Technical glossary page 2

Alternate Picking

Surely the most common technique on the guitar is alternate picking. Alternate picking is alternating the movement of the pick up and down. It is used in practically all situations where you need to work on the speed and the control of the movement of the right hand.

Alternate picking can be done in two different ways depending on the movement of the pick on the strings. We can distinguish inside picking, which requires the movement of the pick alternating within a pair of strings, as can be seen in the example below. In every pair of notes, that that is played with the down stroke, is always on the string below the string of the note played with the up stroke.

The other type of alternate picking has the pick playing on the outside part of the strings, with a movement called external picking. Looking at the example below, you see how the down picking is done on the note of an upper string with respect to picking upwards, performed on the lower string of the previous.

The best example of this technique is when the pick works only on a single string in alternate picking. When playing multiple strings simultaneously, as in the case of the chords, use normal alternate picking. You can develop the alternate picking technique on single notes, in the section dedicated to the study of coordination and speed, as well as the chords, in the rhythm section.

Artificial Harmonics

Artificial harmonics are obtained from a particular combination between the played note and one of its harmonics. There are various ways that these harmonics are played. Lets look at some examples.
In the first example, the harmonic is created by the index finger of the right hand one octave above the note played, in this case the A note at the second fret, third string. The middle finger of the right hand must rest on the string at the fourteenth fret, but without pressing that fret.

At this point, the thumb of the right hand plays the string in question by pinching just behind where the middle finger is placed. As soon as the string is played, the middle finger releases and moves above the string.
Similar to the technique in the second example, where the harmonic is obtained with the index finger, but is then played by the pick, held between the thumb and the middle finger of the right hand.
A very commonly used method, especially in rock, consists of playing the note (in this example, the A) and provoking the artificial harmonic by picking the string, but also touching with the edge of the thumb that keeps the pick near the same harmonic on the third string.

Bending

Another common technique. It literally consists of bending a string, which increases the tension in order to raise the note by one, two or three half-steps (in some cases four). Like when we practise, we try to raise a note by one tone. The main difficulty, especially for the beginners of this technique, is to know where to stop the bend of the string. For this reason, the first priority is to hear the arriving note in bending.

In the example, first play the D note on the third string, then the E on the second, remembering the sound. Now firmly press the third finger on the D note again and place the second finger on the previous fret of the same string. This finger must help the ring finger push the string upward to raise its tone, this will give more power and precision to the bending of the string.

Maintaining the same characteristics, play the exercise seen above at different points on the fretboard. Usually the bending is done by pushing the finger upward when it is done on the first, second or third strings. The fourth is rarely pushed and still more rare is the fifth or sixth string: in these cases, the string is pushed downward.

Chicken Picking

This is an ambiguous term, because it identifies two similar methods, but with entirely different sound effects. What makes them common is the way both the pick and one (or more) finger of the right hand are used. Besides the picking symbol, you will also find the name of the finger of the right hand. Let's analyze the two cases.

In example 1 we can see the chicken picking used in a series of octave notes, where the down picking is in beat, while the raised note is played by a finger of the right hand, which is usually the middle one. This technique shows the sound difference between the finger and the pick, especially at high speeds and on the same notes.
Example 2 shows how the notes played by picking down are also played at the same time by the middle finger of the right hand: the sound is a mixture between the real note and a particular sound, similar to a "skuaw". Both of these techniques are used in country music.

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