Muted strum
A strum played with the strings damped so it produces a percussive thud rather than a chord.
A muted strum is the acoustic guitarist's drum kit: by relaxing the fret hand so the strings are touched but not pressed, the pick can cross all six strings and produce a short, dry noise with almost no pitch. It is used to mark time between chord changes, to imitate a snare, and to fill out a strumming pattern where a full chord would be too busy. Palm muting gives a similar effect but keeps some pitch, whereas a fret-hand mute kills it entirely.
Example: The dry, clicky strum that lands between two open chords in a folk strumming pattern is a muted strum.
See also
Related
- PagePalm mute
- PageStrumming pattern
- PageMuting
- PageAccent
- PageAction height
- PageAlternate picking
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley