Guthrie Govan Discussion

[jonny guitar]

I have always kept my M,R,P fingernails long so I can hybrid pick but I am doing alot more tapping now with M and R and the nails are getting in the way. I don't want my hybrid picking to suffer too much because it is a big part of my thang. I am thinking of trimming back to just extending past the finger so I can tap with the pad and still pluck the strings with the nails.

Anybody out there have any reccommendations on what works for them.

Thanks in advance, JOn

[Will]

I bite mine

I think it was BB King that once said he likes to use the "meat" on his fingers


i love that saying

[alexkhan]

If you mainly play the electric, I think you can get by with using the pad of your fingertips for the hybrid-picking kind of stuff. I think Guthrie keeps his nails fairly short and can transition between tapping and hybrid-picking really smoothly. If I was just listening to some of his stuff on CD instead of watching him, it'd be hard to tell when he's using one technique or the other.

Have you watched the Brett Garsed instructional video called "Rock Fusion"? Now he's the man when it comes to the hybrid picking thing. When he picks with the fingers, the pad of his fingertip does the initial attack and the pulling on the string and the nail then finishes it off. I messed with the technique for a while but decided I'd need to put in too many hours to get comfortable with it so I chucked it. Still, it's a very interesting technique for sure.
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[jonny guitar]

[Carlo]

I'm a hybrid picker and I do use my flesh and nails when I attack the strings. The nail could get in the way of tapping but I just angle my wrist more to utilize the flesh more (the same way you would angle your wrist to perform 8 finger taps).

even if you cut your nails it will still work. But you will get a more percussive tone out of the strings if you add more snap to it. It sounds really cool too.

Listen to Alessandro Benvenuti, another fantastic jazz/rock fusion monster who utilizes hybrid picking, tapping, and sweeping effortlessly. You can hear from his lines that he uses more of his flesh and the result is a really cool percusive sound.

check him out...


http://www.alessandrobenvenuti.com/ukhome.html


buy his album Sonic Design.....it's absolutely incredible shit!!


anyway, there are many ways to hybrid pick....Jeff Beck, Shawn Lane, and Eric Johnson use their fingers from time to time and they probably never bothered growing their fingers hardcore.


I can't survive without hyrbrid picking either....lol

Garsed is my god...hehe

[tafolla-howe-govan]

Sonic Design is a great cd...Does anyone here have the J.A.M. album with Alessandro, Joel Rivard, and Milan Polak?...I've only heard a couple of tracks, but what I heard was just incredible.

My friend has the Rock Fusion video, it is absolutely sick!! I've also got a DVD of Garsed and Helmerich live at MI, there is some killer stuff on there

[Noise Epidemic]

Rock Fusion is a great video. Pretty cool stuff. When I first saw the video I was inspired to develop my hybrid picking. I didn't take it too far though, I ended up copping a lot of his licks but using picking instead

I checked out Alessandro, I really dig the soundclips on his page. His tone is Howe-ish, which I love. I think I'm going to have to get his Sonic Design CD. He's also got me looking into a custom ESP now.

[Carlo]

yeah, get Sonic Design....you won't regret it. Awesome chops, yes, but very listenable and catchy at the same time. He plays with such unbelievable finesse that I almost prefer him over Greg Howe.

JAM is great too, I was surprised by how well they all worked together despite such differing styles. But I do prefer Sonic Design though.