My strumming technique is a mess. It seems like I can't do upstrokes at all...my thumb almost always collides with the strings regardless of how much I let the pick stick out from my thumb and forefinger. I figured it was an angle problem, but if I keep my hand from tilting the pick, I dig into the strings way too hard or tighten up my arm and don't get any motion at all. I'm basically lost in the woods when it comes to strumming, and I've been playing a good while now. Any suggestions?
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
well first of all you need to learn good forms so to speak. if yo9ur not already doing it you need to do this:
curl your index finger to the tip points back towerd your thumb. then put the pick with the fat end on the part of your index finger that is perpendicular to your thumb. finally close your thumb on it.
generally i would consider this more of a guideline than a rule so it can be "Tweaked" to be comfortable yet effective.
bstguitarist
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I am not an expert in this area but I did have the same problem awhile ago. It is really just case of relaxing and letting the strings guide the pick. In other words, just leave enough of the pick exposed between the thumb and forefinger to give you control and speed and relax the hand and let the strings control the angle of your hand. Basically what I am saying is that you are tensing up and trying to force the pick where it should be instead of letting nature take it's course. A softer pick may also help until you are comfortable with relaxing since a softer pick is more forgiving than a medium or hard pick.
It is actually the same with the fretting hand when you tense up you tend to press too hard and fat finger the strings causing your fingers to touch adjacent strings. A light touch fingering and strumming is better.
In other words relax....
On the other hand (no pun intended) maybe one of the experts have better advice so listen for them to chime in.
I think the relaxation has more to do with my problem than pick position...I've tried holding it a thousand different ways, and it always devolves to what I'm comfortable with. It's like this paradox though. I can't seem to avoid hitting the strings with my fingers without leaving a lot of the pick sticking out, but if I leave a lot of the pick sticking out, I lose control.
I do notice, however, that on upstrokes I try to make sure I hit all the strings, and I find myself digging deeper on upstrokes to do so. It seems like if I don't, my hand rises and I only strike a string or two.
Another thing...my pick constantly turns towards the bridge in my hand. That is, if I start with the point of the pick aimed directly through the guitar in such a way that a line could be drawn from the tip to my belly button, I end up with the tip of the pick tilted toward the bridge. Is this ok? It definitely feels more natural that way, but I always try to correct it because it seems wrong. Like I'm not using the part of the pick I need to be using to get a good tone.
Thanks for the suggestions so far.
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
Upstrokes are the toughest since the same rules apply as down strokes. If you are playing a D for instance you should only hit the bottom 4 strings and that applies to both up and down strokes. Until you are relaxed and comfortable just assume you need to hit all strings no matter what chord it is and work on the smooth raking of all strings. Once you are comfortable with raking all strings then you can concentrate on just hitting the necessary strings for the cord. Since upstrokes tend to sound more treble anyway you can get away with it until you have control.
Just relax your strumming hand and let the first string choose the angle of your hand and eventually you will find the right angle of your hand for strumming in both directions.
This may sound silly but you can't choose the angle, the guitar has to and unless you relax that will not happen.
EDIT: As long as the tip of the pick is what is hitting the strings it really does not matter which direction the pick is pointing as long as it is comfortable. I actually point it towards the bridge a little also.
Doesn't sound silly at all, it actually makes perfect sense. I just don't think I've ever let myself get to that point. I'll work on relaxing. I get frustrated working on it because everything else seems to come with just a little effort, but this has been a major thorn in my side for a long time.
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
I find the best way to relax is to eliminate as much as possible that frustrates me. If I am working on a strumming pattern I will just work on the strumming and do not not try to change chords since making one hand do something while the other hand is learning causes me confusion. Since for some reason I like the sound and feel of an open G I will just hold the G and strum until I feel good about it then later try changing chords at the same time. This way you are only working on one thing and less likely to get frustrated therefore getting tense. I just find that for example, if I am learning a new song and try to do the changes and strumming at the same time I get confused/frustrated and shortly after that tense and don't accomplish anything.
I have a similar problem and with certain passages run into a "picking glitch" where my hand keeps involuntarily rising up and hitting air. I just had to spend lots of time breaking the movements down to smaller segments and consciously relaxing and watching my hand. Just by really focusing slowly on only this problem for 20 minutes or more each day it has really paid off. But mainly relax, I think.
Got some new picks today that may or may not help with slipping. I'll work on the relaxing tonight.
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
Good luck... I know I get hung up on this relaxing thing but it has been critical to me. When I find myself getting tense I just put my hands down, tune the guitar or something to change the pace.
Just let us know how you make out.
Working on things currently...
My pick-holding is worth a look. When I play lead parts, I choke up quite a bit and leave only a little of the tip exposed. I like the control, and even though my forefinger and thumb touch the strings on occasion, it doesn't really make a difference in the tone or sound. It's more incidental. Is that bad?
If I try to do the same thing when strumming, I run into the problem I'm talking about in this thread. But if I leave quite a bit of the pick tip exposed (1/2 inch, slightly greater perhaps), I don't really have the problem. How much of the pick tip is exposed when you guys (and girls) strum?
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
I was having trouble staying on track, especially trying to play specific patterns. Not that I have trouble figuring out patterns, but that playing the patterns was messing with my ability to strum smoothly because I was trying to concentrate on too many things. So I broke out the metronome, set it at 60bpm, and started strumming every other beat.
I got into a groove soon enough and kept it going for awhile. I'll just have to integrate this into my routine. I think my frustration comes from thinking that this should be the easiest thing to do, but it's a skill just like anything else.
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
I think my frustration comes from thinking that this should be the easiest thing to do, but it's a skill just like anything else.
On the surface strumming seems the easiest of all skills but truthfully, I find the strumming is the most difficult of all skills. There are a lot of considerations while strumming, you have to remember what strings get hit for each cord which is even more difficult with up vs. down strums, what the intervals are, what the pattern is, where the fingers go for fretting hand, should you use an open vs. a barre etc. add that all together and still try to give each string equal time and it is tough as hell. I try to spend most of my practice time on just strumming patterns. No matter what success I have I still focus on the basic patterns like D D U D U for standard progressions.
As far as how much pick is showing I try to keep about 1/3 of a standard Fender pick below my thumb. Before I got the right feel for holding the pick without squeezing it I would actually use sandpaper or a knife to give the part under my thumb a texture so it would not slip as much.
You may want to up the tempo to 80 beats since 60 is so slow it is hard to stay with. I just find 80 or 100 is easier than 60 but not as tough as 120 or greater.
But the good news is it sounds like you are progressing and feeling better about it.
For a long time I payed way more attention to the fretting hand until I realized the main thing that would hang me up was usually the picking technique. It is more complex than you at first realize. You sometimes have to look at yourself really closely to see what the problem actually is.
Get yourself several picks of various size starting with about .40mm and getting progressively larger. Practice with the .40mm until you are proficient with it then move to a larger pick, say a .60mm. Thinner picks are a lot more forgiving and will aid you in your practice. I think of this kind of like weight lifting, you start light and work your way up.
Tim Madsen
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until they know how much you care.
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