What is Raphael Saadiq's guitarist technique?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu9QH71YKQw

It sounds like he is hitting all the strings but only playing one string. How do you do that?

Hi carmello,

I've taken a look at the video and it seems the other guitarist behind him is playing the main melody you hear. I suppose you mean the beginning where Raphael only hits the low E-string? Later in the video he is just strumming.

JJ

Well what his guitarist is doing is muting all the unnecessary strings with his fretting hand . Then he strums everything and only the "necessary" notes will be played. This adds a nice percussion like rhythm to your playing.

Here's a very basic way to do it so you can understand what I mean.
Bare all the strings with your index finger then with your other fingers improvise around on a scale you know well. The strumming hands strums all the strings every time, naturally. So you get that "shuukkk" sound behind your melody.

Also having a good picking accuracy and muting only the strings close to the triad or the single note will help you. Having always your index rest behind is a big limitation

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