How the string speaks

Technique lab

Each idea: what it is → how the hand does it → one drill → one mistake.

Fretting

• Fingertip, just behind the fret (not on it, not in the middle of the box).
• Thumb on the back of the neck, roughly opposite the 2nd finger.
• Unused strings: mute with spare flesh. Don’t let them ring unless you mean it.

Mistake: collapsing the knuckle so the pad smudges two strings.

Picking

Downstroke: weight of the hand, not a stab. Alternate picking: down-up on every subdivision.

Drill: one string, 8th notes, 60 bpm, two minutes, no heroics.

Rest the palm lightly near the bridge only when you want mute; otherwise float.

Strumming

• Wrist, not elbow.
• Ghost the upstrokes on the higher strings.
• Count 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Pattern 1: D D U U D U

Legato

Hammer-on   e|--5h7--|
Pull-off    e|--7p5--|
Slide up    e|--5/7--|
Slide down  e|--7\5--|

Hammer: fret a note, tap a higher fret hard enough to sound. Pull-off: flick slightly down, don’t just lift. Slide: keep pressure, don’t release.

Expression

Bend: usually a whole step on the G string at the 7th or 8th in pentatonic box 1. Target pitch must match the note two frets up.

Vibrato: after the note is solid. Classical = hinge from the arm; blues = rotate the wrist like turning a key.

Palm mute: meat of the picking palm on the strings at the bridge. P.M. --------|

Next labs: harmonics · slide · tunings

Related lessons

Harmonics · Slide · Pentatonic box 1