Strumming
That rectangle in the middle of the pad isn't just for show.
On a pad with a touchpad, the touchpad Touchpad is the strings. Six of them, running vertically, low string at the bottom, the way a guitar hangs when it's facing you. Swipe up and the strum runs low to high. Swipe down and it runs high to low.
The armed chord is laid across the six strings in a close, guitar-shaped voicing, root at the bottom.
What it's doing
- A swipe strums. Every string your finger crosses plays.
- A tap plucks. Land on one string and that string alone sounds.
- Speed translates into string energy. How much a faster swipe adds is the Dynamics setting.
Block chords on the buttons
The four face buttons play the armed chord as a block - every note at once, with no strum across them.
| Button | Plays |
|---|---|
| Cross | All six strings |
| Square | The bottom half |
| Circle | The top half |
| Triangle | The chord's root, on the top string |
A finger moving across the strings instead of along them isn't a strum - it's shaping.
Strumming with the stick
If you don't have the fancy rectangle, the right stick Right stick is a strum surface on every controller. The strings are laid around its edge: low at the bottom, high at the top, same order as the touchpad, and the stick itself is the pick.
- Push out to a string and it plucks. Speed also translates to energy here, like the touchpad.
- Sweep around the edge and each string plays as you cross it.
The strings sit on the right two-thirds of the stick; the left third is empty so you can get a run up.