The easiest way to play this pattern is to create a bar with your third finger on the D-
and G-strings. But this will also make it harder to separate the notes from each other.
- In the third version of the A-Minor arpeggio it gets even worse:
Here you have three consecutive notes in the same fret on the G- B- and E-string.
There are two ways to deal with this challenge and here they are:
1. Mute the strings
Muting all the strings with your picking hand will create a "staccato" effect that
prevents the strings from vibrating for no more than a fraction of a second. I've
included some photos that show you how to "palm mute" the strings below. In the
first photo my hand is placed behind the strings, but in the second photo it touches
the strings. When I start to pick my palm is going to mute the strings, giving me no
sustain on the notes whatsoever:
The only downside of this technique is that it will mute all of the notes, also the ones
that don't need muting. When you do this, the sound of what you play, changes
radically. I use this technique quite a bit but sometimes it's nice to have a more open
sound when playing arpeggios. That's why you should spend some time learning the
next technique as well:
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