Rob Schumann: The subject of this tutorial is hybrid picking and this is a technique that's used on both Acoustic and Electric guitar. It serves a couple of purposes; number one being that it makes a lot of passages easier to execute when you have notes that go across a lot of different strings, with your playing arpeggios or just in a melodic line that hops around quite a bit, it can be easier to use hybrid picking than having to move your pick around quite as much. The reason that you would use it is for some stylistic effects. You can end up accenting some chords and separating notes a little bit more than just using your pick.
As far as the technique goes, hybrid picking is a combination of regular picking with a pick and straight up finger picking. So, you will hold the pick between the thumb and first finger as normal with your right hand but also, you will employ your middle finger and your ring finger on your right hand to execute notes as well. A lot of players will grow out their fingernails to get more of an attack and some people will reinforce their nails with some acrylic hardener as I have done and that just keeps the steel strings from chewing up your fingernails. For whether you are using just fingertips or fingernails, you can still use this technique.
So, let's look at an application that would really lend itself to hybrid picking. Let's start with the D Major chord and we will leave the top off of this. So, we will leave out the third and we will just be playing strings 4, 3, and 2 and after the D Major chord, I have got the second finger on the second fret of the third string and fourth finger on the third fret of the second string. So, I am going to play 4, 3, and 2, then add a C on the third fret of the fifth string and play strings 3 and 2 again. Then add a B on the second fret of the fifth string. Then a G on the third fret of the sixth string and then I will go back to the second fret of the fifth string again and this time, I will play strings 3 and 2 together, then back to the third fret of the fifth string and play the strings together again.
Now, if I try to execute this passage with my pick, it's possible but it is a little bit of a pain having to jump this pick around quite so much. You will notice also as I am hitting those chords, it's kind of hard to be accurate about hitting those two strings by themselves and also those notes get kind of washed together as the pick goes through both of them. If I apply hybrid picking by picking just the bass notes and using my fingers on the chord tones, I am getting a little bit more definition.
And I am able to separate these two notes as well as getting them a little bit of accenting and those when you hit these two strings together, you kind of clod a little bit. You've flatten out your hand and pull up. So, let's play that a little bit more up tempo. In our next segment, we will look at a more applications of hybrid picking.
Jeff Carlisi: Hi, I am Jeff Carlisi from 38 Special. It's nice to be with you today.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services