Am 18.08.2011 11:31, schrieb Invisible:
> On 18/08/2011 09:48 AM, clipka wrote:
>
>> But I'd have guessed you knew that already, so why do you ask? :-)
>
> Who do you do that thing where the notes have silence in between them?

Ah yes, sorry I forget to mention that. As Alain already mentioned:

(4) To produce a non-sound ("silence"), hold any convenient body part 
against the respective string(s).

> When I play guitar, it has plenty of harmony, but little in the way of
> rhythm. It's more like a constant droning of sounds.

Classic strumming with the right thumb, huh? In that case you may find 
the pinky side of the palm a convenient body part to mute all strings.

To add even more variation to the rhythm, first make sure you don't 
immobilize your right hand when strumming. From my observation, 
beginners tend to use the fingers of the right hand to keep their hands 
at a steady distance to the strings, and just move the thumb - which is 
good in the beginning because it helps hitting the strings properly 
(thereby avoiding early frustration), but is not very satisfying in the 
long run because you don't have much freedom in how you strike the strings.

Once you get your whole hand moving when strumming, you'll already gain 
more freedom in how hard you hit the strings. Add to that by including 
other parts of the hand in the action: Strike with your fingernails for 
a sharper sound; give the strings a firm slap to produce a nice sharp 
clap followed by silence; let your fingers glide (comparatively) slowly 
over the strings one after the other; grab the bottom three (g,h,e) 
strings with your right fingers and give them a pull, possibly pulling 
on the bass string (E/A/D string depending on chord) with your thumb at 
the same time. Vary this by pulling the strings at different times. Hey, 
guess what - you're fingerpicking by now!

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