Six Strings
In this section: Techniques
Techniques

Percussive fingerstyle

On an acoustic guitar, your picking hand plays the drums too: your thumb is the kick drum on the bass strings, and your hand slaps the strings for the snare. Bass, chords and rhythm all come out of one guitar.

Notation
x for a slap on the strings
Hand
Picking hand
Difficulty
Advanced
Style
Acoustic fingerstyle, pop, funk, rumba

Listen

e|-----------------|
B|-------------0---|
G|---x---x---x-0-x-|
D|-----------------|
A|-----------------|
E|-0---0---0---0---|

What it’s for

Alone with a guitar, what’s often missing is the drums. Percussion puts them back in your picking hand: your thumb plays the bass on the strong beats, like a kick drum, and your hand slaps the strings on beats 2 and 4, like a snare. In between, your fingers play the chord or a melody. One guitar runs a whole band.

Tommy Emmanuel punctuates his fingerstyle with slaps and knocks on the body, Andy McKee turned the acoustic guitar into an almost orchestral instrument, and the duo Rodrigo y Gabriela mixes chords and percussion at a breakneck pace. In pop, the slap on 2 and 4 has become the go-to move for every acoustic cover.

The secret isn’t force, it’s silence: the slap mutes everything that was ringing, and that little gap is what makes it groove.

How to do it

  1. Play the bass with your thumb on the open low E, on beats 1 and 3: that’s the kick drum.
  2. For the slap, let your hand fall flat on the strings, over the end of the fretboard or the soundhole, by rotating your forearm. The side of your thumb and your palm hit the strings at the same time: “chak.”
  3. No force: the weight of your hand makes the sound. A light slap comes through just fine.
  4. Stay on the strings for a moment. The slap mutes everything: that silence is part of the rhythm.
  5. Bounce right back: your thumb picks up its bass note right on the next beat, then your fingers add their notes between the hits.

In fingerstyle tab, a slap on the strings is often written x, sometimes with a letter or symbol above it to say which hand or where. These signs vary from one arranger to the next, especially for knocks on the body: always read the tab’s legend.

Examples

The example at the top of the page sets up the basic groove, slowly: your thumb plays the low E on beats 1 and 3, your hand slaps the strings on 2 and 4. At the end, an E minor pinch (thumb, index and middle) replaces the bass on beat 3.

At the intermediate level, Am then E, in eighth notes. The bass lands on 1 and 3 (pinched with the middle finger on 1), the slap on 2 and 4, and your index or ring finger slips a note in between every hit. The guitar plays the bass, the chord and the drums.

e|-------0---------------0---------|
B|-1-------------1-0-------------1-|
G|---2-x-----2-x-----1-x-----1-x-2-|
D|-------------------------2-------|
A|-0-----------------------------0-|
E|---------0-------0---------------|

At the advanced level, a sixteenth-note groove in E minor. Your thumb puts a kick on the offbeat, on the last sixteenth of beat one, the slap lands on 2 and 4, lighter hits fill the gaps, and a little melody runs on the high strings, with a hammer-on.

e|-0-------------------------------3---------------------------0-|
B|---0-------------3---------0-------0-------------3-----------0-|
G|-----x---x-0-0h2---2---x-x---0-------x---x-0-0h2---2---x-x-x-0-|
D|-------------------------------2-----------------------------2-|
A|-------------------------------------------------------------2-|
E|-0-----0---------0---0-----------0-----0---------0---0-------0-|

Licks

Pop. The strum of acoustic covers: eighth-note chords, and a slap on 2 and 4 in place of the snare. Em, C, G, D, then a ringing Em.

e|-0-0---0-0-0---0-3-3---3-2-2---2-0-|
B|-0-0---0-1-1---1-3-3---3-3-3---3-0-|
G|-0-0-x-0-0-0-x-0-0-0-x-0-2-2-x-2-0-|
D|-2-2---2-2-2---2-0-0---0-0-0---0-2-|
A|-2-2---2-3-3---3-2-2---2---------2-|
E|-0-0---0---------3-3---3---------0-|

Funk. A syncopated thumb bass, with hammer-ons on the D and G strings, the slap on 2 and 4, and light hits between the notes. G, then G#, and an E7 to finish.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|-----------------------------------------------------------0-|
B|---------------------------0-------------------------------0-|
G|---x-----x-0---x---x-0h2-x-----x---x-----x-0---x---x-0h1-x-1-|
D|-----0h2---------------------2-------0h2-------------------0-|
A|-----------------------------------------------------------2-|
E|-0-----------0---0---------------0-----------0---0---------0-|

Rumba. Gipsy Kings-style rumba mixes strummed chords and slaps on the strings, in 3 + 3 + 2 eighth notes. Here over the descending Am, G, F, E, then back to Am.

e|-0---0-3---3-0---0---0-0---0-0-|
B|-1---1-3---3-1---0---0-0---0-1-|
G|-2-x-2-0-x-0-2-x-1-x-1-1-x-1-2-|
D|-2---2-0---0-3---2---2-2---2-2-|
A|-0---0-2---2-----2---2-2---2-0-|
E|-------3---3-----0---0-0---0---|

Practice routine

Start with the slap alone: metronome at 60 bpm, one slap per click, for one minute. It should sound dry, with no note leaking through.

  • Bass and slap: the example at the top of the page, thumb on 1 and 3, slap on 2 and 4, still at 60;
  • then the intermediate example, two notes per click, aiming for 90 bpm;
  • then the advanced example, four notes per click, starting at 50 bpm and aiming for 80 bpm.

Go up 5 bpm after every clean minute. Record yourself: the slap should land exactly on the click, like a real snare.

Common mistakes

Hitting too hard? You’re wearing out your hand and your guitar. Just let your hand drop: a mic, or your ear, hears a light slap perfectly well.

Notes keep ringing after the slap? Your hand doesn’t cover all the strings, or it bounces. Land it flat and stay on the strings for a split second.

A little high note pops out of the slap? Your hand is landing right over the 12th, 7th or 5th fret and sounding a harmonic. Move it an inch or so toward the soundhole.

Your thumb comes in late after the slap? Your hand bounces up too far. Start from the strings: after the slap, your thumb has only a couple of inches to travel to the low E.

Variations

Knocks on the body. Your palm or knuckles hit the top near the bridge, or the upper bout: a low, dull thump, like a kick drum, while the strings keep ringing.

The golpe. In flamenco, the ring finger taps the top, on a tap plate, along with a strum: the chord and the hit happen together.

Thumb slap. Your thumb slaps the low string instead of plucking it, like a bass player: bass and percussion become one.

With tapping and harmonics. Modern percussive fingerstyle mixes slaps, two-handed tapping and natural harmonics.

Acoustic or electric

On an acoustic, percussion is right at home: the body resonates, and every hit on the top becomes a drum sound. Repeated slaps wear the finish: some players stick a clear protective film where their hand lands.

On an electric, slapping the strings works with a clean tone: it gives a dry “chak,” close to a funk chuck. Knocks on the body, on the other hand, are barely audible on a solid-body guitar.

Going further