Crosspicking is a technique for playing the mandolin or guitar using a

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In har ...

or flatpick in a rolling,

syncopated In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "plac ...

style across three strings. This style is probably best known as one element of the

flatpicking Flatpicking (or simply picking) is the technique of striking the strings of a guitar with a pick (also called a plectrum) held between the thumb and one or two fingers. It can be contrasted to fingerstyle guitar, which is playing with indi ...

style in

bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it la ...

, and it closely resembles a

banjo roll In bluegrass music, a banjo roll or roll is a pattern played by the banjo that uses a repeating eighth-note arpeggio – a broken chord – that by subdividing the beat 'keeps time'. "Each standard"roll pattern is a ''right hand'' fingering pat ...

, the main difference being that the

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

roll is fingerpicked rather than flatpicked. A typical element of the technique is the use of three pitches played repeatedly within a four-pulse rhythm. This results in a continual shifting of the pitches ''vis-a-vis'' the accented pulse. The three pitches are usually played on three adjacent strings—one per string. The pick direction can vary, depending on the required emphasis and the melody. Crosspicking DDU forward on G major

Using "D" for down" and "U" for "up" (and slashes to indicate groups of three), mandolin player Jesse McReynolds used a crosspicking roll of :D - U - U / D - U - U / D - U . . . creating a repeating pattern of notes that expresses the melody. Guitarist George Shuffler used a pick pattern of :D - D - U / D - D - U / D - D . . . . The traditional banjo roll form is :D - D - U / D - D - U / D - D . . . this helps to accentuate the "threes" nature of the pattern against the "four" rhythm. The other way is using strict alternate picking: :D - U - D / U - D - U / D - U. . . . This may be more comfortable for players who are using alternate picking for most of their playing. In actuality, one (or more) of the three pitches may be varied from one repetition of the pattern to the next, for instance the top note could be toggled up and down one step.

Mandolin

McReynolds was the earliest exponent of the crosspicking bluegrass style on the mandolin. He developed his crosspicking style with his brother in the band Jim & Jesse. McReynolds influenced later mandolin players such as

Sam Bush Charles Samuel Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Reviva ...

Guitar

George Shuffler introduced crosspicking to the acoustic guitar; Shuffler developed the technique as a "fill" for back-up and leads while playing with the Stanley Brothers. Among the most well-known crosspickers are

Doc Watson Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. W ...

and

Clarence White Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrd ...

, whose styles influenced other guitarists, including

Tony Rice David Anthony Rice (June 8, 1951 – December 25, 2020), known professionally as Tony Rice, was an American guitarist and bluegrass musician. He was an influential acoustic guitar player in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and a ...

. Among rock guitarists, King Crimson

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

has made cross-picking a signature technique,Baldwin, Douglas (November 2007). "Guitar Heroes: How to Play Like 26 Guitar Gods from Atkins to Zappa", edited by Jude Gold and Matt Blackett, ''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and politica ...

'', p.111. which has influenced many other guitarists, particularly in

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

. Fripp teaches the technique to his students in Guitar Craft.

Notes

References

* Guitar performance techniques {{Guitar-stub

Mandolin

Guitar

See also

Notes

References