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Home ❯ Topics ❯ Strumming & Rhythm ❯

How to Strum with a Percussive "Slap"

Lesson #490 • May 15, 2023

Hey there, friends! Quick lesson where I walk you through learning the percussive slap-strum technique. This lets you make a percussive thwack! as part of your down-strum motion, by means of muting the strings with your strumming hand. This technique is quite tricky to get the hang of at first, but I have a three-step process I’ll walk you through in this video. I suggest working on each of these steps on their own, as part of your practice routine - and before long you’ll be ready to play this full technique.

  • 0:00 Introduction
  • 1:05 Silencing the Strings Cleanly
  • 3:10 Proper Pick Motion
  • 4:39 Making the Slap Sound
  • 6:27 Example Strum Patterns

Instructional PDF 2 pages

Follow along with the print-friendly PDF! It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Follow along with the print-friendly PDF!

It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Lesson Discussion

Jump in the conversation with other members of the Song Notes community! Post a comment about this lesson, ask a question, or even upload a video of your progress. All skill levels welcome!

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Strumming Examples

Here’s the strumming patterns I show in my video lesson and print-friendly PDF, along with audio examples. In each pattern below, I strum the E major chord at 80bpm (with the exception of patterns 4-5, which are noted below).

Audio clips of each strumming pattern below are available to members of Song Notes Premium. Already a member? Log in »

Pattern #1

Audio of this strum (download):

Pattern #2

Audio of this strum (download):

Pattern #3

Audio of this strum (download):

Pattern #4

Played at 100bpm.

Audio of this strum (download):

Pattern #5

Played at 100bpm. In this example I strum one measure each of E major (x7999x) and A major (577655), repeating over and over.

Audio of this strum (download):

My Older Video on This Topic

Back in lesson #197 I originally tackled this same topic - though I didn’t show the helpful point-of-view camera angle. I also used a slightly different step-by-step how-to process that I wanted to teach differently this time around. But if you’re curious to see my older video, check it out below!

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