[Neilsonite]

Hi everyone, welcome to the lesson on strumming...

Many people find strumming quite difficult, and a lot of beginner/intermediate guitar players find themselves not sounding very groovy. So, this lesson should hopefully help a lot of people out...

Here's the thing to remember:

Strumming is all about rhythm - it’s almost like playing a drum on your guitar.

If you get lost focusing on down strums and up strums, come back and remind yourself of this - when strumming you need to keep the rhythm of the song in mind at all times.

Now, how to actually do it:

You need to keep your arm swinging down and up constantly, like a pendulum. When you swing, you need a loose wrist: it's a bit like flicking water off your fingers.

It sounds easy, but you need to practice this so it becomes second nature, like alternating between your left and right feet when walking. Which brings us to...

EXERCISE #1:
Mute your strings with your left hand (lightly touch them down nearish the nut).
Now try strumming down then up, over and over. Focus on keeping an even rhythm, and on your loose wrist.

My advice is this: don't skip this exercise. It will train your arm and wrist to swing naturally back and forth, which is the entire key to strumming properly. Do it a lot over a few days if you're starting out. You can do it watching TV if you get bored.

Now, you need to start making some more interesting rhythms. This will involve continuing to swing your arm evenly, but occasionally missing the strings. This is known as 'ghosting'. You can ghost down strums and up strums, and this requires practice...

EXERCISE #2:
Mute your strings again.
(a) Now try strumming down, down, down, over and over. Notice that you are automatically ghosting your up strums.
(b) Now try strumming up, up, up, over and over (this will be harder). Notice that you are automatically ghosting your down strums.
Focus on keeping an even rhythm, and on your loose wrist.

You may feel that these exercises are stupidly simple, but we're only getting started, and you need to be comfortable with the basic mechanics before we can go further.

Next part shortly...

James

[Neilsonite]

OK, so now we have the preliminaries down, we can get into some rhythms...
The first batch will involve ghosting up strums, which is the easiest type (but may still be a challenge). I'll give you the exercises, but first, you need to know how to practice...

How to Practice

You should always do these exercises this way:
KEEP TIME (swing your arm without hitting the strings, just think 1, 2, 3, 4)
SAY IT (say the rhythm while you keep time - still no hitting of strings!)
PLAY IT (using muted strings)

If you lose your place, just KEEP TIME, SAY IT, PLAY IT. Listen to the attached audio to hear how to do it. When you're keeping time, you should swing your arm down on 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Seriously, do this and you will learn these fast...

LEVEL #1 EXERCISE
Learn to play the two rhythms in the attached pdf. Ghosted strums are in grey. Patterns (a) and (b) are labeled. Listen to the attached audio files to hear how they sound. Try playing along, and focus on the swing of your arm and the rhythm, not the down and up strums.

So, go listen to the audio, and play along (there will be a 'bing' on every '1'). Remember to KEEP TIME, SAY IT, PLAY IT. If you've read and listened and it still isn't making sense, let me know.

Back shortly with Level #2,
James

[Neilsonite]

OK everyone, hope the earlier exercises are going well, because it's time for the next level. These ones are harder, to try to bear with them, and don't move on to the next level until you are really comfortable with these ones...

LEVEL #2 EXERCISE
Learn to play the three rhythms in the attached pdf. Ghosted strums are in grey. Patterns a, b, and c are labeled. Listen to the attached audio files to hear how they sound. Again, try playing along, and focus on the swing of your arm and the rhythm, not the down and up strums.

So, just like last lesson, go listen to the audio, and play along (there will be a 'bing' on every '1'). Remember to KEEP TIME, SAY IT, PLAY IT. These are harder, so stick with it!

Good luck,
James

[Neilsonite]

OK everyone, hope the earlier exercises are still going well, because these ones are harder again. The good news is that after this level, there isn't much more to go before you can strum along with ANY song, instantly, first time, without having to learn the strumming pattern or practice it or anything like that...

LEVEL #3 EXERCISE
Learn to play the three rhythms in the attached pdf. Ghosted strums are in grey. Patterns a, b, and c are labeled. Listen to the attached audio files to hear how they sound. Again, try playing along, and focus on the swing of your arm and the rhythm, not the down and up strums. Sometimes you'll be ghosting two strums in a row, so it's extra important to keep swinging. If you lose it, KEEP TIME until you're comfortable.

So, just like last lesson, go listen to the audio, and play along (there will be a 'bing' on every '1'). Remember to KEEP TIME, SAY IT, PLAY IT. These are harder, so stick with it!

Good luck,
James