Just like in any other hobby, you need a certain amount of skill to properly play a guitar. Guitar picking and strumming are two essential guitar skills in which you should build upon your playing ability. As you go along, develop a style of your own by learning about different techniques from your guitar heroes.
Picking
This skill requires you to learn the two types of guitar picking: with your finger and with a plectrum. Finger picking involves more dexterity and strength from your hands. There are so many ways on how to finger pick a guitar. One of the most common ways is to play the 6th, 5th and 4th strings with your thumb with a down-ward (strumming) motion. Your index, middle and ring fingers will pluck the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings. You have to "rake" your finger up when playing the higher toned strings. It is easier to play arpeggios, strums and rasgueados with finger picking. Also, you can easily play non adjacent strings together let's say the 5 and 2. Plectrum is a picking device made from metal, plastic and other exotic materials-like turtle shells. For plectrum picking, you need to hold it between your index finger and your thumb; with supplemental support coming from your free fingers. The motion for plectrum picking all comes from the wrist. Swaying your arm is a very bad practice because it will cause great stress. Angle the pick slightly to the strings for better control. With plectrum picking, you can expect better clarity and better control. There is also the issue of leverage. Plectrum picking send more energy to the strings, producing a great volume of sound especially on your acoustic guitar. Playing faster rhythms on using plectrum picking is possible without the loss of consistent tone.
Tuning
In order to play good, you need to sound good. Practice different tuning techniques for certain types of situations. The standard guitar tuning of an open chord are E-A-D-G-B-E. There are many kinds of tuning techniques ranging from the 5th fret technique, Dropped Tunings, Lower tunings and Modal tunings. The most common method which is the 5th string technique requires you to find a "reference pitch" for your lower E-string. This will be the standard tune that the rest of the strings will follow. A piano, tuning fork or another guitar will make you find that reference pitch. This is the easiest tuning technique. Fret the lower E string on the 5th fret while plucking the open A-string. Their pitch should match. Adjust the tuning peg of your A-string up or down until the pitch matches that of the fretted E-string. Play the next string (5th) on the fifth fret and the open fourth string until they sound the same. Play the 3rd string on the fourth fret and the open second string. Adjust the second string until they sound the same. Lastly, play your second string on the fifth fret and the open first string (highest E) while adjusting the tone until they sound the same.
These are the two basic skills you need to develop. Practice them each day while learning more tuning and picking techniques as you go along. Try the aforementioned tuning techniques to produce different variation of sounds. Picking techniques like the flamenco, sweep picking, flat-picking and Travis picking can add spice to your guitar playing experience.
Picking
This skill requires you to learn the two types of guitar picking: with your finger and with a plectrum. Finger picking involves more dexterity and strength from your hands. There are so many ways on how to finger pick a guitar. One of the most common ways is to play the 6th, 5th and 4th strings with your thumb with a down-ward (strumming) motion. Your index, middle and ring fingers will pluck the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings. You have to "rake" your finger up when playing the higher toned strings. It is easier to play arpeggios, strums and rasgueados with finger picking. Also, you can easily play non adjacent strings together let's say the 5 and 2. Plectrum is a picking device made from metal, plastic and other exotic materials-like turtle shells. For plectrum picking, you need to hold it between your index finger and your thumb; with supplemental support coming from your free fingers. The motion for plectrum picking all comes from the wrist. Swaying your arm is a very bad practice because it will cause great stress. Angle the pick slightly to the strings for better control. With plectrum picking, you can expect better clarity and better control. There is also the issue of leverage. Plectrum picking send more energy to the strings, producing a great volume of sound especially on your acoustic guitar. Playing faster rhythms on using plectrum picking is possible without the loss of consistent tone.
Tuning
In order to play good, you need to sound good. Practice different tuning techniques for certain types of situations. The standard guitar tuning of an open chord are E-A-D-G-B-E. There are many kinds of tuning techniques ranging from the 5th fret technique, Dropped Tunings, Lower tunings and Modal tunings. The most common method which is the 5th string technique requires you to find a "reference pitch" for your lower E-string. This will be the standard tune that the rest of the strings will follow. A piano, tuning fork or another guitar will make you find that reference pitch. This is the easiest tuning technique. Fret the lower E string on the 5th fret while plucking the open A-string. Their pitch should match. Adjust the tuning peg of your A-string up or down until the pitch matches that of the fretted E-string. Play the next string (5th) on the fifth fret and the open fourth string until they sound the same. Play the 3rd string on the fourth fret and the open second string. Adjust the second string until they sound the same. Lastly, play your second string on the fifth fret and the open first string (highest E) while adjusting the tone until they sound the same.
These are the two basic skills you need to develop. Practice them each day while learning more tuning and picking techniques as you go along. Try the aforementioned tuning techniques to produce different variation of sounds. Picking techniques like the flamenco, sweep picking, flat-picking and Travis picking can add spice to your guitar playing experience.
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