Fretting Hand Percussive Fingerstyle

We learn to produce more percussive effects by using our chord playing hand to mute the strings.

Exercise 1

The chords included in this exercise are: C major, A minor 7, F major 7, and G major.

1. Using the thumb, downstroke the root note of the chord

2. Up-pick the G and B strings with first and second finger

3. Play a thumb snare by turning the wrist and 'clicking' the strings (relaxing chord playing hand for extra muting)

4. Up-pick the G and B strings but relax the hand and then mute (cover) the strings

5. Continuing to mute, use the thumb to pluck the root note of the chord

6. Finally, one more up-pick muting the G and B strings and then play a string slap snare sound

For variation, we repeat this whole sequence but add some of the chord notes in the middle of the bar. The up-pick happens on the '3-and' and this is where we sound the notes out on the 'and'.

The main technique to focus on here is practicing forming the chord, relaxing/muting and playing the chord again. This is a quick and second nature movement once we practice regularly and eventually play at a faster tempo.