Chicken Picking (good y'all).

[bcdon]

Just how do I pick my chicken? :rollover

Seriously, Wikipedia says this

... is a lead guitar picking style or technique used in country, rock,and metal music where the plucked strings are pulled outward (i.e., away from the fretboard instead of parallel to the fretboard) by the fingers of the right hand and the note played immediately dampened by increasing the pressure of the left hand's finger on the fret.

I know I'm a little slow but I just don't get how to pull this off. Any pointers?

 

[FrankenFretter]

John 5 does some excellent chicken pickin'. You might be able to find some Youtube videos...

 

[bcdon]

Yeah, John 5 plays awesome but I'm more interested in some technique hints.

 

[Robert]

You pull up the string a bit with ring and/or ring finger. Then you let go and mute with the left hand. It makes it very staccato and snappy sounding.

I use this technique quite a bit too, but I try to not overdo it. It can sound a bit "too country" to my ears, if a player does this all the time.

 

[bcdon]

So you basically pull out the string, drop it, and then mute?

Thanks, Robert. BTW, you can never be 'too country!' :dude

 

[Robert]

So you basically pull out the string, drop it, and then mute?

You got it.

Thanks, Robert. BTW, you can never be 'too country!' :dude

Ahh, well I dunno. I'm still a blues man ya know! Or maybe I'm a mixture of everything, but if there's snappin and poppin all the time, I get tired of hearing it...

 

[bcdon]

Thanks, Robert!

Now, Play Something Country!

 

[NWBasser]

Sounds remarkably like the popping that bass players do.

Didn't James Burton originate the technique?

 

[Teleman77]

Burton pretty much did originate it yes and Albert Lee took it to the next level............but it was Waylon Jennings that REALLY made it famous.

And by the way.............Brooks & Dunn's "Play Something Country" is about as far away from real country as it gets!

 

[bcdon]

And by the way.............Brooks & Dunn's "Play Something Country" is about as far away from real country as it gets!

Real is one of those real subjective words... I love Jennings, Cash, Nelson, &c but I also like Brooks & Dunn, Brad Pasley,
Opeth, Lamb of God, etc.. Different strokes for different folks. :dude

 

[Teleman77]

Real is one of those real subjective words... I love Jennings, Cash, Nelson, &c but I also like Brooks & Dunn, Brad Pasley,
Opeth, Lamb of God, etc.. Different strokes for different folks. :dude

True enough!:socool

 

[NWBasser]

I really like this example.