This is a short little lesson.

Percussive effects may be made with a variey of devices.

Hand slapping on the strings.Come stright down across all the strings.

Inserting a mute next to the bridge for pizzaccato effect. A piece of string or cloth woven between the string at the bridge.

Or dampening the strings with the palm of the hand on top of the bridge for a more effective pizzaccato effect. Little harder to set the strings in motion with the hand in this position. It is the edge of the palm, next to the little finger, that dampens the string sound preventing the strings from ringing.

Pencil useage. Select a nice pencil with about 8 to 10 inches in length. Hold it between your thumb and index finger of the pick hand. It should be almost parallel with the wrist and arm. Best if a round sided pencil is used. Can be hexagon if none other available. All the strings are struck simultaneously. Using the pencil as a percussive device works well. The pencil will bounce off of the strings. The pattern you use for rhythm is entirely up to you.

Using a comb. This is for latin rhythm. The comb is held on a diagonal across the strings. A sort of raspy sound is created that is similar to maracas being used. Down and up strokes are used. The teeth of the comb are almost perpendicular to the strings. The desired sound is that of the chords and maraca existing at the same moment. Use on Rhumba, Bolero, Cha Cha, Samba, and any other patterns. It might even be used with what are called "Power chords" or even in distortion usages.

Also the marimba mallets could be used for striking two or more strings in a rhythmic patterns.

These are not really new ideas, just perhaps a different sound that the viewer that may not have recently focused on using.

Thanks for viewing this lesson. Charlie