This is the second and concluding part so please re-watch part 1 if you wish to re-fresh your memory of what we will be looking to achieve. In part 1, we discussed how the new generation of acoustic guitarists were pushing the boundaries of acoustic guitar playing and creating wonderful new arrangements, both complex and rich in timbres.

To finish off the tutorial, we will be learning one pattern which pieces together and incorporates most of the primary combinations of right hand movements required for this style of playing.

The writing approach

When listening to music with a full band, we often either listen to the song as a whole or focus on a specific instrument. With percussive guitar / 3d guitar, we actually want to emulate the entire band so we have to listen to or imagine each instrument and decide which parts are the most important. Then we can break down their parts, pinpoint what notes and sounds we want to produce and at what specific points in time. This will provide the basic patterns which our hands will have to reproduce.

To keep this lesson brief and just to introduce the principles, the pattern we are going to go through is a riff based pattern which is easily developed from standard two-hand finger tapping technique.

The breakdown of parts

Now in modern rock drumming, the sense of groove is ultimately provided by the kick drum and snare drum. As these are often the loudest in the mix they are definitely worth considering in our new arrangement.

A good rhythm section will have the bass player tightly orchestrated with the drummer so a good concept is to consider having a low note (like a chord note) sound together with the kick drum. If we use a simple 4/4 rhythm, the kick drum appears on the 1^st and 3^rd beat of the bar and the snare on the 2^nd and 4^th beats.

Writing it down

Once we’ve got the general idea of what to play and when, it is then worth writing it down so that we can follow step by step whilst learning it. Here’s the steps for this session’s pattern.

Step 1: Kick drum note playing open E.

Step 2: Pluck the open D string.

Step 3: Fret hand hammers on the 2^nd fret on the D string to play E.

Step 4: Pick hand hammer on tap the D string at the 12^th fret to play an octave above.

Step 5: The finger used to tap then pulls off the string to play the open D string.

Step 6: Fret hand hammers on the 2^nd fret again to play E.

Step 7: Kick drum note to play open E.

Step 8: Tom drum tone.

Step 9: Hold the E minor chord and pick hand strums upwards across the strings.

Now here’s the same again within a musical notation form to provide the rhythmic timing reference.

2 Hand Percussive Tap Pattern Exercise

As this is a video tutorial, take advantage and replay any sections as you desire. For those with a metronome, I recommend starting with a very slow tempo such as 60bpm. Once we get comfortable playing it at this speed then increment it by 8bmp each time.

Summary

Once you have become comfortable with the pattern of movements, you can then start experimenting with the rhythms, the notes being played and even adding more percussive sounds. You can then look at other percussive tones or other forms of finger tapping such as double tapping (e.g. chord tapping) and incorporate them into your own patterns which lead to grooves and melodies.

So to finish off, here is the notation for the example I played in part 1.

2 Hand Percussive Tapping Demo Transcribed (See part 1 for video demo)

 Enjoy, have fun and good luck!

2 Minute Guitar Lesson – Two Hand Percussive Tapping on Acoustic Guitar (Video Part 1)

2 Minute Guitar Lesson – Two Hand Percussive Tapping on Acoustic Guitar (Video Part 2)