A pick slide or pick scrape is a guitar technique most often performed in the rock, punk or metal music genres. The technique is executed by holding the edge of the pick against any of the three or four wound strings and moving it along the string. As the pick moves across the string, the edge of the pick catches the string's windings in rapid succession causing the string to vibrate and produce a note. This rapid rattling of the pick's edge against the windings also gives the resulting note a grinding or grating quality.
The pitch of a pick slide rises as the pick moves closer to the bridge, and lowers as the pick moves away from it. Since pick slides usually start near the bridge and end over the higher frets, these slides have a characteristic of gradually lowering the pitch. This technique is most effective for the electric guitar with high gain. It isn't loud enough to be distinguishable from ordinary fret noise on an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar without distortion. Pick scraping may cause wound strings to deteriorate at a slightly quicker rate due to the nature of the technique; the damage done to the strings, if any, is mostly negligible. Thinner picks made of more durable materials tend to have more desirable results.
Guitarists who use this technique prominently include Pete Townshend of the Who, Tom Scholz of Boston and Tom DeLonge formerly of Blink-182 and Angels and Airwaves.