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Playing the melody on your guitar with your fingers, as opposed to a pick, is essential for classical guitarists and fingerstyle players. It is, however, a skill that all guitarists should seek to acquire. Some techniques, such as arpeggios (chords that are played by sounding one note at a time, quickly followed by the others) are easier to play with your fingers. Learning to play with your fingers can add a powerful tool to your arsenal as a guitarist.

Alternation

Generally speaking, do not use the same finger to perform subsequent strokes, because it takes too long to ready your finger for a second stroke, whereas a different finger is ready to go immediately. Most commonly, guitarists alternate their index (i) and middle (m) fingers. Alternation, if done properly, feels like you are walking your fingers in place–one finger plays the note; the next moves back to prepare for the stroke that follows.

The Rest Stroke

The foundational stroke used for this purpose is called the rest stroke. This stroke is the optimum way to produce a fuller sound from each individual note.

Execute this stroke by plucking the string so that when you complete your movement, your fingertip rests on the string right next to the one that you played. This resting on the adjacent string gives the stroke its name. The steps for playing the rest stroke are as follows:

1. Place your fingertip on the string to prepare for the stroke.
2. Pass your finger over the string, allowing your nail to catch the string and sound the note.
3. End your movement by resting your fingertip on the adjacent string.

Most importantly, keep your fingers slightly bent. Do not allow your finger joint to yield and flatten as it plays the note. This will weaken your attack. Every tiny adjustment that you make on your technique can improve your tone quality immensely.

Experiment with small alterations, listening carefully for differences in tone. For starters, here is a small experiment to get you going on this process. Approach the stroke from another angle. Allow your fingernail to slide off of the string at a slight angle, your finger slanted in order to hit the string with less force from your nail. This change of your angle of approach, contrasted with the head-on basic stroke, will yield a more delicate tone.

Be patient with yourself. It is much more important to take your time and learn good habits, than to rush this stroke and risk falling into bad habits. Time invested wisely at the beginning will pay dividends of maximizing your overall progress.

The Free Stroke

Used for playing chords, as well as arpeggios, the free stroke is handy to use in instances where you need to play single notes, but the rest stroke is not practical in that particular situation. To play the free stroke, allow your finger to come clear of the next string as its motion ceases. The alternation in the free stroke mirrors that in the rest stroke. When this stroke is perfected, you will be able to produce a full sound with nearly the same tone quality as that of a rest stroke.

When you have learned to play melody notes with your fingers, you will have given yourself a powerful tool on which to build your musicianship. You will earn more respect, and most importantly, build your confidence in your playing.

Los Angeles Guitar Academy Online features online guitar lessons in various genres. Its world-class faculty unpacks the language of music, explaining it in an easy-to understand format. Lessons proceed in a step-by-step manner, allowing students to master one concept before moving on to the next. For students who live near Los Angeles, LAGA has studios located throughout the metropolitan LA area.

Picking the right production tools is a very important part of any producer’s journey. The sound that you have as a producer will greatly depend on the tools that you use. So when picking your tools the first thing you have to decide on is what you want to sound like. If you want to have a grimey old school underground hip hop sound, similar to Nas’s illmatic in the early 90’s than you should consider using a old MPC or ASR-10. You are going to want to get a large collection of vinyl records, and drum breaks. You will also probably want to have a synthesize of some sort that has a good bass patch to write your basslines with. If you are trying to make beats of this style and using a triton extreme you will find yourself wondering why you can’t get your beats to sound like what you want them to sound like. Similarly if all you are using is a bunch a vinyl records and a mpc, and you’re trying to make pop records like Timbaland you will find yourself scratching your head. But this is common sense.

Let’s talk about about specifics details. First let’s start with your drums. If you are doing anything in the pop world you are going to want to make sure you have a great 808 kit. The Roland 808 has been around in popular music since the 80’s and it doesn’t look like it is going anywhere. As the Black Eyed Pea’s put it, the 808 is that Boom Boom in your trunk. There are tons and tons of crappy 808 sounds floating around the internet, make sure you spend the time to sort through them to find a good 808 kit that is specific to you. They all technically come from the same sound source but if you listen closely you will find little idiosyncrasies in the different sounds. Not all 808’s are created equally.
The problem with the 808 is that everybody uses it. I feel like the best way to incorporate the 808 in your production is using it sparingly, use the 808 kick underneath a different kick, or use the clap as a percussion instrument rather than your clap. Obviously there have been many producers who have made a lot of money using the 808 kit as their main source of drums but to every beat that gets placed with the 808 as the dominant sound source there are ten thousand others that sound exactly the same.

This is part 1 in series of articles about production tools.