Right hand plucking

vermehlo · #1 01-04-2009, 09:33 AM

I've now been playing for about one year, and during this time,
I have discovered many, yet I think not enough right hand plucking techniques. So far, I know:

1. Normal plucking, just index and middle.
2. Slap, using thumb only.
3. Slap and pop, thumb with the additional pop of either three fingers.
4. Galloping, using three fingers.
5. Double thumb, Victor Wooten's up and down thumb motion.

I think they are plenty, I haven't mastered any of them, but I'd like to know more. If anybody knows more techniques please post the name of the technique, the artist, and how he or she does it please.

Thanks

the_ruckus · #2 01-04-2009, 09:44 AM

for a lot of fast paced heavy metal, i choose to place my thumb on the neck pickup and holding my index and middle fingers of my right hand tightly together and go in an up and down motion. After some practice, it's easy to keep up with speedy guitar runs.

rarisgod · #3 01-04-2009, 11:08 AM

I don't know if this really qualifies, but I think it's called a rake technique, where you use your index and middle fingers to "rake" across the strings to play several notes, it's a cool sound. I think you can see it in my YYZ video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-uKn...e=channel_page) on YouTube. In a hurry so I can't post any specific times. Also see the YouTube YYZ video by entheogenesis, I think he does it.

ysand · #4 01-04-2009, 06:21 PM

@Vermehlo, you forgot the pick!

bThumper38 · #5 01-04-2009, 06:34 PM

I use thumb plucking down&up and index finger which works well for cross stringing

sturmvogel · #6 01-04-2009, 08:48 PM

I will rake downward for a chord, using the back of my fingers (the part with the nail).. I will flick a string up and down for a fast, fluttering sound with index or middle finger. I will use thumb and first two or three fingers in a kind of classical guitar style plucking style.

mwiles30 · #7 01-04-2009, 09:01 PM

A cool one to do is the fingerstyle guitar technique (a la Anthony Jackson), which involves plucking with the thumb, index, and middle fingers. You can incorporate this with palm muting to get some super cool sounds that you can't get with normal fingerstyle or pick technique (you can palm mute with a pick, but palm muting with the thumb is a sound of its own). With some practice, you can develop killer speed and efficiency with it.

Watch just about any video with Anthony Jackson in it. He incorporates this technique a lot.

sturmvogel · #8 01-04-2009, 10:22 PM

Yeah---I use the thumb and 2 finger guitar style---here's a clip in which I use it toward the end:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLFd3...e=channel_page

mellowgerman · #9 01-04-2009, 10:37 PM

try using your index and middle finger to pluck notes. the more soft surface area of your fingers plucking the string, the warmer and smoother your tone will be. obviously this can't be applied to every type of music but i find it's great for mellow groove stuff. here's an example of me using that method:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0tF1...eature=channel

CYDbass · #10 01-14-2009, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_ruckus

for a lot of fast paced heavy metal, i choose to place my thumb on the neck pickup and holding my index and middle fingers of my right hand tightly together and go in an up and down motion. After some practice, it's easy to keep up with speedy guitar runs.

ive never heard this idea before, but i really like it!
not wanting to use a pick as i dont like them i think this would be a really good way to just really intensify a passgae or a run. maybe incorporate that with some distortion and it would be a really good accent.
Thanks my friend, im gonna practice that one!

Plantbrain · #11 01-15-2009, 12:50 PM

If you double thumb and/or pluck with the index and middle and ring finger(this is a lot to learn to do well and bring up to speed) on a single string or pair etc, it can go very very fast.

You will have trouble counting the notes fired off.

Double thumb alone can be extremely fast and it looks cool, there are a number of good youtube videos to pick from. Victor Wooten is really good at teaching, there's also Alexis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCoHgfCVbYE

So you can gain a number of ideas there.

Tapping on the top of the string is a cool method(he does this near the end, pretty neat).

Tom

christw · #12 01-15-2009, 02:34 PM

I actually use pretty much all the techniques you guys mention aside from thumb ones. (They scare me!)

I've been meaning to do the index/middle finger double plucking, but I've been too lazy to work my way.

Anyways, on the topic, I'll occasionally use 4-finger plucking, except with my pinky though... I can't seem to find out much about whether other people do that or not. I was actually doing a search to little avail a few minutes ago. Everyone seems to prefer the thumb. However, aside from a local metal bassist who impressed me to no end, I haven't seen four finger (no thumb) in action anywhere else.

pseudoxh4 · #13 01-16-2009, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CYDbass

ive never heard this idea before, but i really like it!
not wanting to use a pick as i dont like them i think this would be a really good way to just really intensify a passgae or a run. maybe incorporate that with some distortion and it would be a really good accent.
Thanks my friend, im gonna practice that one!

You may be interested in this (the technique is demonstrated around 4:10).

Quote:

I can't seem to find out much about whether other people do that or not. I was actually doing a search to little avail a few minutes ago.

He uses (or atleast, seems to have mastered) the technique you describe. There have been a few threads on the subject, actually (and the guy in the video frequents this forum too).

In addition to the aforementioned techniques, there's also four finger sweeping and sweeping with the thumb and index finger (though these may just be considered variants of the above techniques).