Can I point out here, If I'm picking then my wrist is where the movement comes from, This is also true if I'm strumming 2 strings (but I'd consider that picking of sorts). Where I move from the elbow is when srumming 3 or more strings. This is not "flailing" in the least as I retain control of my hand and pick.
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I find I can get as many strings as I want without using the elbow, but I can't get the pick to begin its sweep on any particular string (with consistency and accuracy) once the elbow is involved. I'm sure what works for you, works for you; I was just advising about what works for me and seems to work for lots of others who have taken my advice.
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I learned to use fingers and/or thumb and/or any part of the fretting hand to mute any strings I didn't want to include. This totally liberates your strumming technique by eliminating the need to be accurate whether your strum is coming from the wrist, elbow, or even Townsends iconic windmill.Originally Posted by musophilr
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I know it depends somewhat on style but could I ask Dulcetjones, or anyone else, what you think about the importance of left hand lift-off when strumming. I can think of a couple of occasions when I have seen guys at paid gigs not doing this at all! And to my ears it almost feels like the rhythm section is missing an instrument - that's how important it feels to me.
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What do you mean by "left hand lift-off"?
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Do you mean when you left-hand-mute the strings during chord changes but keep the strumming going? Depends entirely on the feel of the song whether that's needed IMO; most acoustic-based singer-songwriter-style stuff (or electric strumming with an acoustic feel) undoubtedly needs it, more precise work can sound quite messy doing that.
Listen to US radio-rock type stuff for the former (Counting Crows spring to mind), and AC/DC for the latter (Malcolm Young is the king of tight, precise rhythm strumming).
Yes - a pulsing rhythmic effect produced by releasing the left hand pressure. Yes, on changes but not just on changes. I don't have a guitar in front of me but maybe.........
Proud Mary original version, after the intro, when he settles on one chord after the verse, momentary lift of the left hand twice in every 4 beats. When played like that - sounds "right" to me. Without it - something missing.
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These pauses are what makes a song great, if everybody strummed every beat through every song life would be pretty boring in musicland. The next step from this is to put the pauses at a different spot in the bar over the course of 2 bars, this can create a sort of "call and response" feel. If each slash was an eighth note and each space an eighth rest it could be something like this: |// /// /|//// // | and this could either be all the same chord, or one chord for each bar, variations like this make it all happen.
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Yes - I picked Proud Mary because at a fairly slow tempo it is almost literally a pause. Easy for a new player trying to grasp the idea of a momentary mute. When I first had guitar lessons in about 1965 my teacher was obsessed with left hand lift offs and I think this was because he was heavily influenced by Bruce Welch. He told me that if I could not master the left hand technique in Dance On by the Shadows then I would never get into a band , and it was tough at such an early stage. He was also pretty keen on swing style left hand lifts - like this guy in the link below. A bit much for a tiny child obsessed with the Beatles....
http://bluemorris.com/music-and-jazz...-guitar-muting
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i think a loose wrist and holding the pick loosly will get you there......when you strum there should be some give, i would really try a heavy plec as well...maybe a jazz3 they have a rounder edge and glide over the strings better.....also a better tone for lead and chords..just remember to hold it loosly but not to loose you keep dropping it..
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