Chicken pickin' is the definitive sound of country guitar. This technique combines a flatpick with your bare fingers to create a sharp, percussive, and highly rhythmic tone. It mimics the rapid-fire clucking of a chicken, giving the style its iconic name.
Move down the neck in diatonic thirds (matching the key scale steps). Exercise 5: Behind-the-Nut Chromatic Walk
: Switch to the bridge pickup of your guitar (a Telecaster is the gold standard for this style).
Use your pick for a bass note, then use your middle and ring fingers simultaneously to snap a double-stop on the higher strings. chicken pickin exercises pdf
Chicken picking is frequently paired with behind-the-nut bends or pre-bends to mimic the fluid, weeping sound of a pedal steel guitar.
Use your middle finger to pluck upward on the higher strings (B, E). Instead of a light touch, reach slightly under the string and "snap" it against the frets. 2. Essential Chicken Pickin’ Exercises
Move up and down the G major pentatonic scale using this texture. Chicken pickin' is the definitive sound of country guitar
To master "chicken pickin'," you need to focus on the percussive interplay between your pick and your fingers. This technique is defined by "snapping" the strings with your fingers while using your pick for lower, often muted notes to create a staccato sound. High-Quality Chicken Pickin' PDFs
To make your practice sessions highly efficient, we have compiled all of the guitar tabs, rhythmic notation, and audio speed-building charts from this article into a clean, printable document.
: Download this Lesson 15 PDF from Chavilbus Music which provides specific chicken pickin' licks in the key of A. Move down the neck in diatonic thirds (matching
Ensure your picked notes are just as short and staccato as your plucked notes. Download the Exercises PDF
is a free PDF from Premier Guitar that focuses specifically on interval playing. Chicken Pickin' Vol 1