Guitar Lesson Four - Right Hand Technique

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Guitar Lesson Four - Right Hand Technique

Right hand:

So far, the right hand has been required to ARTICULATE whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes.

These note groups yeild an even amount of notes for each beat. But, quite often, you will want to play an odd amount of notes for the beat. In order to accomplish this, you must come to terms with the TUPLET.

A tuplet is any irregular grouping of notes to the beat, such as 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 etc...

The most commonly used tuplet is the TRIPLET. A triplet, as the name implies, is a group of three notes that are played in the space of two.

Let's start with a measure of eighth notes:

Eighth notes yield two evenly-spaced notes per beat.

Eighth-note triplets, on the other hand, give us three evenly-spaced notes per beat:

Now, the bracket and number above each group tell us that we have a tuplet. In this case, a triplet.

The beam that connects the stems acts just the same as before. One beam = eighth notes, two beams = sixteenth notes etc... (go back and review the theory section if this is not clear)

There are many different tuplets that we will explore as we continue along, but eighth note triplets are the most widely used, so we are going to stick with them for now.

Here is an exercise on the open G-string for incorporating eighth note triplets:

Remember that all notes must be evenly spaced across each beat. Start very slow. Only when you can play it perfectly smooth should you gradually increase the tempo.

Here's what the exercise should sound like: Triplet exercise

The trick to note groupings is that you have to "feel" them as you play. You won't have time to count and tap as your playing, so it's important to spend the time, now, getting these rhythms in your blood. You won't regret it.

Here's a sequence using triplets:

This lesson is divided into six parts:

Tuning

Theory Part I

Theory Part II

Technique - Left hand

Technique - Right hand

Music

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