If you play quietly you get a very even tone, especially in combination with acrylic nails. When playing hybrid on the same string you have two main choices: play quietly or hard. In this way he gets a ‘recovery’ time for each finger which gives him more ease when playing fast lines. Brent Mason uses down with the thumb-pick, up with the middle finger, down again with the thumb-pick and up with the ring finger.
For instance: instead of doing down-up with the pick, try down with the pick and up with finger. Instead many country players use the hybrid picking on the same string very often. Most of the times a fusion or rock players will use the hybrid technique to play rolls (one note per string) and will use legato or normal picking style to play on one string. But is it really the same technique? Is it used in the same way?Īctually there’s a tiny difference. Hybrid picking is a technique nowadays used by many guitarists in many different styles (just think Dominic Miller, Brett Garsed or our own Guthrie Govan). There are lots of combinations and possibilities but the bottom line is that you can do whatever feels natural and right to you as long as you get the desired results. This seems to be the standard approach but, for instance, Albert Lee uses pick + middle and pinky (he uses the middle only for double stops) while Brent Mason uses thumb-pick + middle + ring and the index with middle for double stops.Īlso, some players (like Brad Paisley) like to use the flesh of the fingers with a little bit of natural nails while others (Brent Mason) prefer to use acrylic nails to get a much even sound. For instance: many country players use pick + middle finger adding the ring finger only for the double stops. There are no rules about which finger you should be using at a specific moment or how to use it. In fact most of country guitarists have included, in a way or another, the use of one or more fingers in combination with a flat pick or a thumb-pick (usually called hybrid picking). Most of the times these techniques are related to the picking hand more than fretting hand. You’ll also find reference to guitars, amps and effects as well as ‘must-known’ licks from many famous artists.ĭuring the last 30 years of country music many players have developed unique techniques, sometimes just as signature sounds some other times as result of the attempt to imitate other country instruments as pedal steel, dobro, fiddle, or piano.
The aim of this column is to explain some of the country techniques and provide a basic vocabulary to approach this style.
Welcome to this new series dedicated to country music.
In the first part of his Country Essentials Dario Cortese will takes us into the world of chicken picking.
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