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

Lesson Discussion

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).

Pattern #1

Pattern #2

Pattern #3

Pattern #4

Played at 100bpm.

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.

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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How to Strum with a Percussive "Slap"

Instructional PDF 2 pages

Lesson Discussion

Strumming Examples

Pattern #1

Pattern #2

Pattern #3

Pattern #4

Pattern #5

My Older Video on This Topic

Browse Related Lessons

About Song Notes

Get Free Lessons Each Week!

Enjoy my lessons? Buy me a beer!

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Capo Captain

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Recent Lessons

Major Key Cheat Sheets: Must-Know Chords, Scales, and Fretboard Diagrams

"Stuff That Works" by Guy Clark

Monday Morning Triad Practice! (Key of A Major)

"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison

Practicing Major Arpeggios in Each CAGED Shape

Travel Guitar... Worth It, or a Waste? (Taylor GS Mini review, 3 years later)

Creating a Fingstyle Arrangement from Scratch (feat. Graceland by Paul Simon)

"Bouncing Around the Room" by Phish

Simple Way to Travis Pick Any Song (Key of C)

"Summertime Blues" by Zach Bryan

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