Hybrid style?

[macmanmatty]

What is the point of this style? I find everything it offers I can do with a thumb pick and finger picks? It is simply used by flat pickers who can't adjust to thumb picks? Or pickers who are primarily flat pickers that want a few extra notes now and then? What does this style offer than pure finger picking and flat picking don't?

[Andyrondack]

The point of hybrid picking? Well those who can do it, and I can't, can play a melody on the bass strings with the plectrum so it rings out clear and loud and they have a lot more control with a plectrum and two fingers are free to play some accompaniment on the treble, I can do something similar with a thumb pick playing melody in the bass but the tone is not so nice and there is not the option to throw in the fast single note runs that flat pickers do so well. Personally I think it sounds great and seems a versatile style.

[hatamoto]

I thought about this too. From observing players my conclusion is

1. Dynamics and attack. In some parts of the song, you may want to emphasize louder or softer. Let's say you're fingerpicking and you reach a certain part that you want to make louder and more crisp sounding, you switch to a pick and vice versa. You can do this with a thumbpick, but it feels really different.

2. Speed. Rick Beato mentioned in one of his videos that he can play faster with hybrid picking. If you don't know who he is, just type his name on youtube. He's literally a walking music encyclopedia.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by macmanmatty

What is the point of this style? I find everything it offers I can do with a thumb pick and finger picks? It is simply used by flat pickers who can't adjust to thumb picks? Or pickers who are primarily flat pickers that want a few extra notes now and then? What does this style offer than pure finger picking and flat picking don't?

Hi mmm

The point is you can be flat-picking and immediately drop into fingerstyle.

There is no single 'hybrid' model. But all of them do utilize a flat-pick+ whatever amount of fingers. It is superior to any thumb-pickers I've personally observed, minus Tommy Emmanuel (who plays every form of fingerstyle and flat-picking of any player on the planet).

Carl Miner (North American Guitars on YouTube) plays many of the sample video recordings for their on-line presence would be the person I'd look to for my model of a hybrid player.

His sample videos are like watching mini-concert pieces.

[Bikewer]

I flatpick and fingerpick with reasonable proficiency. I cannot play “hybrid” style.

I’ve tried... I think it has to do with the very different articulation of the fingers when the index is involved with handling the pick.
Also the disparity in volume.... The flatpick overpowers the sound of fingers on steel strings.

[RustyAxe]

As someone said, it allows bass runs and fills to stand out. It also allows a more dynamic attack on the treble strings. My duo partner plays hybrid exclusively. As a finger-picker I'm too dependent on my index finger to tie it up holding a pick, so I don't use it.

[jklotz]

Hybrid style is most of what I do. For me, it wasn't about advantages or some strategic method to achieve my style of fingerstyle playing. It was simply that I played lead guitar in a country band for 4 or so years (I think I still do, depending on what's left to salvage after this covid thing is over), Brent Mason/Albert Lee kind of stuff, so I had to study that playing hard in order to do it. Banjo rolls, open string licks, etc - there's really no way to do it without some form of hybrid picking, unless you use a thumbpick which I was never able to get comfortable with. Long story short, I spent so much time doing it that it's second nature to me now.

It has it's advantages, but some disadvantages as well. You tie up your thumb and 1st finger, which is a bit of a disadvantage I think.

[Chipotle]

I use hybrid on songs where I'm mostly strumming, but want to throw in some double-stop licks that can't be played easily with a pick. So I'm not using all my fingers most of the time, but they're there when I need them.

[NormanKliman]

I wonder if guitar players are born with a special gene. You know, the kind that makes us say, “I can do that” when we see or hear another guitarist playing.

But seriously, isn’t that style associated with Telecasters? I may be completely wrong, but I’ve always assumed it came about because guitarists were playing narrower fretboards and were trying to emulate what they heard on old recordings of guitarists playing wider fretboards (comments welcome if you think I’m wrong about that). I’ve got big hands and I’m used to wider necks, and I find it nearly impossible to play a Telecaster (or similar) with the same technique. But I don’t really try or have the opportunity, either, so I’d like to hear the thoughts of those who do.

The mighty Albert Lee talks about it a bit here in this video (starting around 5:00).


Here’s another one. I haven’t watched either video all the way through. There’s some very cool playing toward the beginning of the second video (starting around 1:35, he plays slowly and fast); stuff that I think isn’t going to sound the same with another approach.

[dc.]

The best example of "hybrid" picking that I've seen is Wayne Krantz's. If you're not aware of him, he's a NY improv guy and studio session player. He's played with all sorts of bands over the years, from Steely Dan to Michael Brecker. He's an improvisor and is constantly grabbing groups of notes with his right hand during his soloing and rhythm playing. He may not represent a style of guitar playing that is popular on this forum, but his right hand is pretty sick, and not confined by traditional "shapes". I was trying to find a specific video on Youtube but no luck, however there is plenty to see if you look. There are some decent close-ups of his right hand in this video but move along if you don't like this one - there is a wide range of music by him on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvvvidm7frk

[M19]

[Geof S.]

IMO there are some things you can just do better with a pick. Double stops, fast chords, cross-picking all sound better with a pick to me. You can articulate better, the notes are more even (you are using the same implement to strike all the notes), and you have more control over dynamics due to the greater stability of a pick held by two fingers.

For me, the best of both worlds (fingerstyle with a thumbpick vs. hybrid picking with a flatpick) is a thumbpick that can also be used as a flatpick. (These tend to be thumbpicks that have a standard pick attached to the band, rather than a narrow blade.) This allows you to transition smoothly between pure fingerstyle, hybrid picking, and flatpicking.

[CASD57]

This post got me wondering what my weird picking style was... So I did some digging and it's "Chord Picking"
Basically, it's fingerpicking with a pick.
I also strum when I find a need for it in a song...to change the feel in a chorus or ?
I'm trying to learn a little Hybrid for those other times you need another type of feel in a song..Softer