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User:HarrellMulkey630

2012-07-16T13:09:34Z

HarrellMulkey630: Created page with 'How you can Strum An instrument Without A Pick [http://www.more-than-guitar-chord-charts.com/acoustic-guitar-lessons.html guitar chord charts] - How you can strum an instrument …'

How you can Strum An instrument Without A Pick

[http://www.more-than-guitar-chord-charts.com/acoustic-guitar-lessons.html guitar chord charts] - How you can strum an instrument with no pick is really a question beginners and advancing guitarists often ask, specially because they become excited through the discovery of new guitar styles.
Meaning of strumming versus plucking

"The left hand may be the smart one, as the right executes"

This famous phrase was the response given by Paco de Lucia on a Spanish television show a few decades back. It did indeed cause him a lot of suffering when it comes to physical injuries.
Those injuries were inflicted with a group of extreme right wing fanatics simply because they decided that Paco's response had political connotations.

The question posed by the interviewer was: "As a guitarist, which of the two hands carries the biggest challenge?"

As with Paco's answer, it is indeed true that the right hand executes the notes prepared (or fretted) through the left-hand, in addition to open strings. (Please be aware the example covers right handed guitar players, obviously the alternative is true for left handed guitarists).

If we want to learn to strum a guitar with no pick, there are various techniques through which this can be accomplished, however they all belong to either of the following main groups:

Plucking and
Strumming

Plucking is when each string is picked individually. You can do this in succession, as with executing arpeggios, or concurrently, as with "claw hammer" style.

Strumming happens when the strings of the instrument are took part in fast succession, one by one, in a sweeping motion, which can be descending, ascending, or perhaps a combination of.

Using the possible exception of some "rasgueado",( I'll come back to this later) strumming is always done over several strings consecutively. Plucking can be achieved either with the aid of claws and thumb picks, as in banjo styles, or with bare fingers or natural nails, as in classical and flamenco guitar styles.

Strumming can be achieved using a plectrum, aka pick, or with bare fingers or natural nails. We'll concentrate on this short article on how to strum a guitar with no pick.

Bare hand strumming styles

The basic bare hand strumming styles can be divided into three main groups:

Thumb strumming
Index or index and thumb strumming
"Rasgueado" or ripping style
Plus all combinations of the three in the above list.

Thumb strumming

This is perhaps the most basic from the finger styles. Thumb strumming is performed by resting either the little finger or both little and ring fingers from the right hand on our bodies, underside of the strings and running the tip from the thumb across the strings.

The motion could be descending only ( most common), ascending and descending (less frequent) and ascending only ( rare). If we grow the nails on the right-hand, the descending stroke is going to be done by the nail striking the strings, which provides a more percussive tone and sharp attack.

The ascending motion is definitely made by the nail punching the string. This method does not involve any wrist movement, hence the little finger resting on the body of the guitar.
Some typical uses have been in playing jazz ballads, specially one chord per bar type songs.
The notorious jazz player Wes Montgomery used thumb strumming as his main right hand technique.
If we want to learn efficiently how to strum a guitar without a pick, it will likely be very useful that people observe such players and grow from them.

Index or index plus thumb strumming

Perhaps the most popular technique for strumming a steel string acoustic guitar, but not necessarily exclusive to. The fundamental motion is, since it's names indicates, completed with the index finger alone, or both index and thumb pressed together.

[http://www.more-than-guitar-chord-charts.com/ guitar chord charts] - When playing with the index finger alone, the ascending stroke will attack the strings using the back tip from the finger, or nail, based on whether we've grown it.

The downward motion always involves the finger nail striking the strings. When using finger and thumb together, the ascending stroke will invariably attack the strings with the thumb's nail.

Again, nail attack is sharper and brighter. The most important thing about this technique is the wrist movement. The right ways of executing the strokes are:
Before beginning the down stroke, the rear of the hand is facing slightly upwards.
To complete the down stroke, the arm must descend gently as the cuff is rotated inwards and the index finger attacks the strings starting at the
The upstroke is performed exactly reversing the down stroke, starting to rotate the cuff first, then raisin the forearm as the finger begins attacking the strings
We can choose to grow the finger nails depending on what sound and tone we're attempting to accomplish

"Rasgueado" or ripping style

The most difficult of the strumming techniques may be the "rasgueado". The reason behind this is because it calls for more muscles of the right-hand than the other styles, even though it doesn't need a rotation of the wrist for the down stroke.

The basic technique starts by looking into making a fist using the thumb extended from the hand. The palm of the hand holds the tip from the fingers, that are primed to spring out.
Then, because the arm lowers the hand to the strings, we spring each finger with force in rapid succession, beginning with the index. Some players will release the index first, while the most common technique is to produce the small finger first and index last.

This results in a ripping effect since four fingers are hitting several strings, creating a very percussive, drumming and dry sound.

The upstroke, if required, is performed usually with the upper area of the thumb, the nail, requiring then for the wrist to be rotated. Styles done with only the down stroke would be tango and some flamenco "palos".
Styles done with both are mostly flamenco styles or "palos", rumba, along with other South American styles such as milonga.
Just about all players possess a solid foundation on how to strum an instrument with no pick.

Mixtures of the above

[http://www.more-than-guitar-chord-charts.com/acoustic-guitar-lessons.html acoustic guitar] - Most flamenco guitarists, for example Paco de Lucia allow us very advanced right hand approaches to accessory for the ones explained above

This concludes the description from the basic styles for how to strum a guitar without a pick.

HarrellMulkey630

2012-07-16T13:09:29Z