Following on from part 1 of how to avoid frustration and boredom with your acoustic guitar playing, I am going to introduce you to three more cool and unique ways you can further ignite your creativity on guitar.

There is much to be gained by studying the approaches and ideas presented below, so take your time exploring each one.

The Magic Of Open Strings

The potential of the open string is often left unexplored by most guitar players, outside of playing in the open position of course. However, these can really bring a whole new dimension to your playing style when used a little more creatively.

The key is to realise that open strings can be used in any position on the guitar, not just the open position.

Let me demonstrate for you with this typical G Major Scale:

We will now re-arrange this scale to include open strings. All I am doing is replacing any note that can be played with an open string in the scale, with an open string. You need to be sure that the open string is in the same octave, or is unison to the fretted note that you are replacing.

This is the result:

As you can hear, the opens strings bring a whole new sound to our scale as they ring out against the fretted notes. It’s like we have given our scale a facelift, and your playing will certainly benefit greatly using this approach in cool and creative ways. The potential is huge!

Ways To Create With Open Strings On Your Acoustic Guitar Right Now

- Take a melody or riff in the key of G, and convert it into an open string lick as I did with the G major scale above. Simply replace regular fretted notes with open strings where possible in the riff or melody.

- Convert other scales, as we did with G major, using open strings. The keys of C, A, E, and D work best as they contain enough open string notes in them. 

- From your new scales, (ie. C, A, E, and D), create melodies and riffs using open strings where you can. Each key will be unique in the way that your riff or melody turns out, due to the fact you are using open strings.

Adding A Capo Into The Mix

A capo is an essential tool of the acoustic guitarist that allows you to do all sorts of cool things that you wouldn’t be able to do without it. Primarily, a capo allows you to move to any key while keeping the exact same chord shapes. 

You can think of the capo as a moveable nut if you like. It keeps you in the open position of the guitar wherever you place it on the neck, and is why you can mainly use open chord shapes no matter what key you are in. It essentially functions in the same way that your index finger does when playing bar chords.

For example, using a root 5 bar chord form you can play and sound a Bb chord at the 1st fret of your guitar. Now, if you clamp down the strings at the 1st fret with your capo, you can now sound the same chord using an open A shape.

How does this work?

Everything is raised by one semitone when you capo your guitar at the 1st fret. So while you are fretting an open A shape, it sounds one semitone higher as a Bb chord.

Being able to play open chords, no matter what the key, will open up a whole lot of cool possibilities not available to you with bar chords, such as embellishments. This is however just one of many advantages to adding the capo into your acoustic guitar playing. 

Ways To Start Creating With A Capo On Your Acoustic Guitar

- Find a song that is mostly using bar chords. Staying in the same key, capo your guitar at a position that allows you to use predominantly, if not exclusively, open chords.

For the key of Bb major place your capo at any of the following positions on the neck of your guitar: 1st, 3rd, 6th, or 8th.

For the key of Eb major place your capo at any of the following positions on the neck of your guitar: 1st, 3rd, 6th, or 8th.

These are the positions to capo that will allow you to use the most open chords for these keys. They would otherwise give you little to no opportunity for open chords and all the possibilities that come with them.

- Take your open string scales, riffs, or melodies from the approach we covered earlier in this article and move them to any key you like by simply placing your capo at any fret position. You will be able to keep everything identical including your open strings, no matter what the key is, thanks to the capo.

- Take an open chord progression and change it up by using a capo in a position that will give you the exact same progression but with different open chord shapes. Different shapes will give you a different sound because each open chord is unique in this way. You will also find different embellishment opportunities to take advantage of should you choose to use these.

Adding Percussive Guitar Technique To Your Acoustic Playing

When you look at it, your acoustic guitar is nothing more than a wooden box with some strings, so in addition to playing it melodically why not play it percussively too.

This ever increasingly popular way to approach playing acoustic guitar is a lot of fun and  sounds great with just a few of the fundamentals under your fingers. No need for years of practice at all before sounding any good. You’ll wonder why you never thought of playing your acoustic in this way before. The creative potential of this style alone is massive to say the least.

Here is an example of some percussive playing integrated into a simple chord progression to get you on your way:

* You will find the percussive hits in the progression above in the drum stave. This is often used when it comes to notating percussion for guitar

I am hitting the lower area of the sound board of the guitar, on the frontside just below the bridge, with the side of my picking hand thumb to get a kick drum sound. This is indicated in the notation with “B.T.” (bass hit with thumb).

By tapping or rapping my 3rd and 4th fingers of my picking hand against the side of the guitar at the same time, just below the strap lock, I get a nice high pitched snare or rimshot sound. This is indicated with an “S” in the notation. It can take a little time to get this sound consistently so be patient. Also, be sure to keep your hand and wrist nice and relaxed. You are flicking your wrist with both the kick drum and snare techniques.

Some Ways To Develop Your Percussive Guitar Techniques And Make Them Part Of Your Everyday Acoustic Playing

- Begin with both the kick drum and snare techniques from the example above. Even without any chords, you can create some cool grooves with just these two sounds.

- Listen to your favourite songs and copy elements of the drum parts that you hear in them with your percussive guitar techniques. This is a great way to start applying this stuff to real music.

- Experiment with ways to include your percussive techniques in chord progressions as we did in the example above. The more you play around with this stuff, the more you will learn.

Now Is The Time To Start Creating With All This Stuff

The whole point of presenting these approaches of playing your acoustic guitar with you is to get you out of a flat spot, if you are in one, or to inspire new ways for you to play. Rather than get overwhelmed with all the possibilities, get excited! I know I do when I find new stuff to work into my playing.

Start by focusing on one area and go from there. There is plenty of time to explore all the cool and unique ways to play your acoustic guitar with many many victories along the way. These will inspire you to amazing new levels of guitar playing.

Transform the way you play your acoustic guitar today with this free video/pdf download all about how to play percussive guitar.

About the author: Simon Candy is a professional musician based in Melbourne Australia. He runs his own guitar school, Simon Candy School Of Guitar, and also specialises in online tuition for acoustic guitar covering a number of styles including Rock, Jazz, and Fingerpicking.