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How To Strum A Guitar Without A Pick

acoustic guitar - How you can strum an instrument without a pick is really a question beginners and advancing guitarists often ask, specially because they become excited through the discovery of recent 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 the Spanish tv show a few decades back. It did indeed cause him lots of suffering in the way of physical injuries. Those injuries were inflicted by a group of extreme right wing fanatics because they decided that Paco's response had political connotations.

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

As with Paco's answer, yes, it is true that the best hand executes the notes prepared (or fretted) by the left-hand, as well as open strings. (Please be aware that the example covers right handed guitar players, obviously the alternative holds true for a lefty guitarists).

If we want to learn to strum a guitar without a pick, there are many different techniques by which this can be accomplished, but they all fit in with either from the following main groups:

Plucking and
Strumming

Plucking happens when each string is picked individually. This can be done in succession, as in executing arpeggios, or concurrently, as in "claw hammer" style.

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

Using the possible exception of some "rasgueado",( I'll return to this later) strumming is definitely 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 with the aid of a plectrum, aka pick, or with bare fingers or natural nails. We'll focus on this article regarding how to strum a guitar without a pick.

Finger strumming styles

The fundamental 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 mixtures of the three in the above list.

Thumb strumming

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

The motion could be descending only ( most typical), ascending and descending (less frequent) and ascending only ( rare). If we grow their nails around the right hand, the descending stroke is going to be made by the nail hitting the strings, which provides a more percussive tone and sharp attack.

The ascending motion is definitely done by the nail striking the string. This technique 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 very notorious jazz player Wes Montgomery used thumb strumming as his main right-hand technique. If we want to learn efficiently how to strum an instrument with no pick, it will be very useful that we observe such players and grow from them.

Index or index plus thumb strumming

Perhaps the most widely used technique for strumming a steel string electric guitar, but not necessarily exclusive to. The fundamental 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 with the back tip of the finger, or nail, depending on whether we've grown it.

The downward motion always involves 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 important thing about this way is the wrist movement. The right ways of executing the strokes are: Before starting the down stroke, the back 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, beginning to rotate the cuff first, then raisin the forearm as the finger begins attacking the strings We can choose to grow the fingernails depending on what sound and tone we are attempting to accomplish

"Rasgueado" or ripping style

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

The fundamental technique starts by making a fist using the thumb extended from the hand. The palm from the hand supports 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 typical technique is to release the small finger first and index last.

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

The upstroke, if required, is done usually using the upper part of the thumb, the nail, requiring then for the wrist to be rotated. Styles completed with just the down stroke could be tango plus some flamenco "palos". Styles done with both are mostly flamenco styles or "palos", rumba, and other South American styles such as milonga. Just about all players possess a firm foundation regarding how to strum a guitar without a pick.

Mixtures of the above

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

This concludes the description of the basic styles based on how to strum an instrument without a pick.