#STACCATO POPPING ACTION STRINGS FREE#

In the second measure, mute the open fourth string with your first finger, and on the final A chords, mute the open strings with any free fingers. 3, keep your first finger in position for a barred A shape at the second fret, and after you pick the open fifth string, mute it with your fourth finger. Now play the same pattern in the keys of A (Ex. Be sure to keep your fretting fingers close to the strings when youвЂ™re not using them so you can quickly put them into service for muting-this is a good all-around playing habit to minimize the movement of your fingers. ItвЂ™s harder to play open-string notes staccato compared with fretted notes, but youвЂ™ll get better with practice. To mute the open-string notes, touch the string with your fret handвЂ™s first finger. The notes are exactly the same as in Example 1, but the line now includes the open fourth and third strings. Muting open strings is a bit trickier-you need to touch the ringing open string with one (or more) of your fingers. This keeps you in position and gives you muting practice with all your fingers.

The same goes for the G barre chord: After you strum, release your fretting fingers right away but hold the shape, lightly touching the strings.ДЇollow the suggested fingerings: Use your first finger for notes on the second fret, second finger for the third fret, and so on. Make sure you donвЂ™t lift your finger completely off the string-that may start it ringing again. Pick the note (whether with a flatpick or your fingers) and then quickly release your fretting finger to stop it from ringing. Even where there are no rests between notes, pay attention to the staccato marks (the dots), which mean play those notes shorter than indicated-a staccato, or dotted, quarter note should sound more like an eighth note followed by an eighth rest, for instance. IвЂ™m using this example because the notes are cleanly separated and therefore require muting. In the last measure, instead of shouting вЂњGo big red!вЂќ (or your team of choice), strum a G barre chord. 1, a little melody forever lodged in my head from high-school sports games.

To cut a note short, you just stop pressing down with your fretting finger and leave it resting on the string. This lesson runs through the basics and gives you practice muting single notes as well as chords, with examples drawn from rock, reggae, and blues.ДЇretted notes are the simplest to mute on guitar. To minimize the drool factor, you can employ several techniques for muting on guitar, using both the fretting and picking hands. Leo Kottke, whose signature sound is built with extraordinary control over the duration of notes, memorably said in these pages many years ago that letting the strings ring all the time and bleed into each other is вЂњlike drooling-thereвЂ™s a beginning to everything but no end.вЂќ Muting adds necessary space between the notes and makes melodies and rhythms pop. This second aspect of playing, controlling how long notes ring by way of muting, is often underappreciated, yet itвЂ™s essential in every kind of music. The first job of playing acoustic guitar is to make those strings ring, with a clear and rich tone.

Staccato popping action strings