How to Use Percussive Effects on Guitar

Percussive effects on acoustic guitar can add simple adornments or actually be used as part of experimental compositions. Try some of these techniques to spice up your performances.

Things You'll Need

• Guitar
• Practice

Instructions

How to Use Percussive Effects on Guitar

1. Tap the body of the guitar with your fingers. You can always use the body like a small drum. Be sure not to hit it too hard.

2. Mute the strings with your palm, slapping the strings just strong enough that they "clap" against the frets. This can be used while strumming chords to add punctuation.

3. Strike a few strings with your middle and ring fingers on the backbeat. This creates a nice accompanying sound, particularly for fingerstyle pieces.

4. Use tap harmonics when appropriate to add percussion to individual notes.

5. Strike the bass notes with your thumb in the way that "slap bass" players do. This adds a wonderful funk-style to many solo pieces.

Tips & Warnings

• Listen to artists such as Vicki Genfan or Andy McKee to see how they create solo acoustic compositions based around the percussive possibilities of acoustic guitar.

• Never strike any part of your instrument hard enough to damage it. Be aware of how much punishment your guitar can take.