Six Strings
In this section: Techniques
Techniques

Chicken picking

The pick plays muted notes while your picking-hand fingers pluck the others and snap them against the frets. That dry back-and-forth, clucking like a hen, is the sound of country electric guitar.

Notation
PM and x for the muted notes, the others plucked with the fingers
Hand
Picking hand
Difficulty
Advanced
Style
Country, rockabilly, country rock

Listen

   PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM
e|-----------------------------|
B|-----------5-----------5-----|
G|---6---6-------6---6-----6---|
D|-7---7---7---7---7---7-----7-|
A|-----------------------------|
E|-----------------------------|

What it’s for

Chicken picking gets its name from the noise it makes: a dry cluck, “tick-pop, tick-pop,” that sounds like a barnyard. It comes from contrast. The pick plays muted notes, short and dull; in between, your picking-hand middle or ring finger hooks a string, pulls it and lets go: it snaps against the frets with a bright “pop.” The result is jumpy, very rhythmic lines that hop from string to string.

It’s the sound of the country Telecaster. James Burton, Elvis Presley’s guitarist, brought it into rock and roll and country; Albert Lee and Brad Paisley took it to crazy speeds. You hear it in rockabilly too, and sometimes in funk, where the same mix of muted and snapped notes makes a line groove.

How to do it

The example at the top of the page, in A major, in 5th position: your fretting hand holds an A chord shape, the D string at the 7th fret, the G string at the 6th, the B string at the 5th.

  1. Hold the pick between your thumb and index finger and keep your middle and ring fingers free, curled over the high strings: that’s the hybrid picking grip.
  2. Rest the edge of your palm on the D string, near the bridge, and pick it downward: a dull, short note.
  3. Hook the G string with your middle finger, pull it slightly outward, away from the fretboard, then let go: it snaps against the frets.
  4. Alternate steadily: muted pick note, snapped finger note, muted pick note, snapped finger note. The pick works the low strings, your fingers the high ones.
  5. Cut the snapped note right after: your finger comes back to rest on the string, or your fretting hand releases its pressure. The shorter the notes, the more it clucks.
EADGBEpm

Chicken picking: the middle finger hooks the string

  1. The pick, between your thumb and index, plays the muted notes on the low strings.
  2. Your middle finger slips under the G string, pulls it toward you, away from the fretboard, then lets go: it snaps against the frets.

Your ring finger can take the B string or the high E; here it stays curled.

Chicken picking has no symbol of its own in tab. The pick notes are marked PM (palm-muted) or x (dead notes from the fretting hand); the others are plucked with the fingers. Some tabs show the finger above the note: m for the middle finger, a for the ring finger.

Examples

The example at the top of the page slowly alternates a muted A played with the pick and a note snapped with the middle finger, C# or E: the three notes of the A chord.

At the intermediate level, your fingers snap two strings at once, middle and ring together: double-stops on A, D, then E, between bass notes muted with the pick, and a return to A through G# and A.

   PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM
e|-------------------------------|
B|---5---5---7---5---5---5-----5-|
G|---6---6---7---6---4---4-----6-|
D|-7---7---7---7-----------6-7---|
A|-----------------7---7---------|
E|-------------------------------|

At the advanced level, in sixteenth notes. First the open A string muted with the pick, with snapped notes on top. Then a dead note before each snapped note, on the same string: that’s the real cluck. The line comes down through A Mixolydian and climbs back up to A through G and G#.

   PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM
e|-------------------------------------------------------|
B|---5-------5---7---5---------------------------------5-|
G|-------6---------------6---4---6-x-6-x-4-------------6-|
D|-----------------------------------------x-7-x-5-6-7---|
A|-0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0-------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------|

Licks

A country lick in E major, in open position: G going up to G# with a hammer-on, the bluesy color of country, muted E notes played with the pick between snapped notes, and a run down to the low E.

Loop it in the Studio →
   PM    PM  PM    PM
e|-------------------------------|
B|---------0-----2---0-----------|
G|---0h1-------1-------1---------|
D|-2-----2---2-----2-----4-2-----|
A|---------------------------2---|
E|-----------------------------0-|

A rockabilly lick in A major with a slightly overdriven tone: a slide that kicks off the phrase, dead notes clicking right before the plucked notes, and a chromatic climb, G, G#, A.

Loop it in the Studio →
                   PM  PM
e|-------------------------------|
B|-----5-x-5---------------------|
G|-4/6-------6-x-----6---4-------|
D|---------------7-7---7---5-6-7-|
A|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|

A funk lick in E minor, in 7th position, in sixteenths: the E on the A string, muted with the pick, holds the pulse, and the notes of the E minor pentatonic snap on top with the finger.

Loop it in the Studio →
   PM      PM      PM              PM      PM
e|--------------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------------|
G|-----9-----7---------9-x---7---------9-----7------------|
D|-------------x-9---------9---x-7-------------x-9-7------|
A|-7-x---x-7-------7-x-------------7-x---x-7---------10-7-|
E|--------------------------------------------------------|

Practice routine

Set your metronome to 60 bpm, in eighth notes.

  1. The motion alone, using the example at the top of the page: a muted A with the pick, a C# snapped with the middle finger, on a loop. Go up 5 bpm at a time to 86 bpm, its full tempo.
  2. Double-stops: the intermediate example at 70 bpm, then up to 120.
  3. Sixteenth notes: the advanced example at 60 bpm, then up to 107.

At each step, listen for the contrast: the pick notes should stay dull, the finger notes dry and bright. If everything starts to sound the same, slow down.

Common mistakes

The finger notes don’t snap? Your finger is brushing the string instead of pulling it. Hook it with your fingertip, pull it slightly outward, then let go: it’s the string slapping back against the frets that makes the “pop.”

Everything sounds the same? The pick notes aren’t muted enough. Keep your palm resting near the bridge, or release your fretting hand for a real dead note: no contrast, no cluck.

The pick and your fingers get in each other’s way? Your hand is moving too much. The pick stays on the low strings, your fingers on the high ones, and each makes a tiny motion.

The snapped notes drag on? You’re letting them ring. Cut them off right after by resting your finger back on the string: chicken picking is made of short notes.

Variations

  • Double-stops. Middle and ring fingers snap two strings together, like in the intermediate example. See the Double-stops page.
  • With bends. A snapped note, then bent up a whole step: the guitar starts imitating a pedal steel.
  • With open strings. Mix fretted notes and open strings plucked with the fingers: the notes overlap like a cascade. That’s hybrid picking territory.
  • With a thumbpick. Lots of country players use a thumbpick instead of a flat pick: the thumb plays the muted notes, the fingers snap.
  • In funk. The same mix of muted and snapped notes, but on tight sixteenths, like in the funk lick. See also ghost notes.

Acoustic or electric

On electric guitar, it’s right at home. The reference sound: a Telecaster, bridge pickup, a clean and bright tone, a compressor to even out the notes and a short echo (slapback) for that rockabilly touch. Light strings snap easily.

On acoustic guitar, the motion works, but the heavier strings snap less and the muted notes sound duller. The result is softer, closer to fingerstyle. In acoustic country, players mostly flatpick instead, everything with the pick.

Going further