Six Strings
In this section: Techniques
Techniques

Hybrid picking

You hold the pick between your thumb and index finger, and your middle and ring fingers pluck the high strings. That lets you play two strings far apart at once, or arpeggios a pick alone can’t handle.

Notation
m and a above the notes played with the fingers, everything else with the pick
Hand
Picking hand
Difficulty
Intermediate
Style
Country, rock, soul, folk

Listen

e|---0---0---0---0---3---3---3-3-|
B|---1---1---1---1---0---0---0-0-|
G|-------------------------------|
D|-----2-------2-------0---------|
A|-3-------3---------------------|
E|-----------------3-------3---3-|

What it’s for

A pick on its own plays one string at a time, or neighboring strings when you strum. There’s no way to sound the A string and the high E together without hitting the strings in between. With your middle and ring fingers helping out, you can: a bass note with the pick, a pinch with your fingers, and the guitar starts to sound like a piano.

It’s the signature technique of country guitar, from Albert Lee to Brad Paisley: banjo-style rolls, cascades of notes imitating a pedal steel, snapped notes. In soul and rock, it’s used for double-stops and plucked chords. And you keep the pick in your hand for solos and strumming, without switching anything.

The sound changes too: a note plucked with a finger is rounder, a picked note sharper. Mixing the two gives a line more depth.

How to do it

  1. Hold the pick as usual, between the pad of your thumb and the side of your index finger. Your middle and ring fingers stay free, slightly curved over the high strings.
  2. Split up the strings: the pick takes the bass strings (low E, A, D) and sometimes the G string; your middle finger (m) takes the G or B string; your ring finger (a) the high E.
  3. Pull the strings toward your palm with your fingertips, like in fingerpicking, not outward: otherwise the string slaps against the frets.
  4. For a pinch, the pick goes down and your fingers come up at the same moment: your hand closes slightly, as if grabbing something.
  5. Start on open strings: a bass note with the pick on the A string, then an m and a pinch on the B and high E, on a loop, until your fingers find their strings without looking.
EADGBEpma

Hybrid picking: pick and fingers

  1. Your thumb and index hold the pick as usual: it plays the low strings (arrow).
  2. Your middle finger, free, plucks the B string.
  3. Your ring finger, free, plucks the high E. Your fingers pull toward your palm (arrows), together with the pick or right after it.

In tab, the notes played with your fingers are often marked m (middle) or a (ring); everything else is picked. Some tabs just write “hybrid picking” at the start of the passage.

Examples

The example at the top of the page alternates a bass note with the pick and a pinch with your middle and ring fingers on the B and high E strings. Over C, the bass goes from the A string to the D string; over G, from the low E to the D string. Pick, fingers, pick, fingers: a pianist’s “oom-pah,” on guitar.

At the intermediate level, the banjo-style roll: pick, middle, ring, pick, middle, ring, pick, middle. Three, three, two eighth notes per bar, over G, C and D. The notes ring into each other, like a harp.

e|-----3-----3---------0-----3---------2-----2-----3-|
B|---0-----0-----0---1-----1-----1---3-----3-----3-0-|
G|-------0---------------0---------------2---------0-|
D|-0-----------0---------------2---0-----------0-----|
A|-----------------3---------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------3-|

At the advanced level, sixteenth notes pick, middle, ring, middle over Am, Fmaj7, C and G. The pick holds the bass, your middle finger the G string, and your ring finger sings a little melody on the high E, skipping the B string.

e|-----0-------3-------0-------1-------0-------3-------3-------2---0-|
B|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|---2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0-2-|
D|---------2-------3-----------------------2---------------0-------2-|
A|-0-----------------------3-------3-------------------------------0-|
E|-------------------------------------------------3-----------------|

Licks

Country. To imitate a pedal steel, country players use cascades: a fretted note with the pick, then open strings with the fingers, all left ringing. In E, the B on the G string and the open B string ring in unison.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|-----0-----0-----------0-0-|
B|---0-----0-----0-----0---0-|
G|-4-----2-----1-----1-----1-|
D|-----------------2---------|
A|---------------------------|
E|-------------------------0-|

Soul. Sixths: the G string with the pick and the high E with your middle finger, at the same time, skipping the B string. A sweet sound you hear all over soul and R&B. Over D then G, with an open bass note in between.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|-7-9-10---9-7---3-5-7---10-|
B|---------------------------|
G|-7-9-11---9-7---4-5-7---11-|
D|--------0-------------0----|
A|---------------------------|
E|--------------3------------|

Rock. The open bass with the pick, and double-stops plucked by your middle and ring fingers on the G and B strings: A and C#, then A and D. With a distorted tone, it sounds like two guitars.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|-----------------------------|
B|---2---3-2---2---3---3-3---2-|
G|---2---2-2---2---2---4-2---2-|
D|---------------0---0---------|
A|-0---0-----0-------------0---|
E|-----------------------------|

Practice routine

Metronome at 60 bpm, two notes per click (eighth notes).

  • The example at the top of the page for one minute, then at 80 bpm once the pinches land right on the click;
  • the roll from the intermediate example at 60 bpm, aiming for 100 bpm;
  • the advanced example at 60 bpm, four notes per click, aiming for 90 bpm.

Go up 5 bpm after each clean minute. Above all, listen to the balance: the notes from your fingers should be as loud as the picked ones.

Common mistakes

Your fingers are much quieter than the pick? Pluck the string more firmly, with a bit of nail if you have some, and pick a little more gently to even things out.

The pick turns or slips in your hand? When your other fingers move, your grip loosens. Keep the same pressure between thumb and index, firm but not tense.

The string slaps against the frets? You’re pulling outward. Pull toward your palm, upward, like in fingerpicking.

Your pinch sounds like two attacks? The pick leaves before your fingers, or the other way around. Practice the pinch on its own, slowly, on open strings, until you hear a single attack.

Variations

Chicken picking. Your fingers snap the string against the frets or pluck it muted: that’s the clucking country sound. See chicken picking.

Adding the pinky. Some players add the pinky on the high E to pluck four strings at once: the pick on the bass, and three fingers for a full chord.

Thumb instead of a pick. In country fingerstyle, Merle Travis and Chet Atkins played with a thumbpick: same idea, the bass with the thumb and bare fingers for the high strings. See fingerpicking.

Strumming and plucking. In an accompaniment, alternate a pick stroke on the low strings and a finger pinch on the high ones: the rhythm part breathes more.

Acoustic or electric

On an electric, hybrid picking feels right at home: light strings, a clean tone, and every finger snap comes through. It’s the sound of country played on a Telecaster.

On an acoustic, your fingers sound softer than the pick, and the difference stands out more. A bit of nail helps. It’s handy for folk accompaniments that mix strumming and arpeggios in the same song, without putting the pick down.

Going further