Acoustic tricks..

[Silenus]

...to create a special sound or spice it up a bit...???
Thanks :toohappy:

[crimso54]

Pluck it like you are doing slap bass. The string then snaps along the freboard and it makes for some cool flavor. : )

[shiggity]

exactly what I was gonna say

[Vcubed]

Percussive taps on the body with fingertips or the side of your thumb. But if you have fingernails they can trash your finish quick.

[Silenus]

Percussive tabs sound ok but how do I slap (I'm not English)?
Is it picking the string between thumb and other finger and releasing it?
Thanks for the advices already given.

[martinedwards]

(I'm not English)
Nothing to be ashamed of!!!!

Slap bass is what the funk folk play

Pluck the strings hard & let go so that they twang off the frets & make a slappy rattly sound

use the flat of your thumb as a drumstick to thump hard down on the bass strings & release quickly

[mishmannah]

Nothing to be ashamed of!!!!

Slap bass is what the funk folk play

Pluck the strings hard & let go so that they twang off the frets & make a slappy rattly sound

use the flat of your thumb as a drumstick to thump hard down on the bass strings & release quickly

I know that style! I learnt it only a month ago, to my shame...I just whack my thumb like mad on the bass string...and it sounds good!

What I have a problem with is chunky choppy strumming...where you use the side of your hand to deaden the strings on the upstroke- I try to place my hand by the bridge, but it sounds messy.

[travisfraughton]

travis picking, my personal fav. it was invented by some other guy named travis, not me.
iwish though. if you haven't already, go learn it, good song for it is the staple, yes you guessed it "dust in the wind" kansas fairly easy to learn, and real fun to get good at.

[martinedwards]

What I have a problem with is chunky choppy strumming....

lift off with your fretting hand a little. squeeze on the downstrum then lift of slightly to deaded the up strum, but keep your fingers loosely on the strings in the chord shape.

sound cool with loads of delay.........

I've just written a song to demonstrate this (without the delay)

You know where my soundclick is Mishmannah, it's the top one :p

[Poldy]

Hm, you should check http://www.xuefeiyang.com/xuefei.html

Click CD&samples, and there search for "Sonata by A. Ginastera"

It is a very strange song, but there are some cool (or weird) tricks too :))

[mishmannah]

lift off with your fretting hand a little. squeeze on the downstrum then lift of slightly to deaded the up strum, but keep your fingers loosely on the strings in the chord shape.

sound cool with loads of delay.........

I've just written a song to demonstrate this (without the delay)

You know where my soundclick is Mishmannah, it's the top one :p

Ahhh, I did not think of the fretting hand...I will certainly try that technique...taa. :D

I will try to be careful not to make the strings buzz.

Will have a listen! ;)

......just listened :hands: :thumbs: :hands: ....you just wrote that one? Fresh off the press, huh??? power G, Csus2, Dmaj a good chord combo!

[mishmannah]

Hm, you should check http://www.xuefeiyang.com/xuefei.html

Click CD&samples, and there search for "Sonata by A. Ginastera"

It is a very strange song, but there are some cool (or weird) tricks too :))


Will check, Poldy, and a big welcome to the site if you have not aready been welcomed !

(another one shouldn't hurt!! :D :rolleye: )

Okay, just blasted my lughole, and she starts with mostly open strings!!!!!!!
wow! Have not heard conceptual stuff like that for ages!

My little 2 year old daughter is going mad in my living room, she is laughing her head off, and dancing around the room like a headless chicken!

[bugman]

Picking where the fretboard and the sound hole meet (or a little more towards the neck) can give it a nice tone.

[martinedwards]

I quite often vary where I strum to change the tone. at the bridge is Jangly on the octave mark is much more mellow.

Once saw someone on TV wirh an acoustic which had the neck & bridge moved farther out of the body ( an SG acoustic??) so that the comfortable place to strum was RIGHT beside the bridge for a really jangly tone

[mishmannah]

MY favourite strum location is just a little above the bridge, just at the edge of the soundhole...with Elixir strings, it creates a nice jangle crisp sound that sits well with fingerpicking and strumming.

[Acoustic Belle]

pulling off chords and hammering on gives a nice sound. I use it a lot in simple strumming another one is called a d run, when you pull off and hammer on notes
in a d chord on the high e string.
Just play around with your guitar and see what you can find. the possibilitys are
almost endless.

Belle

[mishmannah]

pulling off chords and hammering on gives a nice sound. I use it a lot in simple strumming another one is called a d run, when you pull off and hammer on notes
in a d chord on the high e string.
Just play around with your guitar and see what you can find. the possibilitys are
almost endless.

Belle

I love your post...I seem to have the notion that you have to play the guitar to set rules....you just say to play around!

I love that attitude!

Endless Possibilities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Silenus]

I kinda remebered that yesterdaynight I put in some aluminium foil
(NOT squized into a ball) to give it some kinda drizzlin' sound
but can't remember what the effect it gave (few drinks to much...)
will try again tonight...If I don't forget...
Greetz

[SequoiaFahey]

for slide players there was this weir technique that I read about in a magazine. You have to have slightly high action and then you fret a barr with the side then fret a note behind the slide with a finger and with the action at the right hight yout finger wil press the sting down enough that the note will ring through from under the slide. This can be usefill when you have a open major tuning and need that minor 3rd withought moving the slide. Totally crazy.

