

When you’re playing the melody, it gets a little displaced and sometimes gets put on the offbeats.” This asymmetrical pattern, Tuttle says, is “one of the things that gives crosspicking a cool, syncopated sound. To make a tidy one-measure pattern, play through the three-note grouping twice and then add two more eighth notes-by string number, the pattern goes 4-3-2, 4-3-2, 4-2.
#ADVANCED FLATPICKING GUITAR TABS FREE#
(If you’d rather listen to something more interesting than the open strings, feel free to hold down any six-string chord while you do this exercise.)īecause these crosspicking patterns are based on groups of three eighth notes, they don’t fit evenly into a 4/4 measure. Start on the top three strings and move down one string at a time until you get to the sixth string, using either alternate or down-down-up picking. Now, practice moving this three-string pattern across the fingerboard, as in Ex. You’ll see Tony Rice break away from the alternating pick direction, and he might put in two or more downs in a row.” 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. From the April 2017 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine | BY JEFFREY PEPPER RODGERSĬrosspicking is an essential technique in the bluegrass guitar toolkit.
