Right-hand wise, think of your thumb as a bass player while your fingers are a combination of a horn section and rhythm guitar. For example, the bass line in the first six measures consists of repeating eighth-note A’s on the first and third beats, fifth and sixth strings, respectively. The “horn stabs” are played on the intervening beats on the second, third, and fourth strings. Notice that there is more rhythmic variety in the horn riffs. In measure 1 and its repeats and clones, slide down from the E and G on the second beat on your way to the low A on the fifth string (image a horn section doing a glissando). The pull-off and hammer-on at the end of the measure are executed with a ring-finger barre at the 7th fret pulling off to an index-finger barre at the 5th. So it’s hit-pull-hammer. Try not to let the final D triad sustain over into measure 2.
For measure 2 and its repeats and clones, the first Am7 chord should be plucked with the right-hand fingers p-i-m-a. The next two chords are not plucked: The sixteenth-notes should be brushed upward either with the index finger alone, or with the index and middle fingers together. The next quarter-note chord should be brushed downward and then immediately damped. This makes that part sound a little like a Telecaster being “chinked.”

For damping I use my ring-hand thumb, anywhere from the base (about mid-point of the heel of the hand) to the entire thumb extended across the strings, depending upon which strings I need to reach. Sometimes I use a combination of damping with the right-hand thumb and releasing pressure on the fretted note(s) with the left-hand.
Here’s how I execute the slide combination at the end of measure 2: With the left hand, I use the thumb on the low G, the index for the C above it, the ring finger for the G on the fourth string, and the little finger for the E on the second string. It’s an open voicing, so I don’t have to worry about the third string that I’m not going to play anyway. Then I slide everything up except my thumb, which just drops out of the picture altogether.
With the right-hand, the low G is played with the thumb. Then the thumb hops over to pluck the fifth-string C, while the index finger plucks the fourth string, and the middle or ring finger – whichever is more comfortable – plays the E on the second string.

Notice the changes in texture in measure 7 (on the IV chord) and again in measure 11 (on the V chord). These rhythmic shifts act as signposts, giving the other players something to latch onto. They also serve to keep the listener interested: Setting up a groove should not mean getting into a rut.
When you are comfortable with the transcription, get together with another player. With one of you playing this rhythm part as a starting place, and the other playing this (or another) melody as the lead, see what ideas you come up with for playing interesting fingerstyle backup.