This lesson builds on the right hand fingerstyle work presented in the Virtual Studio. If you haven’t practiced fingerpicking in a while or if you haven’t done that lesson, be sure to review it before continuing. In order to play these exercises correctly you will need to have a good grasp of standard fingering.
When you are clear on your fingerings and comfortable with using them on your guitar, you are ready to begin work with a “bass-grab” style in the right hand. This is similar to the bass-strum that you are doing with the pick, but it allows you to create different sounds with the bass note and makes it easy to create more interesting rhythms.
Start by using a simple quarter note figure. The bass notes are played with the thumb and the three-note chords (the “grab”), are played using the fingers (standard fingering). You will be playing the C chord for the first four measures and the G7 chord for the following four, as shown below:
Now, dress it up with a more sophisticated rhythmic pattern. Instead of using straight eighth notes, try playing this with a swing feel to jazz it up. Your eighth notes will sound like a triplet with the middle note missing. (Count one-uh, two-uh…) Notice that while the bass notes always occur on a beat, in measures 2, 4, 6 and 8 you will play the first three-string chord (“grab”) on the “&” (or, more accurately, the “uh”) after “1” – in other words, between the first and second beat. It may take some practice to get this clean and swinging, so be sure to take your time and do your counting!
