Chicken Pickin' / Hybrid Picking

Hey everyone,
I'm an intermediate guitarist looking to learn some hybrid picking techniques.
Right now I play primarily blues but I love the hybrid picking style and would love to incorporate that into my playing and give me a more diverse sound. I realize there are a million videos online showing licks and stuff, but I need something that shows how to develop the technique (with my right hand) as well as showing different licks and stuff - essentially: Chicken Pickin' for beginners that shows all aspects of this style start to finish.

Does anyone have any recommendations for DVDs to help me out?

Check Doug Seven's site. He has a lot of DVDs and some free videos that deal with that in particular. He has helped me a lot.

Check Doug Seven's site. He has a lot of DVDs and some free videos that deal with that in particular. He has helped me a lot.

I actually just stumbled across his site (which is laid out terribly and a little hard to navigate) but he seemed pretty legit.

Does anyone have any Doug Seven materials they'd like to sell? Can't seem to justify spending $200 on lessons right now but I'd take second hand copies

Yeah, his site is really bad but he is good and he gives you backing tracks. I havent been able to find any of his stuff used.

go49,
Do you already fingerpick?

Someone posted these exercises a a few months ago on another thread. I liked them so much that I copied them into a word doc and give them to my students when they are learning hybrid picking. Sorry the letters don't match up but I think the explanation is pretty good (the original poster of this exercise wrote that too)

PPMPPMPPM
E-------------------------------------------
B---8p6----6----8p6---6---8p6----6--------
G--------7----------7----------7----------
D-------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------

Practice this riff, mainly the specific picking pattern (pick, pulloff, pick, middle). All picks should be down strokes, and the notes should be straight 16ths (1 e + a, 2 e + a...) THEN you can take that picking pattern and translate it to this:

P P M P P M P P M P P M
E-----------------------------------------------------
B-----------------------------------------------------
G--3p0-----0-----------0---3p0-----0-----------0---
D--------------3p0----------------------3p0---------
A---------5----------5------------5-----------5------
E----------------------------------------------------

One more to get you going:

AND

P P M P P M P P M P P M
E--3p0-----0---------------------------------------
B--------6-----3p0----0----------------------------
G-------------------5-------3p0---0---------------
D--------------------------------5-----3p0---0-----
A-------------------------------------------5-------
E----------------------------------------------------

John 5 is an awesome chicken picker, i know there are you tube videos of him pickin. He also has a play along book out called "the book of John" might be worth looking into.

My friend Vinny has some good tutorials on hybrid picking at http://power-twang.com/

I got a lot out of Brent Mason's video.

My friend Vinny has some good tutorials on hybrid picking at http://power-twang.com/

I got a lot out of Brent Mason's video.

Thanks! I'm going to check out his YouTube stuff to see if i like his teaching style. If so I'll probably pull the trigger on his DVDs. They are much more affordable than Doug Seven

Cool. Good luck with the hybrid picking. I love it!

You can check out my site if you would like. It's all about chicken picken. Good Luck!

The problem with most video instruction in this style is the length of the licks. Unlike blues licks, which are usually compact--rarely does a blues lick extend beyond a measure--most of the chicken pickin' stuff I've seen runs through multiple measures; this means that the licks not always easily transposable, as they require a certain chord progression to work.

McGlamRock's tab above is an exception. What we need are licks broken down into short segments that can be linked together (in the context of the specific song) to create longer licks. Some of the b-bender stuff does this, but I'd like to see a more flexible approach to chicken pickin'.

This is MHO--I've never done research, I'm just reporting my sense of things. I could well be wrong.

I've been chicken-pickin' for several years now. I started with the James Burton Hot Licks VHS (now available on DVD). I've also used some of the tutorials on Guitartricks.com. as well as some of the other Hot Licks offerings. You get unlimited access for $99 a year @ Guitartricks.

I've had the most success however, by inventing my own exercises, slowing down, and really thinking thru the cross picking patterns I invent. I also play blues, rock and jazz as well as country with the hybrid style. This multi-genre approach has also improved my cross picking technique.

I hope this helps.

I started out by playing licks I knew with the fingering hand and experimenting with the picking hand. Mainly, I started off picking a downstroke and then plucking or popping a string by pulling up with the tip of my middle finger. I hope that makes sense.

Yeah, his site is really bad but he is good and he gives you backing tracks. I havent been able to find any of his stuff used.

Yes it's terrible, worse yet is the individual he's got handling his store's email correspondence. It's been impossible to get the tab to the shapes DVD. The person at the other end say's they've given me the link but it's not at the link. Any further request for the same has been ignored.

I love Doug's course but man, there are unresolved issues with the person handling his correspondence and after sales service.

Hey everyone,
I'm an intermediate guitarist looking to learn some hybrid picking techniques.
Right now I play primarily blues but I love the hybrid picking style and would love to incorporate that into my playing and give me a more diverse sound. I realize there are a million videos online showing licks and stuff, but I need something that shows how to develop the technique (with my right hand) as well as showing different licks and stuff - essentially: Chicken Pickin' for beginners that shows all aspects of this style start to finish.

Does anyone have any recommendations for DVDs to help me out?

I started with Sol's course, they were very good for an absolute noob, but they're over priced and I've heard there's a thief behind the commercials of that set.

Yes it's terrible, worse yet is the individual he's got handling his store's email correspondence. It's been impossible to get the tab to the shapes DVD. The person at the other end say's they've given me the link but it's not at the link. Any further request for the same has been ignored.

I love Doug's course but man, there are unresolved issues with the person handling his correspondence and after sales service.

Oh dear!

I just paid for the full course ... $197.00

Hope I get a better response if needed.

Looks very cool though.

I have a couple of his free videos & his style and laid back approach (no ego & stuff) just seems to click with me.

Oh dear!

I just paid for the full course ... $197.00

Hope I get a better response if needed.

Looks very cool though.

I have a couple of his free videos & his style and laid back approach (no ego & stuff) just seems to click with me.

If you get through it and would like to part with it someday let me know

If you get through it and would like to part with it someday let me know

Shall do.

I think it will keep me busy for a long time though.

Gotta say Doug is one helluva player !

Oh dear!

I just paid for the full course ... $197.00

Hope I get a better response if needed.

Looks very cool though.

I have a couple of his free videos & his style and laid back approach (no ego & stuff) just seems to click with me.

Hey brother, looks like I was mistaken, the tab I was asking for was not downloadable, nor necessary.

I had ordered the pizza box set with a LOT of stuff, some of it didn't have tab. I got what I needed from them.

You should be OK. Hope you like the course. Good luck!