My name is Ryan Han and I am a percussive guitarist based in Singapore. I play Pivot percussive fingerstyle, a style I created on an acoustic guitar. It is similar to the Clawhammer style, only that it assigns the job of handling string engagement and percussion solely with the right (master) hand and fretting with the left (non-master). This division of labour also allows for a greater level of polyphony without the need to reassign the right (master) hand to do fretting/hammer-ons. I’ve been slowly developing this technique over the course of 7 years and it is the greatest solo accomplishment of my music career. Let me show you how to incorporate it into your style too.
Firstly what percussive fingerstyle guitar entails: Through a combination of either plucking and strumming the strings, while hitting the top or the strings with fingers or your palm, a full arrangement of both drum parts as well as guitar melodies/chords can be heard together. It sounds complicated at first because one hand is involved in the playing of two instruments simultaneously, but everything can be broken down simply into what the right (master) hand is doing at any given point of time. This is easier done if you already have some competency in normal guitar playing (non-master hand focused).
Take for instance, a simple strum with a bass kick hit. Your palm moves down and strikes the top while you furl/unfurl your fingers to strum the strings. you practice this until you can get both to play at exactly the same time. The same goes with a strum and snare hit, which some play by striking the side of the thumb, as I do, on the top while furling your fingers out to strum the strings. With some practice you can combine kick hits and snare hits together to be able to strum and play simple drum parts accompaniment.
Of course, you can take this a step further by breaking down what strings you engage while playing percussion. Let’s subdivide the string parts into a bass and melody. Two strings are required to ring whilst performing a right (master) hand movement for either a kick or snare. by doing a simple, improperly placed barre chord that only presses the first and last strings. Now try and strum the 6th and 1st strings with your index and middle/ring fingers respectively. Then try and combine these with the kick hits and snare hits separately. This technique is called a left (non-master) hand mute; it is similar to the right (master) hand mute that regular guitarists often do, but offering the flexibility of not needing your right (master) hand to be resting on the strings, freeing it up for complex movements such as percussive playing. Now try different barre shapes with different root and melody notes. Try combining a few of these together and voila! You have a two part string arrangement with percussion accompaniment.
If you are interested in learning more about this unique and immersive style of guitar, I offer lessons on Zoom specifically for aspiring percussive fingerstyle guitarists at ryanhanguitar. Different lesson arrangements are available based on where you are. Either way, it will require a lot of time and commitment to master but when you do, you will see guitar playing in new ways never previously imagined.
