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How you can Strum A Guitar With no Pick

acoustic guitar - How to strum a guitar without a pick is a question beginners and advancing guitarists often ask, specially because they become excited by the discovery of new guitar styles. Meaning of strumming versus plucking

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

This famous phrase was the response distributed by Paco de Lucia on a Spanish tv show several decades back. It did indeed cause him lots of suffering in the way of physical injuries. Those injuries were inflicted with a number of extreme right wing fanatics simply because they decided that Paco's response had political connotations.

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

As in Paco's answer, yes, it is correct that the best hand executes the notes prepared (or fretted) by the left-hand, as well as 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 how to strum an instrument with no pick, there are various techniques through which this can be accomplished, but they all fit in with either from 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 in "claw hammer" style.

Strumming happens when the strings of an instrument are took part in fast succession, one by one, inside a sweeping motion, which may be descending, ascending, or a mixture of.

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

Strumming can be done with the aid of a plectrum, aka pick, or with bare fingers or natural nails. We will concentrate on this article on how to strum a guitar without a pick.

Finger strumming styles

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

Thumb strumming Index or index and thumb strumming "Rasgueado" or ripping style

Plus all combinations of the three listed above.

Thumb strumming

Perhaps the standard from the finger styles. Thumb strumming is done by resting either the small finger or both little and ring fingers of the right-hand on the body, underside from the strings and running the end from the thumb across the strings.

The motion can be descending only ( most typical), ascending and descending (less frequent) and ascending only ( rare). As we grow their nails on the right hand, the descending stroke is going to be done by the nail hitting the strings, which gives a far more percussive tone and sharp attack.

The ascending motion is always done by the nail punching the string. This method doesn't involve any wrist movement, hence the small 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 very notorious jazz player Wes Montgomery used thumb strumming as his main right hand technique. To learn efficiently how to strum an instrument with no pick, it will likely be very beneficial that we observe such players and learn from them.

Index or index plus thumb strumming

Perhaps the most popular technique for strumming a steel string electric guitar, but not necessarily only at. The basic motion is, as its names indicates, done with the index finger alone, or both index and thumb pressed together.

acoustic guitar - 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 requires the finger nail hitting the strings. When utilizing 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 crucial part of this technique is the wrist movement. The correct ways of executing the strokes are: Before beginning the down stroke, the rear of the hand is facing slightly upwards. To execute the down stroke, the arm must descend gently as the cuff is rotated inwards and also the index finger attacks the strings starting in the The upstroke is done exactly reversing the down stroke, starting to rotate the cuff first, then raisin the forearm while the finger begins attacking the strings We can decide to grow the finger nails based on what sound and tone we're attempting to accomplish

"Rasgueado" or ripping style

Probably the most difficult of the strumming techniques is the "rasgueado". The reason behind the reason being it calls for more muscles from the right hand than the other kinds, although it does not require a rotation from the wrist for the down stroke.

The basic technique starts by making a fist using the thumb extended away from the hand. The palm from the hand holds the tip from the fingers, which are primed to spring out. Then, because the arm lowers the hand onto 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 release the little finger first and index last.

This results in a ripping effect since four fingers are hitting several strings, causing 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 that wrist to be rotated. Styles completed with only the down stroke would be tango and some flamenco "palos". Styles completed with both of them are mostly flamenco styles or "palos", rumba, and other South American styles such as milonga. Almost all players have a very solid foundation regarding how to strum a guitar without a pick.

Combinations of the above mentioned

acoustic guitar lessons - Most flamenco guitar players, such as Paco de Lucia have developed very advanced right hand approaches to addition to those explained above

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