[Jake]

You can warp the sound of notes by pulling back on the neck while you're strumming, but It compromises the integrity of your guitar. I try not to do it too much but I like the way it sounds, so I might end up snapping my axe in half one day.

[Ebene]

Get ya a nice slider and play away!

[slidething]

Mish ~ Have not heard of Elixir strings - have an elec/coustic use Dean Markley XL 10 - 48`s plus just received a free set of Black Daimonds for asking about them at their site . Tried putting 11's on it and it bowed up bad - even after adjusting the truss rod - took it back to the shop where I got it and they could not fix it - so they slaped on another set of Dean 10's and it went back to normal action ( all most ) with a few minor adjustments with the truss. Have to check out the elixir`s.
Not that this had anything to do with the original post ~ lol
Sli__dething

[PerianArdocyl]

Try this.

Pluck the high E string and than immediately after (like .5 sec) fret that string on the second fret.

It's kind of hard to explain...when you pluck the string, it makes one sound, but when you fret it, it changes artfully to another note without you having to repluck it.

Go try it. :smile:

[Etingi]

You mean a hammer-on?

[pagodas_fiesta]

to see a very interesting playing style check out kaki king. heres a video someone posted in the past but nobody payed attention to:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2658058?htv=12

[Priesty]

Mish ~ Have not heard of Elixir strings - have an elec/coustic use Dean Markley XL 10 - 48`s plus just received a free set of Black Daimonds for asking about them at their site . Tried putting 11's on it and it bowed up bad - even after adjusting the truss rod - took it back to the shop where I got it and they could not fix it - so they slaped on another set of Dean 10's and it went back to normal action ( all most ) with a few minor adjustments with the truss. Have to check out the elixir`s.
Not that this had anything to do with the original post ~ lol
Sli__dething


Elixir strings have gortex coating on the wound strings, It stops them from rusting and they hold their tone for much longer. It also eliminates some of the squeal from your fingers on the strings and also makes them silky smooth to play...

What sort of acoustic do you play, that doesn't sound good that it bowed up with 11's on....I put 13-56s on my old acoustic electric and it hasn't needed to be touched...for the past 4 years of it's life when it's been using them..

[Jiggleman]

to see a very interesting playing style check out kaki king. heres a video someone posted in the past but nobody payed attention to:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2658058?htv=12
omg :eek: that is 1 cool chick :lick:

[PerianArdocyl]

You mean a hammer-on?

Is that what it's called, then? :smile:

[breedlovelove]

Sometimes, for a banjo-kind-of-sound, its fun to pick way back close to the bridge, and you can a real "twangy" sound. It can be cool to juxtapose it with normal strumming/picking, so its like a 'dueling banjo and guitar' thinger!

[seamas]

A couple techniques I'll do to vary the sound is the aforementioned playing on different areas of the string to vary the tone.

I also try to incorporate open notes in lead runs.

I'll target open notes that are chord tones, hit the harmonic, and raise the harmonic by bending behind the nut. Works great on the G chord (hit 12th fret harmonic of D G and B strings to make a G chord, bend the 2nd string behind the nut to get a G sus chord.

Instead of strumming chords, I'll pat the strings to get the tambour effect. Works best right at the bridge

The snare effect is fun, cross the 5th string over the 6th (at mid-nck), strum both to get a raspy snare sound.

Strum chords slow from bottom to top

Find as many voicings for my chords as possible.

I'll do an occasional right hand tap, usually at a harmonic node

[sharkydude501]

To get a different sound I hold (rotate) my pick ~ 45 degrees to the strings. This gives a chopping, percussive sound that works real well with a heal dampening of the strings too. Also allows the strings to be sort of "volume" controlled- either making the low E et al louder or softer in contrast to the other strings.

[RickM]

This may be beginnerish, but I'll throw in my 2 cents.

When finger-style'n or flat-pick plucking. Check the chord you are holding and look for a melodic adjacent sting. Pull off and hammer on it.

[b3n]

Justin king style tapping (check out his track "phunktified" which has been posted here before).

[tinsmith]

Has anyone heard this guy, Andy McKee?

http://www.youtube.com/w/andy-mckee?v=qESnIRJjzuQ&feature=PlayList&p=FDD89F730FB76B54&index=31

[T-H-O-M]

Try learning scales in harmonics, so that you can do cascading runs like this:


Let ring
--------------------------------[12]-----[12]-------------------------------
-----------------------[12]----------[7]----------[12]----------------------
--------------[12]----------[7]---------------[7]----------[12]-------------
-----[12]----------[7]---------------------------------[7]----------[12]----
----------[7]---------------------------------------------------[7]---------
--[7]-------------------------------------------------------------------[7]-

[] = Natural Harmonic

[scofield2112]

check out the "tricks" that this guy is doing

www.nathanmontgomery.com

wish i could play like that!