crosspicking on a tele

Hey everybody,

Does anyone have experience crosspicking on an electric guitar? I have been playing a lot of Tony Rice/David Rawlings kinda stuff on my acoustic and I want to start doing it on my tele as well. I know when players do banjo rolls on a tele its with a hybrid picking technique (Danny Gatton) but does anyone have any suggestions about doing it with just a flatpick? When I try it, it works but it doesnt get that same bounce as when I do it on my acoustic.

thanks,
jmurphyguitar

Hey everybody,

Does anyone have experience crosspicking on an electric guitar? I have been playing a lot of Tony Rice/David Rawlings kinda stuff on my acoustic and I want to start doing it on my tele as well. I know when players do banjo rolls on a tele its with a hybrid picking technique (Danny Gatton) but does anyone have any suggestions about doing it with just a flatpick? When I try it, it works but it doesnt get that same bounce as when I do it on my acoustic.

thanks,
jmurphyguitar

I would go back and forth and crosspicking can work but it won't get that same sound from what I have found. I think if the sound you are getting is a little "low key", it explains why you don't see it as much on electric.

I can see it as a change up technique for variety, as well as full on fingerpicking on an electric, or slapping the strings like on an electric bass, but it doesn't seem to make it as a major technique on electrics. But part of what makes it fun is you can carve your own path and there aren't any hard fast rules.

I hope this helps.

The best crosspicker on the tele has to be Marty Stuart, with tunes like Humminrgbyrd (http://vimeo.com/17447543)

Yeah those are some good points thanks! I think I will play around with it for a while...I am having one of my teles set up to feel a little more like an acoustic guitar and I'll see what I think of that.

The best crosspicker on the tele has to be Marty Stuart, with tunes like Humminrgbyrd (http://vimeo.com/17447543)


Oh wow yeah this is kinda what I am talking about...you wouldn't happen to know what kind of strings he has on there would ya? I can probably find it online too.

Yeah those are some good points thanks! I think I will play around with it for a while...I am having one of my teles set up to feel a little more like an acoustic guitar and I'll see what I think of that.

That can be a great help. I got a better feel going from 9s to 9.5s, and now to 10s. The next set I will put on will be light 11s (Ernie Ball Power slinkys) and hopefully this can be my go to setup. The 11s may be a little harder to bend but not unreasonable since there is a plain third string.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=sf2&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=power+slinkys&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1009&bih=578&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=8982247334891716844&sa=X&ei=9ppiT_abEMWdiAKfwoDoCA&ved=0CEAQ8wIwAA

That can be a great help. I got a better feel going from 9s to 9.5s, and now to 10s. The next set I will put on will be light 11s (Ernie Ball Power slinkys) and hopefully this can be my go to setup. The 11s may be a little harder to bend but not unreasonable since there is a plain third string.

Just watch your string height at the nut if you keep going to larger ga. stings without re-cutting the nut.

What about throwing on flatwound strings? I think thats what Kenny Vaughan uses and he does a lot just with the pick.

Just watch your string height at the nut if you keep going to larger ga. stings without re-cutting the nut.

He, he, I used to have 13 flatwounds. It may have affected the tuning stability due to binding because while they went in all the way it was rather tight, but the higher tension of the strings at full pitch didn't allow for the strings to fall out of tune easily. They worked well and had I kept that gauge I would have filed out 3rd and 6th string where the binding issues were. When I detuned the strings stuck some in the nut on those two and I had to tune further down than I wanted and tune it up to the desired pitch. That was kind of a pain.

But 11s are OK and I think the guitar was set up with 10s.