When reading forums and groups online, I'll often see people talking about technique and which one they prefer, alternate picking or economy picking. Aside from this being a bad mindset to have, it either assumes there are only two options, or neglects that other techniques can provide different perspectives or sounds.
There's no better example of this than hybrid picking.
If you're a rocker, you may have learned about this from fans like Zakk Wylde who uses it fairly often when bringing in a southern rock vibe, but the technique is absolutely not limited to that, in fact, for some players, it's their default picking method.
For that, you need look no further than someone like Brent Mason who has a strict regiment of pick, middle finger, pick, ring. He's got this down to blistering speeds, and if I could share any video of this it's the Western Swing section of his Hot Licks DVD where he talks about the mighty George Benson. That DVD is a must own, but I couldn't find it on Youtube to share, so I had a look for Scotty Anderson, sadly he's another one who seems to remove all the really scary videos of him from Youtube so we're going to look at the master, mr Danny Gatton pretending to be a banjo player on his tele. This is genuinely scary!
There's no better example of this than hybrid picking.
If you're a rocker, you may have learned about this from fans like Zakk Wylde who uses it fairly often when bringing in a southern rock vibe, but the technique is absolutely not limited to that, in fact, for some players, it's their default picking method.
For that, you need look no further than someone like Brent Mason who has a strict regiment of pick, middle finger, pick, ring. He's got this down to blistering speeds, and if I could share any video of this it's the Western Swing section of his Hot Licks DVD where he talks about the mighty George Benson. That DVD is a must own, but I couldn't find it on Youtube to share, so I had a look for Scotty Anderson, sadly he's another one who seems to remove all the really scary videos of him from Youtube so we're going to look at the master, mr Danny Gatton pretending to be a banjo player on his tele. This is genuinely scary!
So how is this relevant to a rock guitar player? What's the actual use if you're not wanting to get a tan localized to the back of your neck?
The beauty of hybrid picking is that is eliminates a lot of the complexity of string crossing. You don't need to go all Try Grady and worry about upwards or downward pick slanting depending on the direction you're heading. In fact, it's just as easy to pick the A string followed by the B string as it is any other combination.
So when it comes to something like an arpeggio (which we tend to just ascend or descend on guitar because the pick makes that easy) we can now do things like sequencing of arepggios to create fresh sounds. Below is a classic banjo roll idea, first applied to something you might see in country, then in a way that might work for a rock guitar player - you don't hear stuff like this often!
The beauty of hybrid picking is that is eliminates a lot of the complexity of string crossing. You don't need to go all Try Grady and worry about upwards or downward pick slanting depending on the direction you're heading. In fact, it's just as easy to pick the A string followed by the B string as it is any other combination.
So when it comes to something like an arpeggio (which we tend to just ascend or descend on guitar because the pick makes that easy) we can now do things like sequencing of arepggios to create fresh sounds. Below is a classic banjo roll idea, first applied to something you might see in country, then in a way that might work for a rock guitar player - you don't hear stuff like this often!
Back in the day, Paul Gilbert got quite a lot of attention for his sequencing of arpeggios which he did with legato and string skipping, that's so common now it's almost a cliche, this is pretty cool though. Nailing a technique like this is all about the basics though, so let's look at that.
Now the key for me came from getting the hand position down. Once that felt comfortable, everything else really just slotted into place.
I place my hand flat against the strings, so the palm is looking directly at the strings. The pick then rests on a string (we'll say the A string) and then the 3 remaining fingers rest on the adjacent strings (middle finger on the D string, ring finger on the G and pinky finger on the B string). This way the gun is loaded and ready to fire when you want the note.
Now the key for me came from getting the hand position down. Once that felt comfortable, everything else really just slotted into place.
I place my hand flat against the strings, so the palm is looking directly at the strings. The pick then rests on a string (we'll say the A string) and then the 3 remaining fingers rest on the adjacent strings (middle finger on the D string, ring finger on the G and pinky finger on the B string). This way the gun is loaded and ready to fire when you want the note.
In order to execute the lick from Leaving London, you'll need to get to grips with the basic forward roll. So put a little bit of time into the technique of pick, middle, ring down, even if it's just on chords you're letting ring, and then move on to this lick.
Pay careful attention to the tab, I've indicated the down stroke, the middle finger and the ring finger.
Pay careful attention to the tab, I've indicated the down stroke, the middle finger and the ring finger.
The rest of the lick draws influence from George Marios and is probably a subject for another day, but I thought I'd put it here for you to look at in case you want to complete the phrase.
Below is a link to Leaving London from the Hellcat Molly album, Out of the Ashes. The record can be found here, along with a full tab book under the merch tab - or if you prefer the iTunes route, it can be found here.
Drop a comment below and let me know how you get on with it!
Below is a link to Leaving London from the Hellcat Molly album, Out of the Ashes. The record can be found here, along with a full tab book under the merch tab - or if you prefer the iTunes route, it can be found here.
Drop a comment below and let me know how you get on with it!