| Gold Rush, Part 4: Tony Rice’s Picking Style |
Gold Rush, Part 4: Tony Rice’s Picking Style
Scott used Tony Rice’s version of “Gold Rush” as a model for this lesson, so this is a good time to talk about Tony’s picking, which some people have called “random,” but which actually conforms strictly to its own logic. Tony doesn’t use a strict alternating method, but rather intuitively chooses whether to play a down or up stroke on any given note based on the most efficient way to play those notes. The result is that his pick moves as little and as efficiently as possible while completely avoiding the “back pick” that requires you to jump over a string to get to the next note. While Scott doesn’t recommend this approach for most players—it’s actually very difficult to do and also maintain a smooth, solid rhythm—he demonstrates Tony’s picking approach on a few sections of the melody in “Gold Rush.”
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Tony Rice's Picking (Available to subscribers)
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