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Okay, so first things first, hybrid picking and chicken picking are actually one and the same thing. The reason some people call it chicken picking is because the southern American country players who used this technique without knowing it’s classical name saw that their fingers were moving in the same manner as a chicken’s head, almost pecking at the strings. That’s all there is to the name difference.
So, what are the main differences between hybrid picking/chicken picking and either regular picking using a guitar pick, or finger picking without using a guitar pick?
In hybrid/chicken picking, you hold the pick as you usually would if you were using regular picking, holding it between your thumb and index finger; however your other three fingers are going to be used to pluck the strings just as if you were using finger picking without the guitar pick there. One of the main differences between hybrid picking/chicken picking and finger picking in terms of sound is how the guitar pick will get a sharper sound than any of your fingers, but you still get the dexterity of hitting different strings without having to move your entire hand to get your guitar pick in position.
Most people would associate hybrid picking with country or acoustic music, but there are applications of hybrid picking in heavy metal and rock music, Buckethead being a notable example, listen to ‘brewer in the air’ to hear what I’m talking about.
Below are some examples of hybrid picking/chicken picking licks for you to try and build up this technique, it will seem quite difficult if you are not used to finger picking, but really helps to add a new dimension to your playing by allowing you to get some of the tone of finger picking without having to put your pick down and then pick it back up again.
Tab key:-
-f7-- = pluck the string while fretting the string on the fret shown, but use a finger to pluck the string instead of your guitar pick.
Hybrid picking/Chicken picking Lick 1
Remember that you can use any fingers you want that are free, but you should use a different finger for each string so that you can still maintain a fairly decent speed once you’ve practiced it.
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||---f8------f7-----|---f8-------f7----||---f7------f5-----|---f7-------f5-----|
G||-----f9------f7---|-----f9-------f7--||-----f7------f5---|-----f7-------f5---|
D||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
A||-7-------7--------|-7--------7-------||-5-------5--------|-5--------5--------|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
Hybrid picking/Chicken picking Lick 2
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||---f8------f8-----|---f6------f8-----||---f11------f11---|---f10------f10----|
G||-----f7------f7---|-----f7------f7---||------f10------f10|------f10------f10-|
D||-5-------5--------|-5-------5--------||-8--------8-------|-8--------8--------|
A||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
Hybrid picking/Chicken picking Lick 3
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
G||-f2--f2p0--f2-f2p0|---f5-f5----------||-f2--f2p0--f2-f2p0|---f5-f5-----------|
D||-f2--f2p0--f2-f2p0|---f5-f5----f5-f5-||-f2--f2p0--f2-f2p0|---f5-f5----f5-f5--|
A||0---0-----0--0----|-3----------f5-f5-||0---0-----0--0----|-3----------f5-f5--|
E||------------------|----------3-------||------------------|----------3--------|
Hybrid picking/Chicken picking Lick 4
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||---f6------f5-f5--|---f6------f5-f5--||------------------|-------------------|
G||---f7------f5-f5--|---f7------f5-f5--||---f5------f4-----|---f5------f4------|
D||---f7------f5-f5--|---f7------f5-f5--||---f7------f5-----|---f7------f5------|
A||-5-------3--------|-5-------3--------||---f7------f5-----|---f7------f5------|
E||------------------|------------------||-5-------3--------|-5-------3---------|
The things to focus on when using hybrid picking/chicken picking are as follows:
- you need to focus on getting your fingers to pluck the strings in time with your fingers, which is harder than it sounds as you are essentially giving the same hand 2 jobs. More often than not a phrase will be started with a string being plucked by the guitar plectrum rather than being plucked by one of your fingers, but you should try and get used to using either at a moment’s notice so that you are not caught off guard by a note popping up that either your fingers can’t reach or your pick can’t reach.
- you need to continually practice this technique rather than just practicing finger picking and then practicing regular picking as your fingers will be in a different position, and can leave you at a disadvantage if you just assume that there is no difference.
- you need to continually work at this technique so that the tips of your fingers start to harden up. Anybody who uses finger picking will likely remember how much it hurts at first, and this is simply because at the end of the day you are running the flesh of your fingers over metal wire continually. You will find that your fingers will harden up eventually, but if you want to make them harden up more quickly, you can use a substance called surgical spirit and dab it on your fingertips. It’s a liquid that evaporates quickly, but causes the skin on your fingers to harden up as it does so. Be aware that you can’t use it if you’ve cut your finger recently, as it can’t be used near open wounds.
Apart from that the only thing that you really need to remember is that this technique will open more doors to your playing than regular picking (which always forces you to pluck on string at a time even if you are playing massive power chords) in some instances, but it’s still not as fully open as finger picking, so it’s almost an exact middle ground. The hardest part is learning to pull your fingers off the strings to pluck them correctly. You want to only have tips of your fingers plucking the strings, certainly no more than that or you will risk injuring yourself. Remember that you don’t need to pull your fingers right back to pluck the strings hard, practice getting as much noise as possible with the least possible movement; this will really help you improve you playing speed later on as you require less energy to play each note.
That’s pretty much it for this lesson. I hope that I’ve managed to help some of you out there.
Take care guys and I’ll see you next time!
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