Hi Duke,

    Add another tool to the toolbox. Always like to vary my blues and this lesson is just the ticket.

Thanks,

Steve

Hello Duke! These swing chords were completely new to me when I first came to SJ, but they are beginning to feel like familiar friends now. However, it's still not always easy for me to mute that 5th string properly, so I find it easier to play the strings with my fingers and doing a lot of palm muting. I can get a much more clean and consistent tone across the notes. Maybe it comes from being a piano player; my right hand is perfectly comfortable plucking a few strings at a time.

Peter, I don't know if this technique would work for you or not. I'm almost always playing the 6th string with my thumb, my first finger on the D string and middle finger on the G string. And I bring in my ring finger to catch that raised 5th to make the augmented chord on the B string. 

I didn't try to make a perfected take, so there are a few boo-boos. ;-) It's hard to keep that groove locked down tight when it's so slow, but I used your image of the drummer's swishing sound to inspire me, and that was really helpful. Thanks for the great lesson!

Bruce

Hello Duke, and a quick question before I practice:

I am still not getting the swing strum correct.  I keeping Paul's advice of "flicking a bug from your hand", and I am watching your strum and I see mostly your arm moving and your wrist staying pretty straight.

I try to copy this and have two problems (I think)

1) I dig in too much and get too much bass on the low string

2) I sometimes go past the bottom 4 strings and hit the B and E string making a bad sound

Here is a quick video showing my strum.  Any helpful thoughts before I practice the wrong thing

?