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82 Part II: Setting Up to Play the Blues TEAM LinG
Muting the sound between
two chords (left hand)
To get the left hand to mute (indicated by an X notehead) the in-between
sound between any two chords, just relax slightly the fretting fingers enough
to release pressure on the fretted strings. The strings instantly deaden, completely
cutting off the sound. If your right hand keeps going in the established
strumming pattern, you produce a satisfying thunk sound as the right hand
hits all these deadened strings.
The muted strings intermixed with the sounding strings create a percussive
and syncopated rhythm. Allowing your left hand to mute means you don’t
have to stop and start your right hand to produce syncopation. You can keep
it going uninterrupted, in alternating down- and upstrokes.
Simulating syncopation
with left-hand muting
Left-hand muting gives you the means to control the strings’ sound. Figure 5-10
is technically a straight-ahead down-up eighth-note strum in the right hand.
But because you employ left-hand muting, the sound seems to cut off in just
the right places, creating a syncopated sound. Your right hand isn’t performing
true syncopation, because it’s playing straight through. It’s just that some
of the notes don’t come through audibly.
Figure 5-10:
A strumming
pattern
that employs
left-hand
muting to
simulate
syncopation.
A7
1 31 2 11
5fr.
D7
1 31 4 1
5fr.
A7
131 2 11
5fr.
Track 10, 0:32
D7
1 31 4 1
5fr.