Courses

Raking


A great practical lesson on Raking technique - everything is done through real-world examples. It’s a great way to incorporate what you learned in The Grip and Muting.


Overview

Raking

If you learn the notes to a Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan solo but your sound is still “weak,” it’s probably because you’re not playing enough strings. Notice I didn’t say “enough notes.” There’s a big difference. That difference is caused by a technique called raking.

Raking is when you play multiple strings but only allow several to actually ring out. The rest are muted and the sound they produce is a fat “click.” The extra “clicks” from the muted strings add a thickness to your sound that cannot be achieved any other way. Raking is a 70 minute lesson that teaches you how to incorporate the raking technique into your playing.

Lesson Details

  • Part 1
    Part 1: Introduction

    In this section I'll explain what raking is, how it relates to The Grip and Muting, and the effect it has on your tone.

    The rest of this lesson is 100% exercises. We'll use a lot of what we learned in The Grip and Muting to allow us to work on Raking without a bunch of noisy ringing string.

    Included
    • Lesson Video
    • Exercises
  • Cold Shot Exercises

    In this section we'll work on some Cold Style style exercises that incorporate raking. You'll need to use everything you learned in Muting to do these well.

    Included
    • Lesson Video
    • Exercises
  • Pride And Joy Exercises

    In this section we'll do some exercises based on the strumming from the song Pride And Joy. You'll learn a cool shuffle style rhythm that requires good muting and raking technique.

    Included
    • Lesson Video
    • Exercises
  • Box 1 Lick Exercises

    In this section we'll work on raking and muting the higher strings as we play a lick in Box 1.

    We'll incorporate some palm muting to help control ringing strings as we rake.

    Included
    • Lesson Video
    • Exercises
  • Lenny Exercises

    In this section we'll go through some exercises based a lick in the style of Lenny by SRV.

    We'll use reverse raking, and at different points we'll rake only a few strings at a time.

    Included
    • Lesson Video
    • Exercises