Like anything in life, it takes practice, practice and more practice. For a long time, I always had a guitar in my hands...sitting in front of the tv, (quietly) mindlessly doing chord changes and different strum patterns,learning finger picking patterns and also to learn how to use a flat pick. That can be very important; I'd hate to tell you how many people show up at our local open mic with horrible right hand technique (and awful-sounding guitar playing) because they never learned to use a flat pick, and their bare hand playing just didn't do it because all they knew how to do was scrub all five fingers on the strings...no thought had ever been given as to what to do with his right hand. UGH!! Just as bad is the guy who learned ONE awful (sort of difficult, 'cuz it sounded cool!) flatpicked strum pattern back in 1967 and never learned another...he adapted EVERY song he did to this one stinking pattern...so the band he played in was limited to only songs in 4/4. It also made it pretty boring to listen to them, because you knew what was coming. They became the "bathroom break" band. That's bad!
Being a good listener is key to becoming a good musician; to play with others, you need to listen to what they're doing in order to fit in. While listening, you should be figuring out what key the song is in, what rhythm are they using, what chords are being used for that key, how does the song lay out as far as chord changes, bridge, and chorus repeats? If you listen well, you can figure this out on the fly. At jams, it also helps to sit across from someone who had good guitar hands...someone who plays in standard tuning and uses standard chords for the most part and not all flashy bar chords. You can SEE what chords they're using, see how many frets they're capo'd up, and decode the song that way, and maybe play along. (Watch Arlo's hands at the next concert you attend...he has GREAT hands!) Playing with others is important, even if all you do is hold your guitar and listen the first couple of jams. There's usually open community jams in just about every community....you just have to find them. You'll learn a lot, and maybe meet some pickin' buddies.
Me? I'm in it for the love!

I always hated shaking the pic out. Folks would look at me funny when I did that...

I guess we could tell people that we store the pick inside the guitar. It certainly never falls out accidently.

just grab another pick, eventually you can use the guitar as a big morrocca

I am pretty good now in shaking my guitar to let the pic come out of the hole . It cost me not more than abouth 10 seconds . Thats the result of practice .

That's a good approach, Sue. I remember an interview with Arlo from some blue hazy part of my mind where he talked about Dylan visiting his house looking for Arlo's Dad. He said he inveigled him to show him something and Dylan did. He said he did that with most of his Dad's friends.

That gets it done. Whenever you can, help a kid looking for a lick even if you can't help one looking for a break. I've met some rather famous players and all the good ones stopped to help or offer a bit of advice. Lots of good stories there.

You are right about the one trick pony player. I grew up with bluegrass and folk, played rock and jazz, learned composition in college...yadda. The point for me was to feed the songwriting jones with new ideas. I didn't want to be only one kind of musician. I wanted to compose. It's a different path.

Be careful shaking the pick out of the guitar. If the glue inside is weakening because it's an old axe or a bad glue, you can shake the struts loose. Sometimes it's better to wait until you change the strings and can reach in. I don't know about using it as a morrocca but at least you always know where there is an extra pick. Yeah, practice helps, GM. After awhile, I could hear where it was hitting the resonator and guide it to the sound hole.

If they look at you funny while you shake it out, tell them you lost your virginity in there and need it back before you see your parents.

I find that if I use a pick that's larger than the sound hole, it ain't a problem.

I like the rythmic ( blues ) style of Big Bill Broonzy . It sound amazing to me . My wish is to play that kind of music in the future ( you dont need a whole band to play that ) it goes pretty fast

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm1qtX7Mz5w

Haha , keep it simple Larry , take an electrique guitar !

Actually, I play so bad that it's not only the pick that falls in sometimes......my fingers do too.

Those actually exist, Larry. No fooling.

We had one in the our 70s Musician's Heaven apartment house (much longer story). When someone dropped by and wanted to jam but didn't have a pick, they would ask the usual "Anyone gotta spare pick?" and we'd reach in the drawer and hand it to them, asking "Lose this?"

I guess it would be funnier in the movie if all the players simultaneously put their guitars over their heads and shook them.

Could be worse. My Dad told me in Halsey's Fleet in the South Pacific, they used his guitar to smuggle beer on to the ship. He never explained how they drank from the sound hole, but desperate times and all that. Maybe it's a new take on destroyer duty.

There's a trick to getting a pick out of a guitar, and it works well for me...you "bounce" or shake the pick over the braces until it's opposite the sound hole, and then quickly flip the guitar...and the pick will fall out.

Methodical Sue what she gonna do
The pick won't pick and the sound ain't blue
Stuck in the hole hiding in the braces
If she plays on her back
She's off to the races...

(someone write the chorus)

Thanks for the Bill Broozy clip. Neat. Siggie gives a good lesson on Hey which shows good thumb technique au naturel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YC5BTagM2k

Stay away from pick shakin' Sue.....( with apologies to Dion)