Sorry for not posting for awhile...I havesnt had as much time as I would have liked to be working on my stuff as I have spent the last 8 weeks taking a 9-4 mon-fri comptia computer crash course concluding with the 801 and 802 tests for my A+ certification for IT work...anyway I have been looking a lot at hybrid picking and have come up with a few theories for it that may or may not turn out to be correct...

1.) I am 100% in the dark between if it makes more sense to be alternating between strictly down strokes & finger plucks...and/or sometimes instead there being an up stroke (with the pick) in btw finger plucks....what would Pebber have to say on this matter? is it dependant on what I am playing as to what makes the most sense to do as far as down or uping it is concerned.

2.) For generating the motion of the pick strokes I have been struggling to find a balance between using a scalpal motion to do the picking versus having it come from somewhere else...as I understand it from my explorations with sarod the name of the game as far as speed is concerned has to do with finding a way to have the pick diddle the string that DOES NOT cause the hand/arm to move relative to where the string is (that way the pick hand does not have to move at all or shift itself relative to the string in order for it to comence with the returning upstroke)....But when I finger pluck It seems that my hand is either bouncing around every time it follows through a pluck...or the fingers want to pre-emptively plant themselves for future anticipated plucks...obviously this causes problems as the more fingers want to start clasping strings pre-emptively the less mobile my whole right hand becomes and the whole scalpal engine becomes less fluid the more the other three fingers start anchoring down on strings....Obviously this makes it all less fluid and more rigid and innacurate....

3.) having a stiff thumb versus not having a stiff thumb during hybrid executions...what are the pros and cons of each?

Thoughts?

This is not a concentrated run through all of it. Just a small vid to let you know it can be done.
Sometimes it can be done by easily changing the chord voicings like i did in that tunes introduction segment.

I've seen hybrid picking used in so many different styles that it probably comes down to what you want to use it for. Nowadays it seems to have become a part of the high gain playing and is almost like a substitute sweep technique. With that in mind it might be hard to use that kind of fluency if you try to pick harder. If you use it in your rhythm playing it might be just plucking the chord tones and nothing more. Now the banjo rolls etc are a world of their own and there shredders and speed players look at amazed at Danny Gattons memory. The guy literally smokes anyone. Just my two european cents, which by the way are not even allowed to be used in paying your bills. Take it anyway you want! It's still currency in use!

Pick and fingers, or "hybrid picking" has a few players you should go check out.

Here is some country music guys, probably the source... (Although classical guitar repertoire gives an excellent starting point in my mind...)

Albert Lee (Country Boy will teach you everything you really need to know)
Danny Gatton
Arlen Roth (founder of Hot licks, this guy is important...)
Chet Atkins
Merle Travis
The Hellecasters
Brent Mason
Brad Paisley
Jerry Reed
Lee Hodgeson (wrote this great book called Hot Country, also one of guthrie govan's instructors)
Johnny Hiland
Etc, etc

In the Shred/Rock world, here are a few guys who use it;

Greg Howe
Shawn Lane
Guthrie Govan
Michael Lee Firkins
Eric johnson
Joe Bonnamassa
Jeff Beck (No pick)
Eddie Van Halen
Yngwie Malmsteen (air on G, intro to Blackstar, etc, etc mostly chordal/classical stuff, sometimes bluesy soloing)
Mark Knopfler
Derek Trucks

In jazz, man there a bunch of really unique pick/fingers guys...

Lenny Breau ( super important, but mostly just fingers.)
Stanly Jordan (8 finger tapping approach, but Pebber's systems could apply easily)
Charlie Hunter
Wes Montgomery (thumb player.... Amazing)
Tommy Emmanuel
Leo Kottke
Tuck Andress (fingerstyle mostly, but he is a beast...)
Etc, etc.


As far as pick/fingers replacing sweep picking, I don't think so. It is a different sound is all. Kind of like Sarod vs Regular Alternate, different not better. There are things however, that you can do with hybrid picking that you would not have a hope in hell of executing at the same degree of proficiency using regular picking. So why not learn sweeping AND hybrid, then you have the best of both worlds?


Take a listen to some of these guys, learn the intro riff to "country boy" and then take a good look at some fingerstyle classical pieces, then take a look at how cleverly Pebber has mapped out every possible finger combination and get practicing. I guess it is then just a matter of listening and practicing...

Now, I'm still working on it, (kind of a lifelong thing...) and I apologize for the audio - I forgot how severely the open strings would resonate through the headstock. I should have turned the mic gain down on the Zoom camera, whups. I should also probably sit down and practice this sort of thing, hahaha just kind of running off of how I play, never really made a science out of this way of playing maybe one day...

Here's just a few ideas using only the "Country Boy" idea; lots of different ways to utilize it. Now combine that sort of mentality with Pebber's guitar wazas and you would probably have something really amazing...

Have fun, guys!
-S

Hi Scottulus

I don't believe it, your list missed Roy Buchannan.

Nice work on the hybrid stuff.

here here! thank you mr tulis!

Also thank you mr gurgly burgle...you two cents are most certainly good here.

Yes, and I missed lots more haha

Just rewatched the video...Oh and Mr. Tulis I think you might be a little bit country.