Tuttle favors alternate picking, but says, “A lot of amazing guitar players use this down-down-up pattern. These two picking patterns sound different-the down-down-up picking is smoother. 2 uses two downstrokes followed by an upstroke. Loop the pattern and gradually increase the tempo as you get comfortable. In this example and the others that follow, let all the notes ring and overlap. First, use alternate picking-alternating down- and upstrokes-as shown in Ex. Start by playing across strings 4, 3, and 2, low to high. To get the hang of it with your picking hand, Tuttle suggests, forget about fretting for now and just focus on picking open strings. For a sample, check out her gorgeous YouTube rendition of John Hartford’s “Gentle on My Mind.” Tuttle is also a clear and patient teacher, and she shared the following exercises to get started with crosspicking, and then a couple of simple arrangements for practicing the technique: “Wildwood Flower” and “Worried Man Blues.” Forget About FrettingĬlassic bluegrass crosspicking involves playing across a group of three adjacent strings, usually in a pattern of eighth notes. One young player with a fine, fluid crosspicking style is Molly Tuttle. The technique works well for accompaniment, as an elegant alternative to strumming, as well as chord-melody-style solos. Pioneered by Stanley Brothers guitarist George Shuffler in the 1950s, and carried forward by such players as Doc Watson, Clarence White, and Tony Rice, crosspicking is essentially a guitar version of the fingerpicked banjo roll-you flatpick individual notes across the strings, creating rolling patterns that outline both the melody and the chords. So we're asking you to give just $1 (or whatever you can afford) right now.įrom the April 2017 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine | BY JEFFREY PEPPER RODGERSĬrosspicking is an essential technique in the bluegrass guitar toolkit. Hey, fellow guitarist! Did you know 99.9% of visitors to this site will scroll past this message without making a contribution? Many plan to pledge later, but then forget.

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