There’s a technique that’s common in bluegrass and flatpicking guitar called cross-picking.

Practice it with today’s exercise and you will improve just about everything about your right hand, including your…

picking accuracy

picking speed

right hand stamina

What is Cross-Picking and Does it have a Hyphen?

I believe it originated in trying to imitate the syncopated arpeggio sections fiddlers would do.

The technique consists of the left hand holding a chord or chord fragment while the right hand plays a rolling pattern across multiple strings.

In bluegrass and flatpicking particularly, often a 2-3 string chord fragment is used with the highest note being changed each time through the picking pattern.

Here are some examples…

First is the basic concept. In this example the left hand holds part of a C chord while the right hand plays strings 5-4-3 – 5-4-3 – 5-4-3 etc.

And this is how it would typically be used in a bluegrass or flat flatpicking context…

(Notice the alternating high-note)

And I have no idea if it’s supposed to be hyphenated or not.

Alternate Picking vs. Down-Down-Up Crosspicking

There are two main schools of crosspicking.

The alternate picking school and the “down-down-up” school.

(The down-down-up camp could more accurately be referred to as the economy picking camp, since crosspicking patterns do not always cover only three strings, nor do they always go in that direction. But in that school, the down down up pattern is definitely the most common – hence the name)

If you read Ep. 29 Maximizing Efficiency with Economy Picking, then you already know the pros and cons of these two styles of picking.

Alternate picking allows the right hand to act as a metronome, making it easier to keep a good rhythm.

Economy picking is more efficient with your pick direction and therefore has more potential for speed.

People have argued for years over which one is the better for crosspicking.

They’re missing the point.

Ultimately we’re here to make music, not to find the most biomechanically efficient way to pick a string.

If they both sounded the same then sure I would say perhaps we should figure out which is best.

But they don’t sound the same… Not even close.

Alternate Picking is for Sissies, Economy Picking is for Republicans.

Alternate picking crosspicking can easily have a good uniform rhythm, but it’s real strength lies in how it facilitates a lilting, syncopated swing.

It also makes it easy to sustain all the strings being played leading to a big, full, cascade-type sound.

In contrast, down-down-up crosspicking (or economy picking) makes both of these things nearly impossible

Down-down-up crosspicking sounds bold and staccato, with a very uniform rhythm.

It sounds like a jackhammer. Or a machine-gun.

And that’s not bad at all. Sometimes you want that sound. I always want a machine-gun.

How boring would life be if it were all butterflies, waterfalls, and cascading alternate picked crosspicking patterns?

The bottom line is you should have both in your toolbox.

A Simple Crosspicking Exercise from Flatpicking

Today’s workout is a basic crosspicking exercise in the open position.

There are plenty of applications for this technique in any style (we’ll probably look at some blues and metal applications in a future lesson), but today we’ll pay homage to the roots of crosspicking with a section of the good old fiddle tune Beaumont Rag.

For this lesson, let’s stick to the alternate picking style and try to let each string ring out as long as possible.

Notice the Bb note on the G string in the last measure.

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Efficient Practice Instructions: