This was posted on the gypsyjazzguitar forum. I thought it was very useful, and the most thourough answer to this frequently asked question.
So brethrens and sistrens, I present to you below parts of Django Picking Technique Gospels. Asketh I, does herein lie the secrets of Stochelo, Angelo, Moreno, Fapy, Raphael, or even Django?
The Gospel According to Earl-
I would like to add my experience to the right hand playing technique. During the 70′s, I took jazz guitar lessons from former 1936 banjo king, Richard Choi, who toured Asia and Europe. Although I wanted play like Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow, and Johnny Smith, Mr. Choi had me learn the techniques of Eddie Lang, Anthony Antone, Victor & Volpe, and of course Django. Django was his favorite guitar player. At that time, I resented playing songs from the ancient guys, so I never really practiced their music. Of course I was a young fool. Mr. Choi wanted me to buy the type of guitar Django used, but I wanted a Gibson L-5CES. Although I have a lot of transcribed Django tunes from him, I never really learned his style, but today, I’m a Djangofile.
Mr. Choi told me that he had met Django before and after the fire accident, and instructed me to play guitar by using the floating right hand technique like the Europeans. This right hand technique is similar to the right hand method used by the tenor banjo players. Also, the tremolo or chordal strum is like the right hand of violin players. The right hand is curled like a monkey’s paw, but the front knuckles of the 3rd and 4th fingers are used as a guide to find the strings.
These knuckles touch the face of the guitar to locate positions of the first, second, and third strings. When playing the lower 6th, 5th, and 4th strings, the knuckles occasionally touch the first string to locate position. The position of the right elbow is also related. It would take me too long to explain it all in this e-mail, but basically, I recommend those who want to improve the right hand technique to find an old time tenor banjo player and take a few lessons from them.
The Gospel According to Garry (Or the Practices of Paul) -
Excellent post! After 10 yrs of playing bass guitar, I had major problems holding a pick for any style of playing, until during a one day, Paul Mehling (lead guitarist for the HCSF) mentioned that all the good gypsy swing players had callouses on the knuckles of their picking hand. That was the key for me! I knew then, if my knuckles were brushing across the strings, I was holding the pick correctly! Needless to say, my playing improved tremendously!
Also, I notice that I get less noise and MUCH better tone if I crank my wrist at a 45 degree angle inwards towards the guitar. This forces me hold the pick slightly different. Also, it causes my fingers to slightly brush the strings with each stroke. Some of the Gypsy players I’ve seen have callouses on the top on their picking hand from string contact.
Paul Mehling (Hot Club of San Francisco) showed me this method and it has improved my tone, reduced pick noise (a little), and it has reduced fatigue and pain.
The Gospel According to (Unknown) -
If you have Tchavalo’s “Alors…. Voila” CD and watch the video, Philippe Cuillerier can be seen picking in a similar fashion. The action and wrist angle is very similar to shaking out a lit match.
The Gospel According to Cosimini (as told to Archtop Eddy) -
The trick you see is to keep moving the right hand freely. Your hand should move the same way during solos as it does during the rhythms.
The Gospel According to Norm -
As a new member I’ve been reading a lotof the past posts and I saw some discussion about using primarily downstrokes in picking this style. I’d like to add my thoughts and observations on this topic. I am sure this will be nothing new for many of you, but my hope is that it may help those who are still fumbling around trying to sort out the right hand technique so necessary to getting the most out of this style of playing.
I believe what is really at the core of this technique is the “reststroke” commonly associated with Classical/Flamenco guitar technique, also known as “Apoyando”, where the finger, or in our case, the pick, after stroking a string, comes to rest on the adjacent string. With fingers it comes to rest on the next lower string, with a pick, the next higher (in pitch). In contast, a “freestroke” is simply a stroke in which the finger or pick stays in the air. So what effect does the reststroke have on the sound of the guitar? A huge effect. Without getting too technical,(not that I could:)) it does a couple things. It allows for a more forceful stroke, due to the angle of attack, which is not as parallel to the face of the guitar as a freestroke. It’s more like 45+ degrees to the face which actually means the string is being pushed in towards the hole of the guitar and snapped loose as the pick lets go and comes to rest on the neighboring string. I’ve heard the feel of this picking motion likened to playing tiddlywinks. The bottom line is that it unleashes a lot of energy to the string. It also imparts a different shaped orbit to the vibrating string, which fattens the tone of the note substantially. It also makes the note MUCH LOUDER.
