12 Bar Shuffle Picking Techniques

Intermediate Grade 6 Essential Blues Rhythm
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So this lesson is all about the picking and explains the different possibilities and how and when to play them. It's a really important part of playing blues rhythm.


View the full lesson at 12 Bar Shuffle Picking Techniques | JustinGuitar

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Hi, in this lesson, what exactly is happening when Justin demonstrates the shuffle rythmn using the ‘big mute’? I understand that he is using the fretting hand to mute the upper strings but is he also muting using the strumming hand at all? When he demonstrates the technique at a slower tempo it sounds like he is letting the chord ring out with each down strum but when he speeds up it sounds very tight, as if he is muting all the strings for the up strum? Is this the case or is it just that at faster tempos the effect is such?

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I’m curious about this, too. Can you give a time stamp for the relevant part of the video? (I don’t want to watch through the whole thing.) Thanks.

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In short, no. That is 1st finger fretting hand.
This is the version where all strings are played (for a root 6 chord) both down and up with the thinnest strings being muted.
The strumming hand is busy moving down and up in bigger arcs compared to the more limited movement of the all-down first version in the lesson. It isn’t doing the muting. That all comes from the curve of the 1st finger as it reaches up and across the thin strings to land on the root note.
For a chunka-chunka with root on string 5, the 1st finger also mutes string 6 with its tip.
:slight_smile:

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Perfect, thanks for confirming. Indeed, just from my own experimentation it felt like this was the case so am very glad I wasn’t going down a crazy path.

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Hey ! This one may go unnoticed but I was feeling that explanations were a bit light on technique number 5. After careful examination, it seems Justin is muting with his fretting hand, lifting his index, ring and pinky ever so slightly in order to quickly cancel out any sustain and create that rhythm.
NOW :kissing_face_with_smiling_eyes: If I recall correctly, Justin told us in his muting technique video that we weren’t supposed to do anything with the fretting hand, that only the strumming hand was “allowed” to mute. Btw that’s frankly puzzling because for as long as I can remember, I’ve always muted using both hands, feeling that it allowed for way more expressivity and complex mutes.
Could anyone clear my air on that one ? :grin:

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Can you provide the time stamp in the video?

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Sure, that would be 6:30 until 7:50

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It’s a little hard to tell, but maybe Justin is releasing the pressure on the strings with his fretting hand. This “pumping” of the chord is a common technique to mute (especially when playing barre (or power) chords, where your fretting hand is touching all the strings).

Justin doesn’t mention it, I suppose because it’s not crucial to the technique he is teaching. He may not even be aware that he’s doing it.

Btw, regarding this:

I suppose this refers to a lesson on muted strums, where you mute with the picking hand. I don’t think it’s generally forbidden to mute also with the fretting hand, but for the purposes of learning the technique, he recommends not helping with the fretting hand. You should be able to get the percussive hit using only the picking hand.