Hey everybody! This is a little intro to a song I wrote called "Revealed Essence". It has a nice, soft jazzy feel.
First thing to keep in mind, is how we need to keep our strumming hand constantly moving during the strumming parts. Besides a few brief moments in the video, you'll notice how my hand is constantly strumming up and down. Doing this is critical to keeping proper timing and dynamic with the riff. Also keep in mind the mutes you'll be doing, where your strumming hand falls on the strings to make a percussive "click" sound. This is indicated in the tablature below with a vertical row of "X" symbols on the strings.
Now at the end of the first measure, you'll see the GMajor7 chord with "T.H." indicated above. That means we want to play that chord as a tapped harmonic. Notice in the video how I bring my strumming hand over to hit the strings? That's where we want our tapped harmonics to sound. In order to do that, just swiftly smack the 15th fret with the side of your index finger, while your fret hand is holding the GMajor7 chord. This technique might take some practice, but be patient and experiment until you get the harmonics to sound right.
Also, watch out for the sweep picking in the 5th and 6th measures. Practice those parts slowly until you can play them accurately at the normal speed.
Lastly, take a look at the very last measure. See the "Harm." symbol indicated above the two 12th fret notes? Basically what you want to play there are natural harmonics. So lightly place your fret-hand index finger above the 12th fret, barely touching the B and G strings, and you should get a crisp, natural harmonic sound when you pick the strings.
Now, as always, take any ideas you got from this lesson and apply it to your own riffs!