The Bridge (br???) is the piece of the guitar which both holds the strings to the body of the guitar and provides a base upon which vibrations bounce before being transmitted into sound. The bridge is positioned perpendicular in relation to the strings and can affect both a guitar’s tone and pitch. Typically constructed from a single piece of wood, the bridge is normally fixed in place. Although some electric guitars utilize a tremolo bridge, which is metal and can be easily adjusted, most bridges are fixed in place and should only be adjusted by a luthier (guitar expert).

Dampening (d?mp?n??) is a technique that softens or almost entirely eliminates the tone of a note. To dampen a chord, a guitar player strums a chord with his strumming hand and dampen some strings by applying less pressure to them than a normal fretted note. This practice can be done in a rapid way or slower method depending on the desired effect. The effects of dampening on the guitar can be very dramatic. When played successively, dampened notes may hardly resemble the actual note at all although the tone will still ring true to the chord.

Dampening is used across many genres of music such as bluegrass, rock n’ roll, country, and even classical music. Classical music may use the dampening effect with

Downpicking (downpicking) is a style in which the guitarist uses the guitar pick sequentially on the instrument

Economy Picking (?k??n?mi p??k??) is a technique used to conserve energy and increase the speed of playing by a guitarist. It utilizes alternate picking while on the same string, but uses sweep picking while going to a different string. Doing so minimizes the movement of the picking hand and eliminates jumping over strings which happens when using just alternate picking. Economy picking has been used since the 1950’s with it first being introduced with jazz, but has become wide spread since the 1980’s, being found in a wide variety of genres.

Finger Tapping (f???g?r t?p??) is a technique used on the neck of a guitar to make a crisp and brief electronic sound. The guitarist employs the finger tapping method by placing their fingers on the neck and then tapping the strings somewhere lower on the neck followed by a pulling off motion similar to the hammer on/hammer off.

The technique enables the player to hit repetitive notes in rapid succession and when coupled with movement by the fretting hand can sound like multiple players at once. Adding this technique to a solo or playing can brighten and quicken the contents of the guitar fret work. Finger Tapping is a common method of playing in Heavy Metal and Hard Rock music.

Fingerpicking (f???g?rp??k??) is the technique where a guitar player uses his/her fingers to play, instead of a pick. This is most commonly accomplished by using the thumb to play low notes on the low E, A, and D strings and any combination of the other fingers to play the high notes on the G, B, and high e strings. One popular version of this technique is “Travis Picking” in which the player alternates between thumb and fingers. Another variation is “Hybrid Picking” in which the player uses a pick in place of the thumb but still uses the fingers for the high notes.

Fingerstyle (fingerstyle) is a technique in which a player uses finger tips or specialized metal picks that fit around the fingers like rings to pluck the strings of the guitar. Fingerstyle is generally played where repeats a particular plucking pattern while changing chords in equal increments. This technique is predominantly used in bluegrass guitar, as many guitar players mimic the styles of the banjo, but is also popular in blues, folk, rock and country music.

Flatpicking (flatpicking) is a style guitar playing that involves very fast bursts of notes played rapid-fire style, alternating between fretted and open strings. The resulting sound is very dense and chock full of flashy licks and complicated patterns, while the drone of the open strings create the aural illusion of more than one guitar. As indicated by the name “flatpicking” this style is played with a (usually) heavy flatpick. The player must use the flatpick to both hit the open strings and then immediately jump to other strings for the solo melody.

This style of play is most commonly used in Bluegrass music but can also be found in folk, classic rock and country.

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