Trying to identify a symbol in notation

I’m still a beginner trying my hand at new things and while pulling up a song on the google play app Aibiki it had a symbol in notation I’ve not yet seen. So I’m curious as to what technique it’s referring to. Also if there’s a lesson that teaches it on Bachido I’d be willing to try that as well.

I know this song is probably still way too advanced for me and I’m not going to get it down for awhile, but I’d still like to learn what the symbol means as it’s driving me crazy not knowing. If anyone has any idea what the symbol is indicating I would be most grateful. Below is a picture with the symbol circled and there are many of them throughout the piece.

That’s sukui (スクイ), or upstroke.

I second Christopher Brown on this one.

Thank you guys so much for getting back to me. Is there a lesson on here that teaches upstroke? I’m guessing it just means that you stroke the string down and then again on the way up or is there more to it?

Hi Rachel,

Did you do the crash courses? If not, you should definitely give it a go.

If you did, you can purchase the Ringo Bushi lesson by Kyle on the Schoolhouse section of the site. He explains the Sukui and other techniques in it and it gives you an opportunity to learn a piece at the same time.

I don’t remember the price of the lesson because I bought it 3 years ago but it was not really expensive and I learned a lot from it.

I’ve been doing working on the crash course and Aibiki in my free time. I think I’m close to finishing the second half of the crashcourse. I will definitely look into ringo bushi.

This is a great APP! You can play with the settings so that some of the more advanced songs only show the base notation. It’s way easier to get started that way instead going all out right of the bat.
Good luck with your practice!! :slight_smile: