Worship Musician Magazine , I created a whole article / video called “ Procrastinators Unite : How to Shuffle As You Strum .” Shuffling changes the groove and the game .
3 . TRY FINGERPICKING A SIMPLE PATTERN . When we strum , we hear most of the notes at the same time . When we fingerpick , individual notes sound out . That ’ s kind of a “ Captain Obvious ” statement , but think about it . If I strum , you hear the notes in blocks , but if I fingerpick , we have something much more intricate .
As I demonstrate in the video , just go up and down on strings 6 , 4 , 3 and 2 with simple 8 th notes over an E minor ( or E minor 9 ) chord and listen for the individual notes cascading together . It ’ s not complicated , but it definitely has artistic potential . In Worship Musician Magazine December 2022 I offered my “ Fingerstyle Crash Course .”
4 . ADD A BIT OF PICKING HAND RHYTHM . A musician I had the privilege of studying with a few years ago by the name of Japhlet Bire Attias said this profound statement : “ We are all drummers in disguise .” Do you believe it ?
Have you heard a drummer take the drumstick and rap it against the edge of the snare ? That ’ s called “ side stick .” What if I told you by slapping the strings with our thumb , we could create a similar effect ? The thumb hits the strings , and the strings hit the frets . And – voila – we have side stick .
If you watch the video that accompanies this article , you ’ ll see and hear that I ’ m able to play like a drummer and a guitarist . And as you might imagine , this approach can be combined with shuffling ( see the video .)
5 . USE YOUR CAPO TO ACCESS NEW KEYS . I wrote a song in A minor with mostly open chords , but I knew I wanted to ultimately end up in C sharp minor . Here ’ s the thing – I wanted to sing in C sharp minor , but I wanted to play the shapes of A minor .
What did I need to do ? Well , the open 5 th string is A , so that ’ s where I began . But with the capo on 4 , I have an open C sharp note – so even though my shape is A minor , the chord is actually C sharp minor . See the video for how this plays out . Practically speaking , it works well with my voice , but there ’ s also something sweet about it being up the neck a bit .
One more capo example . Let ’ s say I have a progression in G but for one reason or another , I want to be able to play it in D flat Major . Maybe it ’ s because of my vocal line , or maybe it ’ s because I just know it will sound better there with higher string registers . Where will I capo to make this possible ?
Without getting too cerebral , go here with me . G is to open E as D flat ( or C sharp ) is to capo 6 B flat ( or A sharp .) Again , the first chord I play shows me fretting 3 frets above the open nut , OR three frets above the capo . Listen to that progression all the way up here at Capo 6 in D Flat Major .
Now , my collaborators would be best served by at least knowing the reality key of D flat , but an even greater measure of care would be to give them a chart in D flat . Does that make sense ?
If you ’ re a bit intimidated by the thought process around using your capo , don ’ t worry too much about it initially . Just enjoy moving the capo around a bit and listening to how the open chords sound in different registers above the capo .
But when you ’ re ready for the next level and you need a bit of brushing up on your approach to thoughtfully leveraging the capo for greater confidence , I ’ ve got one more Worship Musician Article to send you over to – it ’ s from August of 2023 and it ’ s called “ The Capo And Musical Creativity .”
Are there more tips I could give you ? Of course . But I ’ ll save those for another time . The links to past editions of Worship Musician Magazine should serve to bless you with plenty of other adventures for now .
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David Harsh David Harsh is a nationally touring worship leader , songwriter and performing artist . He is passionate about equipping guitarists to discover their potential . Learn more and join now at www . GuitarSuccess4U . com
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