Why is my pick so loud when I strum?

Nice 80s pictures. That takes me back. :-)

Re: pick angle:

What fly said. This took me the longest time to work out, too. If you do what Justin says in Strumming 1, and you hold your pick very lightly, you'll notice that when you put pressure downward on the top string, the pick will move in your finger so that the point is trailing behind the fat end. You'll also notice the pressure against your thumb which wants to hold the pick in position. As you move it down across the strings, it will feel like you are brushing/painting the strings with the side of the point of the pick. If you hold the pick too tightly, you'll prevent that movement of the pick, it will stay too perpendicular to the strings and you'll sound brash and it will require a lot of effort to strum through the strings.

The opposite is true for up-strumming.

With a lot of practice, you'll get into a relaxed groove where you can hold the pick fairly lightly and strum without a lot of tension. It will take a while to work out.

With a lot of a lot of practice, you'll eventually be able to change the amount of grip on the pick to alter the strumming dynamics.

Matt,

there was a thread on this subject recently with some useful replies. If memory serves, it was summat to do with 'upstrum'...

Aside from the importance of relaxation (especially of the wrist) and the pick angle there are a couple of other things that might be contributing f*cktors. The fact that it happens more when your strumming speed increases probably means it's one of the above - you're probably tensing up and the pick is being held close to upright. Why not check for that using a mirror - sometimes we're not doing what we think we're doing.

But maybe if you're also changing chords more quickly then your coordination/concentration is being stretched beyond your present playing capacity so in that case it's best to slow down a bit until you nail it.

You should also aim to have the pick skimming smoothly across the strings rather than rasping through them which not only results in a crap sound but also inceases the chances of snagging. So try to keep your strum/sweep close to the surface of the strings (just as you need to keep your fingertips close to the strings during chord changes).

Rather than having my elbow way out, I find that lightly anchoring the inside bend of my arm against the top edge of the guitar helps maintain control of my sweep.

Lastly, check you're holding your pick dead centre (on its vertical axis), leaving about 60% showing below your grip and turning it slightly clockwise (if you're righthanded).

But above all, don't let the angst get the better of you.

You could get a thinner pick, but that changes the tone, and probably not in a good way. (same with thinner strings)

Don't hit the darn strings so hard! You have trained your muscles for this volume and now you'll have to un-train them and teach them a new volume.

You could use some visual feedback (volume meter on recorder or decibel meter), but I think that's unnecessary. Just practice softer until it feels natural.

You could try smaller strokes - less work and immediately softer with the same effort. Probably the best thing would be to spend some time every day playing stupidly soft - so soft your voice would totally overpower the guitar. You would never use this, but it would speed up the muscle training.

It sounds like you're playing chords by plucking strings one at a time. Unless you're playing arpeggios, that's not the best way to do it: Try strumming them all in a row, in a fluid motion.

Keep in mind that some pick noise is inevitable, even desirable. In the studio, I do everything I can to emphasize incidental noises like the pick hitting the strings, the noises made by the flautist clicking the keys, or the vocalist inhaling before singing a line. It's what makes music sound human and relatable.

Unless you're getting a truly horrifically loud series of clicks when playing, don't worry about it too much. Listen to other players, and you'll hear that, to a point, this is normal and natural.

However, lighter nylon picks (like the ones put out by Clayton, for example) can mitigate this, as can lighter strings (although those would reduce the volume the strings produce, I think). There are also hybrid silk/steel strings that can give you a softer sound. (I'm guessing you're playing guitar with steel strings; classical guitars with nylon strings are generally not played with a plectrum.)

Like Matthew wrote in his answer, hold the pick more softly and play more gently and subtly. You'll have a better dynamic range, a less percussive sound, and you'll have better control over your instrument.

You also ask about playing without a pick. Sure, you can do that, but you'll be playing what's known as fingerstyle playing, a very different sort of music than strummed guitar. You'll also be wearing down the fingernails on your strumming hand, so you'll want to prepare for that.

How can I make my pick quieter?

How do you strum a guitar quieter?

Why does my strumming sound harsh?