Hybrid Picking Masterclass: Scales And Pentatonics

INTRODUCTION

Hello fellow guitar player, thanks for checking out my hybrid picking masterclass. This package is part of a series of lessons dealing with different aspects of the guitar technique we refer to as hybrid picking.

Despite its popularity, there is very little serious information on this topic out there. Most teachers or instructional materials still completely ignore this way of playing. Time to shed some light and have a closer

look at the technical and tonal possibilities in a conceptual fashion.

Keep in mind, that the approach I’m presenting comes from a personal perspective. It represents how I approach and utilise this technique and is not entitled to be a universal truth. Since hybrid picking is still a fairly young technique in the entire spectrum of guitar playing, there is no standardised way of doing it yet.

IN THIS PACKAGE

After covering the fundamentals of this technique in the previous instalment, we’re now going to supercharge our technique by applying these fundamentals to numerous scalar and pentatonic patterns and sequences. I will also give you some theoretical insight into these patterns and show you various ways of expanding them to enhance your improvisational vocabulary.

Remember that these patterns are not actual ‘licks’ or full musical phrases. They are devices for you to understand and learn the technique and build your knowledge of the fretboard. By learning these building blocks you can ultimately form and combine them into actual lead lines and solos. They are good practice material regardless of the style of music you play or your current abilities on the guitar.

I put my personally preferred picking patterns into the sheet music. These are based on the rules laid out in volume 1 of this masterclass series. Understand that these rules are guidelines and shouldn’t keep you from experimenting and drawing your own conclusions. Unlike classical guitar, there is no standardised way of getting results on the electric guitar, let alone with hybrid picking.

The examples are put into different categories (even though there will be overlaps between the different categories) and roughly sorted by difficulty/complexity. Also I tried to keep them in bite-sized pieces, so you can internalise the information step by step.