Lead Hybrid Picking

If you want to spice up your lead guitar playing, one of the best ways to do it is by learning new techniques. Different techniques have different qualities, and can change your lead guitar playing in multiple ways.

One way to create a great lead style is by reaching out into other genres for techniques.

In this article, we’ll discuss doing just that. We’ll take hybrid picking, and talk about how you can introduce it into your lead guitar playing.

Before we can use hybrid picking to change our lead playing, we need to figure out just what hybrid picking really is. Hybrid picking is a picking style that involves the use of both pick and fingers on your picking hand to achieve a range of different tonal qualities to each note.

Take for instance a finger picked note. The quality of a finger picked note is much different than that of a note picked using a guitar pick. The note is either softer or has more twang. This is due to the flesh.

Your finger produces a different amount of pressure than a guitar pick. It also distributes that pressure in a different way. While a pick comes to a point, your finger is more rounded. This means that more of your finger will hit the string when using your finger than pick when you use a pick.

Hybrid picking is often used by playing bass notes with the pick and treble notes with the fingers. While it isn’t common, some guitarists tend to use up to three fingers when hybrid picking.

The goal in hybrid picking is to give different tones to different strings. Take for instance the bass and treble strings. While they do have naturally different tones due to their gauge differences, fingering the treble strings and picking the bass strings can make those differences more pronounced.

A great way to incorporate hybrid picking into your lead playing is to use scales. Start off by getting familiar with the picking patterns involved in hybrid picking. Once you are comfortable, try speeding up the scales. Use a metronome to keep a steady rhythm. The goal is to become familiar with the picking style, so allow yourself to play slowly.

Don’t speed up until you have developed a pattern that you can manage. If you use bass notes with the pick and treble notes with your fingers, it means that the only time you can use hybrid picking is when your lead involves both types of notes. If not, you will be either picking with a pick or finger picking.

It is important that you practice. Set aside a block of time each day to practice your hybrid picking. Write some guitar licks specifically geared towards finger picking. Then try adding those licks to a string of other licks, thus creating a lead.

You want everything to flow smoothly, so don’t worry about speed; pay attention to execution. If you find yourself becoming sloppy, slow down. Remember to have fun and keep your mind open to different combinations of hybrid picking and other lead guitar techniques.

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