Well, I have been playing guitar for a looooooooong time now, and only recently (like 3 months ago) I realised, I was holding my plectrum incorrectly. Or rather, lets say, I was holding my plectrum in a manner that was not maximising my speed potential.
I now hold my pic as demonstrated in the first image (although my pic doesn't extend as far out as this one). The benefits of this is that the 3 other fingers support the index, thus when the thumb presses down on the index it makes it go in an awkward left and right motion, which is not good for your finger muscles, but with the 3 other fingers gently supporting, it stops this motion. Also, those 3 fingers (picture 2) tend to weigh your hand down, it does make sense, it makes it go slightly off balance. Maybe its all in the mind, but as soon as I started adopting this new holding style, I could feel the increase in speed, accuracy on the other hand took a minor knock, but only because I have spent so many years perfecting one style of holding, and only a few weeks on this new style.
