Stumming 3 or 4 strings chord (or triad) on Guitar

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Christine Bernard

6 months ago

Hello everyone, I hope you will answer my humble question : do you know a trick to strum the 5th, 4th and 3rd only, with the pick, and without touching the other strings ? Espacilly the 2nd ? For example when practicing C triads ? Thank you !

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Tomo Fujita Mod

6 months ago

Thank you for strumming & muting question.

1) 2nd inversion: 5 R M3 , you can use 342 fingering so you can use your 1st finger to mute other strings.

2) 1st inversion: M3 5 R , you can use 3 & 1 fingers to play these notes. So you can use your 2nd finger to mute 6th string & 1st finger to mute 1st & 2nd strings.

3) Root position: R M3 5, you can use 431 fingers to play these notes. So you can use your thumb to mute 6th string & 1st finger to mute 1st & 2nd strings.

Thank you.

Tomo

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Kurt Schubert

6 months ago

Hi Christine,
That is hard and tricky! You came to the right place. Tomo and friends are all about the details.
First thing I learned here: Go Slow.
2nd thing: Go really slow.
3rd thing: Slower than that!
Accuracy is tough! When I don't want to hear certain strings, the first thing I want to do is mute them with parts of both hands!I don't think I can be totally accurate and also don't want open strings ringing. It's like a puzzle and when the pieces start coming together it sounds beautiful. Tomo discusses muting and accuracy a lot in the sight-reading section.
As far as using the pick to play just the three strings- this is where I think going slow is your friend. I'm sure you will get the truth about this topic from Tomo. The students here are incredibly helpful too!

Very best,
Kurtis

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Tomo Fujita Mod

6 months ago

Thank you Kurtis for great suggestion!

I always go super slow! That's only way to be able to play and control techniques efficiently!

Thank you.

Tomo

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Christine Bernard

6 months ago

Thank you Tomo and Kurt, it’s nice to have someone to talk to when I have a problem, even a small one. I will take your good advice very seriously and I will go on with my guitar very slowly !

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Tomo Fujita Mod

6 months ago

My pleasure! Anytime! So many beautiful members are here to help you!

Thank you.

Tomo

Andrew Jenner

6 months ago

Hi Christine
Great question, I also find this very difficult. Some days I'm not too bad others pretty poor! I am human and don't take advice easily but after being here Tomo's advice is slowly getting through! For me it's ,don't be hard on yourself

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Andrew Jenner

6 months ago

Hit the wrong button!
Don't be hard on yourself, I try too hard and tense up and nothing goes as planned.
Don't expect too fast, I get the idea of a piece/exercise and think I can go faster, mistakes creep in, not great.
The last peice of advice I am getting hold of is to practice, as Kurt said, is to practice slow, so slow it's not music but a mind game to get things right. Now if I could master that I'm sure progress would be faster. My goal for this year.
A bit of a ramble but just to let you know you're not alone. Enjoy

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Tomo Fujita Mod

6 months ago

Thank you Andrew for sharing!

Yes! We are humans so we are not supposed be prefect!

I practice my R 3 7 Swing groove super slowly everyday...
I got more noises from my left hand muting technique.
That's okay! I will do much slower!

Don't worry!
Don't compare!
Don't expect too fast!
Be kind to yourself!
You are very special without doing anything!

Thank you.

Tomo

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