Pickin'

Pickin' can be broken down into four separate styles:

1. Strumming

2. Flat-pickin'

3. Finger-pickin'

4. Beating, Scraping, Banging, and Other Specialty Styles

We've already started with strumming. To further your strumming techniques, try different kinds of picks-- different thicknesses, shapes, or materials, such as felt, shell, whittled wood, or "Appalachian style" with the quill end of a goose feather.

In this section, we're going to concern ourselves with the three other kinds of pickin'.

FLAT-PICKIN'

To flat-pick, you strike the individual strings within different rhythmic schemes. The pick is held as if for strumming; however, the motion comes entirely from the wrist, with the pick descending in small arcs to pluck each individual string according to the sequence.

For example, call the unison strings "position one," the middle string " position two," and the bass "position three". A simple flat-picking sequence is like this:

1 - 3 - 1 - 2
1 - 3 - 1 - 2
1 - 3 - 1 - 2
1 - 3 - 1 - 2...and so on

The "one" stroke is picked down and away from you and the "two" and "three" strokes are picked up and toward you so that you achieve a fluid motion and maintain an even rhythm while "rolling" your wrist with a gentle, repetitive motion.

Another common practice sequence is:

1 - 2 - 3
1 - 2 - 3
1 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 3 . . . and so on

Remember to roll your wrist as the "one" string is picked down and the "two" and "three" strings are picked on the upstroke.

There are many different patterns for flat-picking. Anything's fair. If you are in doubt, remember that no matter what the sequence, if you do it at least twice in a row, it will work.

-- a 25 years later note-- Perhaps no single technique more clearly defined the sound Albert and I brought to the dulcimer than did our incorporation of flat picking into our playing.

Because it is often tuned in an "open" mode, the dulcimer lends itself to highly rhythmic strumming. While fun and certainly energetic, the "wall of sound" thus produced loses a lot of articulation. As a player, you listen for and can hear the tiny (in volume) melody line being voiced against the drones, but most people can't. To them it sounds like a giant bumblebee.

What Al and I did was to throw in flat picking sequences, alternating them with the strums, especially in places where the phrasing changed or the melody needed to stand out. As we moved into chording, we began to call it "arpeggio picking" (are-page-e-oh), a musical term meaning to separately voice the individual parts of a chord.

We did this because we simply wanted to be able to hear what was being played. Later on, a new kind of dynamic arose from employing this technique and it became absolutely integral to how we played. The key concept here is this idea of being dynamic. Music needs to rise and fall, whisper and shout, careen and caress-- both to beckon and to beguile.

FINGER-PICKIN'

We group a great deal under this heading, believing that if you pick specifically with your fingers, then that's what it is. Some people grow their fingernails a little longer on the pickin' hand, but most people's nails are too soft for continuous use as picks. You might purchase a set of steel or plastic fingerpicks. Fingerpicks fit over the ends of your fingers and act as fingernails so you can pluck the strings in rapid succession without suffering blisters or having to build up callouses.

As with flat-picking, finger-picking sequences are many and varied, but any sequences you can do with a flat pick can be done with your fingerpicks. Moreover, with finger picks you can use the thumb to "double strum" between the unisons and middle or bass string to syncopate the rhythm.

One Finger

Let's start with one finger.

You can use any one finger (usually the forefinger and sometimes the thumb) in a flat picking style. Also, try brushing one finger across the strings from the bass to treble at an angle. Staying on the same plane as the strings and brushing lightly gives you a whistling bagpipe sound.

You can also rest your hand against the side of the fretboard that is near you, so that your thumb is up in the air, and strum with the middle or index finger. The tip of your finger and fingernail brush the strings. This also can be done with the thumb when the hand is resting in the same position, but on the other side of the fretboard.

Two Fingers

Imitating a flat-picking sequence, try using the thumb to play the "one" strokes and the forefinger to play the "two" and "three" strokes. To do this, keep the palm of your hand resting on the fretboard just behind the bridge.

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