Fast Chords in Spanish Guitar
The 3-3-2 Plucking Pattern Explained
Hey guys, I hope you are having a fantastic Sunday.
Today I want to share this fingerstyle guitar lesson with you for my intermediate/advanced guitar students.
We will be talking about fast chords in Spanish guitar and how you can transform simple triads into a powerful melody that will capture your audience and friends.
I am going to show you how to make fast chords the climax of your performance and how you can simplify a difficult fingerstyle pattern using the hammer on technique.
This is definitely not a lesson for beginners, so if you have been playing for few months, you might want to come back when you feel ready and have a look at the fingerstyle lessons archive to find the right tutorial for you.
Let’s get started, guys.
The Video
Chord Progression
How to Play Fast Chords
We will be working on one of the most famous chord progression ever played in Spanish music: Am – G – F and E.
I have recorded different fingerstyle lessons on this topic, but today, we will be focusing on transforming this simple chord progression into fast chords that sound melodic and captivating.
First of all, let’s learn the basic triads. Each chord will have three notes except for the E major, which will have a different melody.
Plucking and Pull-Offs
The second step to make these fast chords fluent is to learn the plucking pattern.
The good thing is, the pattern will be the same for the Am, G, and D minor chord.
We will be using a combination of plucking and pull-offs, and each chord will have the same structure of 3-3-2 notes per pattern.
Check the pic below. The Red square indicates the three notes pattern. The right hand for the red square will be the middle finger plucking the first note, then pull off and index finger, plucking the second string.
The Yellow square is the last pattern, which will play two notes only. Pluck these two notes with the middle finger and pull them off.
The E major
The E major chord will have a different melody, but it will keep the same rhythmic plucking pattern of 3-3-2.
I personally love the melody on the E major chord, and even though it can be considered one of the fast chords, it still resonates pretty well with the whole guitar part.
I was inspired by the song Malaguena and particularly by the Michael Lucarelli arrangement.
Here is the E major melody.