If you’ve been playing with freestrokes, which is usually the case with an up/down alternating picking style, then you are not getting into the meat of the instrument. Start by playing a single note in this manner, getting a feel for how the pick comes to rest on the cushion of the adjoining string. Push the string INTO the guitar. You don’t need to move the pick faster to get more volume, just push it in farther before letting it snap. Now you see why we use fat picks. Thin picks would not work well for tiddlywinks, and they don’t work as well for reststrokes either.
Let me try and put this in the context of actually playing something. This may only confuse you but oh well here goes. Let’s use an ascending G diminished arppegio. Use a fingering where there are two notes per string going up. This will simplify matters. Now start by playing the G (6th string), let the pick come to rest on the 5th string, lift, play the Bb (6th string),let the pick come to rest on the 5th string, now without lifting off play the Db, let the pick come to rest on the 4th string, lift, play the E (5th string) let pick come to rest on the 4th string, without lifting, play the G (4th string) continue on up.
What you’ll find you’re actually doing is a series of little two string sweeps, and because you are using reststrokes, each note is full-toned and well articulated.
This is also the key to playing the sweep picked arpeggio’s ala VanEps & Django where a moveable chord form ascends or descends the neck. Using reststroke on the downstrokes makes each note jump out rather than blend together like a strummed chord.
The variations are obviously numerous, and there are times when freestrokes and upstrokes can be employed to advantage. But I believe reststrokes to be one of the keys to unlocking the secrets of the “Gypsy sound”
The Gospel According to (Writer Unknown) -
He heard’eth Alternate Picking and saw that it was good. But always start your new string with a DOWNSTROKE!
The Gospel According to Tony -
Accuracy before Speed.
The Gospel According to Archtop Eddy -
Work on your Tone and all else will follow.

A new thread in the gypsyjazzguitar forum is talking about new picking techniques that were learned from Stephen Wrembel, who went to Europe and played with real gypsies for some time (longer than 6 months?) and is now sharing his experiences in a new book he is publishing with Mel Bay.
This classic lick: (e) 12 13 14 15 14 13 (repeat over and over) is played with the following picking pattern “D U D D U D”.
Two other pattern to play with are:
(e) 5 6 7 8 7 6 5 6 7 8 7 5 (repeat)
(e) 5 6 7
(b) 5 6 7
Gypsies may also use a basic sweep picking technique, starting with downstrokes on every new string. For example, you can try this one, which starts with a downstroke on every new string:
(e) 7 5 4
(b) 6 5
(g) 7 5 4
(d) 7 6
(a) 8 6 7

This is from the HotClub forum group. I know that at some point a variation of this description was also mentioned in the Yahoo gyspyjazzguitar group.
The rest stroke is from what I understand it’s like what a classical player would do with his/her fingers when plucking the strings UP.
Start by thinking of the dim7 run over Bb7 in the Dark Eyes arp power tab. Play the bottom E-6th fret with a D stroke as normal apart from you push through the E so that your pick comes to rest on the A string.
Please read the following from the BOTTOM UP.
E –7– D/Str
B –6– D/Str – pick rests on E,–9–U/Str
G –7– D/Str – pick rest on B
D –6– D/Str – pick rest on G, –9–U/Str
A –5– D/str – pick rests on D,–8–U/Str
E –6– D/stroke – pick rests on A
^ start from here and refer to the power tab for safety reasons
This kinda thing also works on the Dm9 & Gm9 arps from the Dark Eyes powertab example. Try it if you can understand the jumbled explanation above.