Strum Stick
The strings around the right stick's rim
The right stick Right stick is a strum surface on every controller. The strings are laid along its rim - low at the bottom, high at the top, the same order as the touchpad - and the stick is the pick.
- Push out to a string and it plucks. The speed of the push is the loudness - a jab speaks, a lean whispers.
- Ride the rim and each string plays as you cross it. Sweep the arc and you've strummed.
- Come back to centre and nothing happens. The spring return never sounds a note; only reaching the rim plays.
The strings sit on the right two-thirds of the rim, so the lowest and highest strings don't demand pin-point aim at the poles. The left third is empty - room to swing through.
The plant
Press the stick in - R3 - and the string under the pick plucks and holds: it sustains for as long as you keep the press, without fading.
- Travel while pressed is silent. Move the planted pick to another string and nothing sounds until you act - release and press again to pluck there.
- Release is always silent. Letting go of the press never plays a note; the held string simply returns to fading naturally.
- Drumming the press is a tremolo. Quick repeated presses re-strike the same string as fast as you can click.
The strum stick and the touchpad play the same six strings and follow the same rules for how notes ring. Use whichever is under your thumb - they're two picks on one instrument, and everything about the strum stick works in Demo Mode.