The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    My hybrid picking is a shame…I need a good advice how to improve my skills. It is very difficult for me to integrate the middle finger and I actually don't want long fingernails.
    That said I‘d like to pick the strings just with my fingertips besides the plectrum.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Your fingernail length is a choice, if you're playing electric, nails are less necessary. As far as technique goes, a beginning classical guitar method will give you plenty of arpeggio exercises and studies for perfecting your technique. If you're really into developing hybrid picking for jazz, Gustav Assis-Brasil's books are the best, start with Hybrid Picking for Guitar, you can get on line, and look him up, he's an amazing player, and the book is very well-done. The main thing is to consistently practice simple right-hand combinations with a metronome.
    Last edited by ronjazz; 08-01-2021 at 08:57 AM.

  4. #3

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    I actually think long fingernails are a bit of hassle for hybrid if anything.

    the biggest thing for me is that my grip on the pick changes slightly when I use my fingers; that takes a bit of a small adjustment

  5. #4

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    What is the problem exactly? Can you fingerpick pima already? With a plectrum you get like pma instead… and your hand position needs to be a compromise to get good angle for both pick and fingers.

    I approached hybrid picking same way I learned playing with plastic fingerpicks. Given solid pima technique, go cold turkey for six months. Any adjustments needed will become obvious.

    Take some fingerstyle guitar piece that you know well pima style and try to work it out hybrid. Some moves will require crosspicking with string skipping, lots of creative possibilities.

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by frankhond
    What is the problem exactly? Can you fingerpick pima already? With a plectrum you get like pma instead… and your hand position needs to be a compromise to get good angle for both pick and fingers.

    I approached hybrid picking same way I learned playing with plastic fingerpicks. Given solid pima technique, go cold turkey for six months. Any adjustments needed will become obvious.

    Take some fingerstyle guitar piece that you know well pima style and try to work it out hybrid. Some moves will require crosspicking with string skipping, lots of creative possibilities.
    Sorry, what’s „pima“?

  7. #6

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    P = thumb
    i = index
    m = middle
    a = annular (3rd finger)


    It’s classical guitar terminology originally.

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by grahambop
    P = thumb
    i = index
    m = middle
    a = annular (3rd finger)


    It’s classical guitar terminology originally.
    Got it, thanks!

  9. #8

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    If you haven’t already, check out Scott Tennant’s Pumping Nylon. Most of it can be found on YouTube these days. This clip talks in detail about nails and fingers.


    For steel string the classical technique is complemented by what I would call the “Leo Kottke right hand” which uses same principles but wrist is collapsed so palm muting is possible.

    With a pick you still apply the same ideas but need to find a position that allows both pick and two fingers to work.. and choosing nails and plectrum so the tones you get can work together.

  10. #9

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    Tim Miller's online classes are excellent if you want to really get into this! Still, it's a skill, and takes lots of practice for it to seem "natural" (which it doesn't, to me!).

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by ronjazz
    ...Gustavo Assis-Brasil's books are the best, start with Hybrid Picking for Guitar, you can get on line, and look him up, he's an amazing player, and the book is very well-done...
    I know Gustavo. He was my son's music teacher at the Cambridge School of Weston (Massachusetts). Wonderful musician and a really nice guy!

  12. #11

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    The challenge for me with hybrid picking was the pinky. Your pinky becomes your "a". Not only to play 4 part chords but also for playing melody lines around the highest voice. Often you also want to bring out that highest voice the most.

    I practiced scales alternating pinky and the ring finger (also other fingers). Like anything else on guitar, it feels very awkward at first then it becomes more natural.

  13. #12

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    I learned some Scotty Moore licks (Elvis Sun Sessions) to get started. Then, once you have the basics, you're off to the races.

    Just like every other part of guitar, you suck for a while and slowly get better. There's no shortcuts.

  14. #13

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    I am noticing that Pasquale Grasso uses nails on his Trenier, but he comes from a classical guitar background, as I do, and nails are our built-in picks, with the little finger having the longest nail because it's the shortest finger. The adjustment from hybrid style back to plectrum style is minor and will become comfortable after a few weeks of practice of arpeggios and block chords with the pick and remaining three free fingers. Also, as Tal mentions above, a few minutes a day of scale practice working with the available combinations of middle, ring and pinky fingers will produce more strength and independence. Guitar technique is accumulative, and every well-played exercise helps all of your technique. I invested a very small amount of money in a downloadable metronome that could be programmed to increase the BPM by whatever number of measures works for you; for instance, starting at 60 BPM for 8 or 16 bars then increasing by 5 or 10 BPM; doing this for 3 or 4 minutes daily with wither scale or arpeggio patterns really gives you a lot of improvement in a fairly short time, as well as helping to avoid boredom. I generally do all of my technical warmups this way: 3 minutes on each exercise, probably 15 different patterns daily, taking less than an hour. Metronome+is the program, also includes records and tuner, for IOS devices.

  15. #14

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    What I did to get my hybrid picking to advance from beginning/retarded was only practice with 1 chord. Or even no chord, you could leave your hand off the neck. I would put the pick on 5th string for example, rest my middle finger on the 4th string, ring on the 3rd, pinky on the 2nd, and hold them there, then just pick the bass note. This develops independence. After that you can practice further picking exercises. Holding 1 or more chords are not necessary. Just develop your picking dexterity. After you gain dexterity, you can begin integrating hybrid picking to easy parts and so on.