PERCUSSIVE ACOUSTIC
Strum, tap, slap, & bang
The percussive style can baffle the best of us. But Chris Woods has broken it into easy segments so you can start to strum, tap, slap and bang today!
each exercise can open doors to a lifetime’s study; a new album, riff or even just 20 seconds of ‘Oh, that sounds cool!’
ABILITY RATIN G Info Key Various Tempo Various CD TRACKS 25-30 Will improve your… Fingerpicking Strumming Contemporary acoustic techniques
Inspiration is food for your fingers. It’s essential to keeping them going. Whether it’s a new tune, a new approach or, let’s face it, a new guitar; any inspirational input does wonders for maintaining your playing and avoiding finger fatigue. In this article I’ve created 30 examples for you, to offer some fresh perspectives on the acoustic guitar and to feed those phalanges.
The 30 examples are divided into six different categories, the first of which is Strumming. When it comes to strumming most intermediate players and above can throw in a casual and comfortable string slap to great affect; the act of focusing on the detail of that, such as where the percussive sound is placed, can change everything. I’ve created a handful of string slapping exercise here, which then progress to using your fretting hand to produce some serious syncopation, all pulled together with some triplet strums.
The second area of study is Arpeggios. I’ve progressed things in this section from basic Travis picking (alternating thumb) up to some tasty percussive picking. The main aim here is to offer some fresh rhythms and patterns. The third section is Harmonics. Many readers may already be very confident with these, so the exercises are designed to offer some riffs and patterns that really bring out the best in the acoustic guitar, and might encourage you take the idea and build something new. Of course if you’re new to harmonics there’s something for you too.
Fourthly, we arrive at those percussive techniques that tend to divide opinion, but which (when used judiciously) can be fun and musical. And it’s not just body percussion; we delve into fretboard tapping too. Ultimately the idea is to approach the acoustic in a contemporary way, with very little regard for the more conventional playing methods. So please keep an open mind with this.
Penultimately I’ve created five examples calling on the CAGED system for inspiration. Now, the CAGED system is a means to understanding or ‘mapping’ the fretboard
using the open chords spelt out as ‘CAGED’. The examples I have provided go through each of these chords, but utilise open strings to transform a humble a major chord exercise, into something more exciting, musical and usable, and not just another theory lesson.
Finally, I’ve created five examples using simple intervals. It’s a great way to get your fingers going and your brain working to find the important relationships between the notes. Of course, it also sounds sublime!
Ultimately there’s something for everyone. Approach each exercise with an open mind, focus on the details and you’ll find each exercise can open doors to a lifetime’s study. Or perhaps a new album, or a new riff or even just 20 seconds of ‘oh that sounds cool’.