Best Picking Technique?

Ok, you're question isn't about soul, so forget that stuff. Let's look at 2 players who have superb picking: Al Di Meola and Paul Gilbert. There are some similarities that are worth noting and trying:

1) The heel of palm rests lightly on the bridge and contacts the strings as desired for muted lines, but other than that, there are no anchors.

2) both players hold the pick between the thumb and side of the first finger. In Paul's case, he curls the other fingers inward for support and to give more focus to the hand's centre of gravity. Di Meola doesn't curl the fingers as much, but the posture is similar. Note that neither player uses thumb motion for rapid picking - it's an action that comes mainly from a rotation of the forearm [rather like turning a key, not going up and down] that appears to be an action unique to the wrist.

3) Both players hold the pick so that it contacts the string at a slight downward angle, which increases as they approach the higher strings. This does reduce friction; however, in no way does the angle of the pick becmoe sever enough to affect tone; both players produce a solid, ringing tone.

In general, try to avoid:

-letting the thumb joint collapse. It's natural for your thumb's tip to rise and fall a bit, but don't let it bend to 45 degrees or more.

-holding the pick too far from the tip. Try to get your thumb and first finger near to the tip without it affecting contact with the string. This is more efficient and will help with the solidity of your tone.

-overly thin picks. It's subjective, but almost no shredders use thin picks

-gripping the pick too tighlty. Eric Johnson holds his pick rather loose, yet his attack and tone are solid.

And lastly, keep your hand relaxed. Tension might allow you to flail away on a few ultra-fast notes, but if you base your technique on a tense hand, your playing and endurance will suffer.

It depends on if you 'anchor' your hand. Many guitarists do this; resting their wrist or pinky finger on the bridge or pickguard to give them a sense of reference for picking. If you can pick with your entire hand off of the fretboard you can use your whole forearm to pick, which will give you much greater speed. The accuracy comes with practice, which you should do, at very slow speeds.

hold a pick properly...partly slanted and you can use your pinky (place it below the e string) as a guide by leaving it up and all the other fingers down except for the pinky and 1st 2 fingers holding the pick so when you pluck..you will have a less tendency to pluck wrong strings..this can help because the pinky will serve as your guide because as you pluck a certain string you will feel them getting lower or higher other strings when it is close to the pinky

This is how I hold a pick

http://www.theguitarsuite.com/images/pick.jpg

Though if you REALLY want to challenge yourself, look up how Michael Angelo Batio holds a pick. It's insane.

http://www.angelo.com/assets/images/Live_Stage_NEC...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG74eVb6V10

Soul is more important than speed.

finger picking- the more fingers you can pick with the more versatility you can play with.