New to the B bender forum...have a ???

[hotraman]

and the threads are great.
Wondering.. do most of you play with a pick?
or do you claw-pick? ( using thumb, index, middle & ring fingers?)
Advantages? or just personal preference?
Thanks!
steve

[Don Miller]

Much of the time I hybrid pick...holding the pick between my thumb and index and also using my middle and ring finger. I will also play straight flatpick, depending on the lick

[J. Hayes]

everything as I play pedal steel too. Sometimes on guitar I'll use my bare ring finger and pinky also for different textures. On occasion for some double stop things I use my middle finger with a fingerpick and my ring finger without pick together. I've played this way for so long that I just can't imagine doing it any other way..........JH in Va.

[Eric N]

I am assuming that you are asking the question in relation to using a bender.

I play mostly hybrid-style (chicken' pickin') when playing bender licks, as you don't get the full bender effect unless you sound two notes simultaneously. I flatpick, fingerpick, and hybrid pick throughtout the course of my playing, but when using a bender, hybrid picking is most common for me.

[hotraman]

Hello all;
Thanks for taking time to respond to my questions.
yes...
I am referring to playing with a B bender.
So... hybrid style is aka chick'n picking?
Could you define further "double stops?"
I've been playing lead guitar for 40 years plus.
But am looking at expanding my skill level on the b bender.
Steve

[RomanS]

Nope, hybrid picking is not the same as chicken picking - while a lot of chicken pickers use hybrid picking, you can also play chicken picking with only a pick, or only with fingers, and you can use hybrid picking for other styles than chicken picking.
Chicken picking is mostly about damping single strings/notes, often with fingers of the picking hand, to get that rhythmic, snappy tones similar to clucking chicken, while hybrid picking simply means playing with a regular flat-pick, and middle-/ring-fingers.

[Don Miller]

Double stops are just two notes played at the same time...usually major or minor thirds but can also include 6ths, tritone pairs (3-b7 or b7-3) etc...

The classic Chuck Berry intro to Johnny B Goode, etc.is just about all double stops...

Play a stringbender and youll come to know and love double stops

[hotraman]

Double stops, eh?
Didn't know that what it was called
You're right about a b bender taking familiar chords and adding a new spin to them.
I'm learning how to play various double stops with the b string pulled down, then bringing it back to the normal chord.
My challenge is just getting used to playing my tele without a pick, just for kicks!
Thanks for all of the posts!
steve

[Don Miller]

If you got 40 years of lead chops, try this..anytime you have a lick with a whole step move..or whole step finger bend on the b string..use the bender for those moves instead of fingering them...sometimes they work sometimes they dont, sometimes its amazing.

[Stickyfingers]

I hybrid pick also. Flat pick and the other three fingers with nails. Using the bender with four note chords makes for some really great sounds. And three, and two if that's what ya do. The bender can make some of the neatest sounds, and also some of the worst chords you ever heard until you get the finger/bend thing down some. Even then, sometimes I forget and finger and bend at the same time and get some kind E=MC squared twice removed chord sound. Just pretend you meant to do it..ha