Have seen a lot of ASATs here

So was wondering, any chicken pickers around? I have been picking up this style lately, but I find myself at a lose of appropriate level material. I would say I am somewhere between novice and intermediate, but I cannot seem to find much but advanced or too easy stuff to practice. Anyone have any good licks/songs/exercises they would care to pass along?

I've never been good at learning from books. I've tried at various times in my life with little success. But when I felt the urge to learn some chicken pickin I looked around for material and like you I found very little material. So I approached it the way I learn best and that is to listen. I've found that listening to this style over and over has helped me to get a feel for it. For pretty much my whole music career I’ve been stuck in the minor pentatonic and dorian scales. It really took some time for me to adjust to the sound of a major pentatonic scale and variations (added flatted 7th for example). Now they sound more natural to my ear and it’s easier for me to attempt the chicken pickin style. As for style, I often listen to early Dwight Yoakum albums. Pete Anderson is one of my favorite guitar players and he really rips it up in a tasteful way when he played with Dwight. Good examples of his style are found on the following songs: Please, Please Baby, This Drinkin Will Kill Me, and Little Sister all found on the album, Hillbilly Deluxe. It seems like the trick to chicken pickin is putting a lot of little tricks together to form a seamless lead. I have a very long way to go before I’d ever call myself a Chicken Picker but it’s a journey I’m entering with a lot of enthusiasm. It’s a cool style. On the downside it takes a lot of work to master. On the upside there aren’t too many people who play it. Let me know how it progresses. I’d be interested in learning what works for you.

Tom

Thanks for the tips and the artist, know the name but nothing I have really listened to, I will have to check it out later. I actually play bass finger style, so the initial hurdles (I assume anyway) for guitarists were kind of bypassed by having some decent right hand finger mobility and control. Having played a lot of metal one thing I do not like to do some chicken pickers do is play finger instead of upstroke. If you keep your playing level, it is hardly noticeable. The other problem is my bass keeps breaking my nails not that it has returned from repairs! That is more a mild annoyance however.

I picked up (well DL version) of Sizzling guitar licks vol:1 for 10$ on their site to give it a try, and it is interesting stuff. The guy teaches simply,I may adventure to more of their stuff when I have cash and time. I've gone through that DVD as of about 2 weeks ago and got a lot of the licks up and quick, a few (like the one from Mark O Connors Restless) still working on. My go to get owned song has been 'hot wired' by Brent Mason, it covers a lot of the 'basic' runs but at light speed, I am however looking for that bridging material (although I do have tempo sensitive midi software)

Right off the top of my head, some others to check out:

Jamie Hartford Band- Yes, he's John's son and a pretty good picker, but the guy that plays with him , Ray Flacke is phenomenal! http://bit.ly/9N9WBs

Vince Gill
Steve Wariner
Brad Paisley
Scotty Anderson --http://bit.ly/9seZyM Not the best quality, but there are plenty more. Kind of on the jazzy side most of the time.

That should keep ya busy for a little while,

Pat