George Shuffler- Sweep Pickin’ Bluegrass

George Shuffler… if you are into bluegrass music, you should know this name.

George was the lead guitar player with the Stanley Brothers and one of the first flatpicking guitarist to really use the crosspicking.

But what I didn’t know is how George was picking it. I just assumed he was using down up down strokes…

NO!!!!!

George is actually doing a similar technique used by sweep guitarists like  Frank Gambale, or  jazz guitarists Chuck Wayne and Tal Farlow in the 1940s.

The technique is only sweeping across two strings however, and the third note is an up stroke. So, down, down, up…

Hey, isn’t that the same thing Brad Davis is known for? Well yea… I’d say that George Shuffler is really the first to do this… wow…

“The is an excerpt from Flatpicking Guitar Magazine’s instructional DVD “Clinch Mountain Guitar.” The instructional portion of the video is taught by James Alan Shelton, the guitar player for Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. This peice is from the begining of the DVD where James interviews George Shuffler, the man who first used the crosspicking technique when playing with the Stanley Brothers in the 1950s. This DVD is available at www.flatpickingmercantile.com”