I hate to steal this thread and I'm nothing but a fan of Dean's playing so don't misconstrue any of this.
Watch the first 20 seconds.
(actually, you can watch the whole thing, but it's a 6 minute video about how to hold a pick. I can get a little tedious.)
Then check out how Steve Morse holds the pick:
Then compare that with Dean's videos. Dean's picking hand is in the shape of an "OK" kind of expression, forming a big round "O" with his thumb and first finger.
This may seem like nit-picking (did that on purpose...sorry). But Dean holds the pick with the very tip of his thumb making contact with the pick, forming that letter "O" with his thumb and first finger. The first video in this thread the guy holds the pick almost against the knuckle of his thumb. Steve M holds the pick against the side of his thumb but closer to the tip.
This might seem like a small deal but try using a different grip and see what it does to your playing. It will totally mess you up.
My totally unscientific observation is that the way that Dean holds the pick isn't common, and that most players hold it the way that is in the youtube in this post. It clearly doesn't hold him back and since I hold my pick the same way I've often worried over the mechanics of it.
I sometimes have a problem hitting unintended strings with the thumb-knuckle of my picking hand. If you hold the pick with the more closed method it naturally gets that knuckle away from the strings.
I think where you hold the pick, especially if you are really into alternate picking, totally changes where you rotate your pick from. Determining whether you are more of a wrist picker or more of an arm picker. For example Steve Morse has a LOT of arm motion in his picking, and Dean's arm is very stable, most of his action coming from his wrist.
Most players have never thought about it, just used what they started with and never gave it a second thought. I never thought about it until I started teaching and noticed that it's very difficult to change and that my technique seemed to be in the minority.
Don't mean to hi jack but watching Dean play makes me think about technique and mechanics. His stuff is so clean and precise.
