strumming tone and touch

I assume you are talking about acoustic strumming...I don't do much of that but I do understand what you are saying about your 'rough" strumming, I have felt the same way.

The only advice I can give is to really sit and listen to yor strumming and then try to change things up such as how you attack the strings, making sure you just lightly strum them, etc.

Try anything and everything that you don't do know until your ears tell you you are on to something...then practice that over and over.

I pretty much exclusively play an electric and the nuances of strumming an electric vs acoustic are different and I have tried to work on the same thing you are talking about because I always felt my strumming wasn't as smooth as I wanted it to be.

this covers a lot of ground, and you probably have only a couple of issues. could you put up a video of your playing on youtube, and put a link in this thread? that would help with diagnoses and suggestions. guitar and hands are all we need in the vid.

maybe you are looking for nuance.
strumming guitar strings is akin to speaking. we do not speak in a mono tone. our speech varies in velocity and intensity.
it is interesting then. so simply, with guitar, vary your strum or stroke. hard, soft, brush, sweep, arpeggio, ..let's see, how many adjectives can we use? change how you move your strum arm. broad stroke, short, tight, floaty, wrist only, wrist and elbow, ie.

let's look at the pick. how you hold it matters a lot. try several things and listen to the differences. thin picks, which I don't use any longer, will certainly feel and sound different than medium or heavier picks. I once tried to strum by holding a pick lighter and lighter between my fingers. yes, eventually you drop it, but very interesting things happen before then.

lastly, if you have been playing for years and always sound the same then you are not paying close enough attention.
we all have the ability to hear what happens if we alter the way we play. take note and build on it. one does become a more interesting sounding player.

It can also help to find someone that has a smooth strum and watch and try to emulate and of course to ask them what they are doing. I had a friend who had the most beautiful even strum. For him he would actually turn hi pick sideways so that the contact to the strings was on the side of the pick which gave it a very large contact surface. It had a tendency of not "biting" as much and so evened out the lumpy sound that is sometimes made. Give that a try and see if it helps.

Hi guys

thanks for the responses and suggestions. I've posted a video clip on you tube and the link is below. unfortunately the sound seems to be delayed on the video clip, but perhaps watching the video, you guys can offer me more tips.
Also, just to explain, i strum using my fingers mainly middle and ring finger on the downstrum, and my thumb on the upstrum.

thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiQ6aX6REnQ&feature=channel_page

okay, looked at your vid. there are lots of things that you could address to create more dynamics, and smoothness (as you say), but one thing really stands out to me: you strum completely from the wrist. this is going to limit your range of dynamics, smoothness (more mass in moving your forearm) and speed across the strings. others may suggest you try a pick or maybe work on a little bit of palm muting, but those and other things can wait. you need to learn to strum with your whole forearm. and not just your forearm, but using both a combo of wrist and forearm motion, where the drive and inertial smoothness is in the forearm motion, and the finesse - flourishes, extra speed, some of the added dynamics come from the wrist.

in short: stop leaning/pressing that strumming arm so rigidly onto the guitar body, loosen that elbow joint and get that forearm in motion to add some power and speed into your strumming. once you get that going with some proficiency, you can begin to add other things.

Hi guys

lots of useful advice here as usual. thanks.

I've posted another video (link below). This time i've tried to strum with a pick and tried to strum from the forearm, as gnease suggested. Okay, the dynamics are not yet there, but i'd appreciate it if you could look at it and just check whether i am now indeed strumming from the forearm. any other suggestions will also be welcome.

Thanks again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC6eVubtJys&feature=channel_page