Pro tip: please watch the short video version of this post that I link to here: https://www.guitarsuccess4u.com/strumming. It will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here.
Transcript and diagrams included below.
As followers of Christ, we are called to play skillfully (Psalm 33:3). But are we doing that?
One of the ways we often find ourselves articulating chords is…strumming. Strumming the guitar is like walking. We do it a lot, and sometimes we don’t even think about how we’re doing it. It’s possible that over the course of our guitar journey, we will literally spend thousands of hours strumming our guitar.
So, are we walking steadily, or are we limping? Let’s find out. I believe it’s worth taking a close look to make sure we’re on the right track.
First of all, I recommend focusing on two specific axes – our elbow and our wrist. I believe that we need to have a delicate balance that includes both of these axes, not just one. To help shed light on this, let’s use the analogy of racquet sports. Let me suggest three types of racquet sports that typically use different ratios of elbow and wrist movement. There’s only one that I believe is similar to optimal strumming. Let’s see if you can guess which one it is. The three types of racquet sports are:
A. Tennis
B. Badminton
C. Ping Pong
Which do you think is the most ideal approach that leads to strumming skillfully? I invite you to watch the accompanying short video to get my answer…and to see actual footage of people playing these racquet sports, which further illustrates my point.
Depending on how we play, we can create unnecessary fatigue in different parts of our arm. Incorrect, unbalanced strumming can also translate to less artistic playing. However, if we strum well and balanced, not only will our strumming sound and feel good, we can experience tremendous longevity.
Now let’s apply strumming to an actual pattern. Here’s another analogy for you. Crafting strumming patterns is a lot like baking bricks. If the bricks are even and precise, the structures we build with them will be solid, level, and plumb. If not, look out – the walls will tilt and they’ll be all out of whack. And if our strumming isn’t precise, it will affect us, our collaborators, and even our listeners.
I’ll illustrate sloppy and skillful strumming with a simple, fairly common strumming pattern in 4/4 time. I call it the “Camp Strum” and you may have used it, or you may have observed it as you’ve watched another guitarist play. Whatever we want to call it, this strumming pattern has been a part of several chart-topping legitimate songs out there. It consists of a quarter note, followed by two eighth notes, the second of which is tied to another eight note, and finally, three more eighth notes. Note the rhythm counts below the diagram. How would we strum it? We could strum it like this:
That could be repeated, it’s certainly economical in terms of how little we’re moving our strumming hand and arm, but guess what? Even though this is very common with guitarists I’ve encountered, it’s really not the best way to strum. The hand hesitates twice in the measure, which could lead to rushing, or hesitating by accident.
Let me ask you this. If I’m rushing or hesitating, how is that going to affect other instrumentalists I collaborate with? Are they going to love it? Nope. This is what I’d call sloppy strumming.
Here’s the rule I like to keep for simpler rhythms like this. Strum down on the beats, and up on the offbeats or the “&s.” Keep that as a rule, and you can’t go wrong.
So, let’s re-tool the arrows to have some silent strums coming up on the “&” of beat 1 and then coming down on beat 3. We now strum the same rhythm, but with a more refined execution.
As you’ll see from the video, we have a much more natural articulation without any rushing or hesitating, at any tempo. The constant “down up” motion, whether voiced or not, keeps our hand in rhythm, for the benefit of our precision, as well as anyone else who might be playing along. This is what I would call skillful strumming. And once we have our strumming dialed, we can focus on other aspects of making music.
So, strum skillfully, and watch where your skill takes you. Keep showing up!
And don’t forget to check out GuitarSuccess4U.com where you can take your guitar playing to the next level.
Thanks for taking time with me today to explore another topic that can lead to serious fun on the guitar. I hope this was helpful, and I look forward to next time!
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