see this with new students all the time, and I noticed that I do it sometimes, which slows me down. Since I ain't the fastest picker in the best of times, pulling the pick away makes me even slower. In other words, the pick needs to be where the strings are. A truly gifted guitarist named Matte Henderson once said to me about the airspace above the strings, "there's no music there." This applies to keeping the fretting fingers close to the strings, too. Dan

Elambo:
if you can get ahold of Homespun's "Acoustic Guitar Musicianship" by Russ Barenberg, he deals with pick attack and tone production. Probably about 5-8 minutes near the beginning of the tape. He describes "pushing through" the strings, and he's known for great tone, so its worth watching. Good luck.

Thanks for the tip!