George Benson Picking Method

**ecj** · 03-18-2014, 03:15 PM

True comments, re: Santana. Hendrix definitely used it, and has the best overdrive sound of all time to my ears.

I'm not sure how well it'd work if you're really into metal, which is what I think of when I think "overdrive". The super shreddy stuff. I think Shawn Lane used something like it, so maybe it'd work. I don't really like overdrive, so I'm probably not the best guy to ask.

I do think it sounds terrible on a flattop acoustic with round wounds, based on folks I've heard.

**3625** · 03-18-2014, 06:19 PM

IMO the GB style works best on an archtop with flats, and wearing a strap so the right arm/wrist can more easily rest at the proper angle. I tried it with 11 rounds and the scraping of the strings was too pronounced - with 10 D'Addario's not too bad. The scraping sound can be lessened if you roll off heaps of treble, but if you're doing that you may as well use flats anyway. Yeah, and the floating wrist would be no good for any kind of overdrive/distortion unless you used a string damper at the nut (which I'm experimenting with as well for archtop for when you accidently trigger a natural harmonic on an open string by fretting certain spots throughout the neck).

**bay221** · 05-23-2014, 02:12 PM

This might be a helpful video...

**ChuckCorbis** · 05-23-2014, 02:29 PM

Nice video. His right hand technique resembles Jimmy Raney's or Bireli's more than Benson's.

**ChuckCorbis** · 05-23-2014, 04:32 PM

This Cuatro seems closer to Benson's.

**ChuckCorbis** · 05-24-2014, 05:53 PM

I really think a middle ground would be learning to use the pick at both angles. Backwards, flat and forward with 2 different grips. Like Jim Hall does. Then you are covering a lot of ground and have flexibility to get the sound you want.

**oceanslider** · 11-28-2021, 01:28 PM

Here is an example of picking in the style of George Benson...

**oceanslider** · 11-28-2021, 01:31 PM

And another where the guy who made the YouTube video calls it "Backwards Picking" and relates it more the Gospel Music guitarist.

But I think this picking probably is traced more precisely to George Benson. And calling George Benson Picking probably would be more accurate.

**Cunamara** · 11-28-2021, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by oceanslider

Here is an example of picking in the style of George Benson...

Most people that claim to be using "Benson picking" aren't doing it the way Benson does it. This is the closest I have seen.

For some folks this isn't so much a method of picking the guitar as it is a religion about picking the guitar. I am not a member, since I prefer to play with my fingers or do hybrid picking. But, damn, George sure sounds great with it doesn't he?

**oceanslider** · 11-28-2021, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by Cunamara

Most people that claim to be using "Benson picking" aren't doing it the way Benson does it. This is the closest I have seen.

For some folks this isn't so much a method of picking the guitar as it is a religion about picking the guitar. I am not a member, since I prefer to play with my fingers or do hybrid picking. But, damn, George sure sounds great with it doesn't he?

Benson is one of my all-time favorites. In fact, in the early 70's, I think I was 14yo, the first time I heard George play. This was a few years prior to the album Breezin'. He was the first jazz guitarist that I really had heard, or liked hearing, and I bought all his records. From the earliest I could find until Breezin'. All the album pre singing.

I will be honest when he put out Breezin I was disappointed. I thought he had gone commercial.

But now I know his history more and that he was a singer first before a guitarist, recording his first singing album at age 10yo. And it makes perfect sense why his playing is like singing.

To this day George Benson is still probably my favorite jazz guitarist.

**Cunamara** · 11-28-2021, 05:27 PM

IMHO George remains one of the top jazz guitarists maybe ever, but he figured out along time ago with jazz doesn't pay. However, his chops are so good that, no matter how "commercial" he seems, his abilities are evident and you still have to respect him.

I don't blame anybody for escaping a life of gigs to 20 people in a small club, playing music that's anywhere from 50 to 100 years old and really not even making enough to pay rent in New York, LA or the Bay area. The economics of jazz are terrible and have largely locked musicians into a familiar repertoire that doesn't need rehearsal, because who can afford to rehearse? George escaped that way better than most.

**oceanslider** · 11-28-2021, 09:20 PM

George Benson recorded his first album at 10yo as a singer...

**oceanslider** · 11-29-2021, 12:19 AM

Originally Posted by oceanslider

And another where the guy who made the YouTube video calls it "Backwards Picking" and relates it more the Gospel Music guitarist.

But I think this picking probably is traced more precisely to George Benson. And calling George Benson Picking probably would be more accurate.

the guy who did “The Backwards Picking Technique” YouTube video wrote this…
https://bradleyjgreen.files.wordpres...ey-j-green.pdf

found on his website here…
Bradley J Green – Music Creative

**Old_Mike** · 02-26-2022, 11:05 AM

Ivor Mairants uses the introduction to one of books to explain that he taught George Benson & Attila Zoller the correct method to hold and use the pick. Benson is supposed to have told him it was easier, but he would have to take 6 months out of performing to get it right. So I guess he never did.

**chasranney** · 03-02-2022, 10:29 AM

The url below takes you to an article by Josh Frets about Benson picking. It references the Tuck Andress article. It's called:

How To Play Like Benson & Santana: The Counterintuitive Picking Technique That Transformed My Guitar Playing

November 18, 2015 by Josh Frets

https://fretboardanatomy.com/picking/

**MarkRhodes** · 03-02-2022, 11:14 AM

I found this video about the Ivor Mairants book "Perfect Pick Technique."

**ArnoldSchoenberg** · 03-05-2022, 02:13 PM

Lots of cats in the gypsy scene pick similarly, e.g. Sébastien Giniaux:

**ArnoldSchoenberg** · 03-07-2022, 04:24 PM

Cecil Alexander is another example:

**rpjazzguitar** · 03-08-2022, 02:14 AM

Originally Posted by oceanslider

Here is an example of picking in the style of George Benson...

Thanks for posting this. I'd known about Benson picking before, but, somehow, I didn't realize exactly how he holds the pick -- and how important it is to the technique.

In fact, I think it might be summarized by suggesting that a player focus on the distal (near the fingernail) joint of the right index finger.
Bent, it's standard procedure. But, held nearly straight, the Benson technique reveals itself.

**CliffR** · 03-21-2022, 09:08 AM

I was just watching some Jefferson Airplane YouTube vids to fill in a gap in my musical knowledge, and I'm pretty sure the lead guitarist was using something close to Benson picking. I couldn't make out his thumb and forefinger clearly, but his right hand was cupped with the palm facing upwards, which seems to be part of the 'stance'. And then I remembered that both Santana and Neal Schon (who started with Santana) play the same way. Which makes me wonder if this was a conscious choice among Bay Area guitarists rather than just coincidence? And if so, had one of them picked it up from Benson himself?

**Cunamara** · 03-22-2022, 07:36 PM

Jefferson Airplane's lead guitarist was Jorma Kaukonen; he also plays (primarily) finger style acoustic for many years, covering the Reverend Gary Davis, Piedmont style, ragtimey, etc. spectrum. His Hot Tuna acoustic duo work with Jack Casady is some of my very favorite music. I've seen Jorma and Jack many times, probably more than any band except maybe the Grateful Dead. The way he holds a flatpick is reminiscent of how George Benson holds one, but he tends to play with an angle that puts the pick flat to the string rather than slicing across it the way George does. Usually only plays with the plectrum on electric guitar, fingerpicks on acoustic.