I want to tell you about something I experience a lot with first time students.
During the initial free trial lesson, I’ll ask the student what they feel they’re struggling with most.
If they say picking speed or picking accuracy, I’ll ask them to play a scale or lick to show me how their technical problems manifest themselves.
9 times out of 10 I’ll see them moving their pick in and out of the strings with each pick stroke, sometimes in a very exaggerated fashion.
When picking, your pick should move straight up and down when playing multiple notes on the same string – then lift when it’s time to change to the next string.
It shouldn’t lift up and out of the strings after every pick stroke.
I’ve often referred to this as “pecking” instead of picking because it looks like your pick is a chickens beak pecking into the strings.