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How you can Strum A Guitar With no Pick

[http://www.more-than-guitar-chord-charts.com/acoustic-guitar.html guitar chord charts] - How to strum a guitar without a pick is a question beginners and advancing guitarists often ask, specially as they become excited through the discovery of new guitar styles.
Meaning of strumming versus plucking

"The left-hand may be the smart one, as the right executes"

This famous phrase was the response given by Paco de Lucia on a Spanish television show a few decades back. It did indeed cause him lots of suffering when it comes to physical injuries. 
Those injuries were inflicted by a number of extreme right wing fanatics because they decided that Paco's response had political connotations.

The question posed by the interviewer was: "As a guitarist, which of the two hands carries the biggest challenge?"

As in Paco's answer, yes, it is true that the right hand executes the notes prepared (or fretted) through the left hand, in addition to open strings. (Please note the example covers right handed guitarists, obviously the opposite is true for left handed guitarists).

To learn how to strum an instrument without a pick, there are various techniques by which this can be accomplished, however they all belong to either of the following main groups:

 Plucking and
 Strumming
 
Plucking happens when each string is picked individually. This can be done in succession, as with executing arpeggios, or concurrently, as in "claw hammer" style.

Strumming is when the strings of the instrument are took part in fast succession, one after the other, in a sweeping motion, which can be descending, ascending, or a combination of.

With the possible exception of some "rasgueado",( I'll come back to this later) strumming is definitely done over several strings consecutively. Plucking can be achieved either with the aid of claws and thumb picks, as with banjo styles, or with bare fingers or natural nails, as in classical and flamenco guitar styles.

Strumming can be done using a plectrum, aka pick, or with bare fingers or natural nails. We will focus on this article on how to strum an instrument with no pick.

Bare hand strumming styles

The fundamental finger strumming styles can be split into three main groups:

Thumb strumming
Index or index and thumb strumming
"Rasgueado" or ripping style
 Plus all mixtures of any of the three in the above list.

Thumb strumming

Perhaps the standard of the bare hand styles. Thumb strumming is done by resting either the small finger or both little and ring fingers of the right hand on our bodies, underside from the strings and running the end from the thumb over the strings.



The motion can be descending only ( most typical), ascending and descending (less common) and ascending only ( rare). As we grow the nails on the right hand, the descending stroke will be made by the nail hitting the strings, which provides a more percussive tone and sharp attack.
              
    
    
The ascending motion is definitely made by the nail punching the string. This technique doesn't involve any wrist movement, hence the little finger sitting on the body from the guitar. 
Some typical uses have been in playing jazz ballads, specially one chord per bar type songs. 
The notorious jazz player Wes Montgomery used thumb strumming as his main right-hand technique.
If we want to learn efficiently how you can strum a guitar with no pick, it will be very beneficial that we observe such players and learn from them.



Index or index plus thumb strumming

Perhaps the most widely used way of strumming a steel string electric guitar, although not necessarily exclusive to. The fundamental motion is, as its names indicates, completed with the index finger alone, or both index and thumb pressed together.

     

[http://www.more-than-guitar-chord-charts.com/ acoustic guitar] - When having fun with the index finger alone, the ascending stroke will attack the strings with the back tip of the finger, or nail, depending on whether we have grown it.

The downward motion always requires the finger nail hitting the strings. When using finger and thumb together, the ascending stroke will always attack the strings using the thumb's nail. 

Again, nail attack is sharper and brighter. The most crucial thing about this technique is the wrist movement. The correct methods for executing the strokes are:
Before starting the down stroke, the rear of the hand is facing slightly upwards.
To execute the down stroke, the arm must descend gently because the cuff is rotated inwards and also the index finger attacks the strings starting in the
The upstroke is done exactly reversing the down stroke, beginning to rotate the cuff first, then raisin the forearm as the finger begins attacking the strings
We are able to choose to grow the finger nails depending on what sound and tone we're trying to accomplish
 
"Rasgueado" or ripping style

The most difficult of the strumming techniques may be the "rasgueado". The reason for this is because it involves more muscles from the right hand than the other styles, although it does not require a rotation of the wrist for the down stroke.


                 

The basic technique starts by making a fist using the thumb extended from the hand. The palm from the hand holds the tip from the fingers, which are primed to spring out. 
Then, as the arm lowers the hand to the strings, we spring each finger with force in rapid succession, beginning with the index. Some players will release the index first, while the most typical way is to release the little finger first and index last.


             

This results in a ripping effect since four fingers are hitting several strings, causing a very percussive, drumming and dry sound.

The upstroke, if required, is performed usually with the upper area of the thumb, the nail, requiring then for that wrist to become rotated. Styles completed with just the down stroke could be tango plus some flamenco "palos".
Styles completed with both are mostly flamenco styles or "palos", rumba, and other South American styles such as milonga.
Just about all players possess a firm foundation on how to strum a guitar with no pick.

Combinations of the above mentioned

[http://www.more-than-guitar-chord-charts.com/acoustic-guitar.html acoustic guitar lessons] - Most flamenco guitar players, such as Paco de Lucia allow us very advanced right-hand techniques in accessory for those explained above

This concludes the description from the basic styles based on how to strum a guitar with no pick.