any advice for smooth strumming?

[racefaceec90]

i really cannot strum chords e.t.c smoothly.was wondering how to go about practising.i have tried different angles of the pick/more-less pick/ e.t.c but it always sounds like a rusty saw blade how the hell do people strum really smoothly/fast.(p.s i know the answer is practise thanks

[Mike.L]

Go slow to start.
Don't have too much of the pick sticking out, only the top couple of mm.
When strumming I tend to keep my wrist "locked" and the movement is from the elbow, as opposed to picked where the movement comes from the wrist.
Don't hit the strings hard.

And regular practice will help loads.

[thebeagle]

To slightly contradict Mike, the advice I got for chord strumming when I first started playing was to visualise it as though you're shaking water off your hand, mainly to avoid tensing up; have a go both ways maybe, I know that my acoustic chord strumming still comes more from the wrist but my electric playing's different.

[Nik Harrison]

Practice just going down with a metronome, then practice just going up with a metronome.

Then mix them up and try down-up-down up with a metronome a little faster.

There is no real "right" way to hold picks, lock wrists out or anything like that, you have to find something that you find comfortable for you that is as ergonomic as possible.

[Mike.L]

To slightly contradict Mike, the advice I got for chord strumming when I first started playing was to visualise it as though you're shaking water off your hand, mainly to avoid tensing up; have a go both ways maybe, I know that my acoustic chord strumming still comes more from the wrist but my electric playing's different.

I was only going on what works for me. Your way is different, fair enough, but it works for you.

[IanCorps]

Apart from not showing too much of the pick face , also relax the picking wrist , many ppl play far too stiffly , listen to any of the 70's funk and try to emulate the liquidity of the strumming it'll keep you very busy

[RocknRollDave]

I keep my wrist loose. Or, yes, limp, if you prefer to put it that way (oh DO behave, daaaarlings)

Don't attack the strings hard. For rhythm, the general rule of thumb is plenty of pressure from your left hand to fret the notes, but less heavy with the right hand - keep it fluid, loose.

Remember that the pick needs to be at a good angle to the strings both going down and coming back up, so if you keep your hand stiff and at the same angle coming back up, you'll have your pick all at the wrong angle and it'll catch too much on the strings.

Of course, you need more attack for a heavier, more aggressive sound, and less attack for a gentler strum, so unfortunately it's mostly trial and error and finding what works for you, but do experiment with how it works being stiffer and looser to understand what effect each different technique will result in - some results will be more desirable than others, but it will all help you to learn.

[erictheweary]

just to expand on what nik said - you might find it useful to know what you are strumming! That might sound silly but quite often people strum in a pattern/rhythm that is just what they normally do. So, if you can, if learning a specific song know where the strums should be on the beat and which should be down or up. Close listening and/or very good tab.
You can then use a metronome or drum machine to practice that at a comfortable tempo.

So, for example, there is a ska punk type rhythm that I couldn't play. When I worked it out it's very straightforward but at high tempos it initially just sounded like a very fast strum to me and the temptation was just to strum manically as fast as possible but without really nailing it.

So, a 4 to the bar rhythm that then had each beat broken into 2; so the whole thing is straight 8th notes. Each beat was just a strum down and then one up. So my strumming hand working along with the metronome, just holding down the chord with my other hand.Dead simple.

Then to get the rhythm I was after on Beat 1 everything is muted on the down and up ( bit of pick hand damping but primarily just relaxing the fretting hand a bit so the notes don't ring). On Beat 2 you strum the chord down and up. Beat 3 same as Beat 1, Beat 4 same as Beat 2. Seemples.
Done slowly this is a basic reggae rhythm but I could then build up the tempo so it would work at breakneck punk speeds.
Doing it that way it all fitted together and was much, much easier than just trying to strum along so fast I couldn't hold the pick and it sounds a lot faster than it actually is.

The hardest part really just learning to relax a bit, if you tense up then that rigidity works against what you are doing.

You probably don't want to learn reggae or ska punk but the whole process of actually doing that may have taken less time than it took to type this and the prinicipal of breaking it down, putting it back together at a slow tempo and then working back up to speed is there.

[musophilr]

I disagree with Mike, operate the pick from the wrist not the elbow. If you flail from the elbow you can't have any control over which strings the pick hits. Even when doing rhythm you don't want to get all 6 strings every time!

I try to keep the pick parallel to the strings for a better tone quality which means the thumb has to manipulate it around the last joint of the index finger as it travels across the strings - because if you use only wrist action it will describe an arc.

To back up those who recommend a relaxed (I won't say limp) wrist, look at the footage of John Lennon live with The Beatles. The O'Shea Stadium gig comes to mind, as there's a good close up of him playing All my lovin'.

[Dulcetjones]

This exercise/experiment helped a lot of my students: Select a strumming song you want to improve on, then first strum your way through it playing as quietly as you can, barely brushing the strings, then play it as hard and loud as you can without breaking strings or hurting yourself. Just by doing this a few times many of my students were able to see and hear the dynamic range available to them and that they could apply as much or as little when they felt like it and overcame a lot of the problems they were having. Varying your strum pattern throughout the song also works wonders and doesn't have to be rocket science. One effective device for songs in 4/4 is to single out one bar and instead of doing whatever strum pattern you're using just do 4 1/4 note downstrokes and then resume the pattern.