just cant seem to tackle this strumming....

I have a hard time with this. I know it is supposed to get better in time, but I can't help but feel I am doing it all wrong.

When I strum down on chords, they just don't seem to "ring" like they are supposed to. I don't know if I am hitting them to hard or to light.

Second, strumming up is a big problem for me on chords! I either manage to hit the first and second string and miss the rest, or I hit the third string and miss the rest, LOL.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Yes, I have read several of the strumming lessons, but it doesn't help.

the chords might not be ringin properly cos u aint frettin them well be carefull that the fingers pressin on the chords aint touchin the other strings.

secondly theres no need to start with huge strumms. slowly push ur hand down the strings hittin each in turn.

then speed this up, again an again untill it gets faster.

Originally Posted by: Fret spiderthe chords might not be ringin properly cos u aint frettin them well be carefull that the fingers pressin on the chords aint touchin the other strings.

secondly theres no need to start with huge strumms. slowly push ur hand down the strings hittin each in turn.

then speed this up, again an again untill it gets faster.

thanks, i forgot to mention that i know it isn't from my fingers touching adjacent strings, this isn't a problem for me. i think it is more in the strumming hand, not in the fret hand.

what do you mean by "huge" strums? If I go real, real slow, naturally they sound great, LOL. But if I try to pick up the tempo at all, forget it...u can't recognize the chords.

I can relate. I had a heck of a time when I was just starting hitting the strum consistently. Hit it right once or twice and then it was like my hand had a mind of it's own; suddenly I would be all over the place.

I think what has helped me is that once I got a little more comfortable with holding the chord down, I was able to concentrate on the strumming. When I was first starting, I was paying more attention to my left hand and just sort of putting my right on auto-pilot. Clearly, it was not ready for that.

And I know this sort of advice always made me cringe, but it will get better with time.

Oh yeah, how far away is your fretting hand from the strings? It could be a question of hand position. When I am playing the acoustic, I tend to kind of arch my right hand a little bit. When it's on the electric, I try to rest the heel of my hand right on the bridge (unless I am playing up the neck). Once I found a comfortable and consistent position for my hand, it seemed to improve quickly.

Just a thought.

One advice I can give you for the upstroke strumming is to lead the movement with your wrist and let the hand drag a little behind.

As you go up your wrist should bend a little so that it is a little higher than your pick. Also keep you wrist close to the body of the guitar when going up so that as you hit the first strings, you don`t end up having your wirst go away from the guitar but towards it.

Naturally this is the way I do it, some people may do it differently but try it out to see if this helps you.

Originally Posted by: txladykatthanks, i forgot to mention that i know it isn't from my fingers touching adjacent strings, this isn't a problem for me. i think it is more in the strumming hand, not in the fret hand.

what do you mean by "huge" strums? If I go real, real slow, naturally they sound great, LOL. But if I try to pick up the tempo at all, forget it...u can't recognize the chords.

Try using just your index finger and go down, down, up-up, down, up (repeat) with your hand barely above the strings (even lightly on the strings is fine) so that you can feel the string vibration in your finger. Practice that for a little while (a few minutes or so) and you will hear all the strings ringing.
Then try to do the same thing with just your thumb (remember hand at the strings, distance = death) and you will see how difficult it is to do the same thing. Revert back to the index and make your happy sound again until you feel that you have the rhythm down. Then try using a pick. Instead of holding it at the end (butt), hold it close to the tip (so it doesn't flop around). Allow your index finger to feel the strings on the downstrokes while strumming with the pick. Practice rotating the pick (rolling) between your finger and thumb so that you are able to correct it when the tip tends to go sideways and point it back to the strings. This minor adjustment is common because you want to hold the pick comfortably not with a death grip. It quickly becomes natural especially when strumming. Once you get all that down, start practicing some controlled strumming limited to sounding only a few of the strings (like the three lower strings for instance) for when you're ready to rip some of your favorite Metallica tunes.

huge strums as in do you go up and down way beyond the strings.

i would also suggest a thin pick if your strugling.


if you have a webcam u could post yourself strummin and we could tell u wats wrong.