So I’ve recently been listening to George Benson again, as I do every so often, and I’ve come back to a lick that’s always bugged me picking wise. It’s a descending fours lick in F minor pentatonic (he does add a G note though) that he plays during the solo.
Here he is playing it at 4:09:
Also here’s a transcription I found from a book by Wolf Marshall:
My trouble comes in when I try picking this lick. It sounds like he’s picking every note on the record but when I’ve tried playing it like that, I run into a lot of problems. I can play the sequence slowly of course, but when I try to match the tempo on the record, it feels really inconsistent. The lick doesn’t fall apart completely but it’s super sloppy and I feel like I’m fighting the strings all of the time. It’s not that fast of a lick either, compared to Georges other blazing licks, so it’s bugging me even more.
I’m primarily a DWPS by the way. I know it’s been mentioned that George is a DWPS most of the time, but it seems like playing this lick cleanly with strict DWPS is impossible. The single notes on the B,G, and D strings would make the picking flip constantly. It doesn’t sound like he’s swiping so could it possibly be cross picking?
I just watched another video where he plays the lick, or something similar at 3:17:
It doesn’t look like he’s picking every note here, so I’m wondering if he did something similar on the record.
Any help and input would be greatly appreciated!
