Strumming Technique: Introduction

In this tutorial I'll take you through one of the most important topics in guitar playing: strumming. Strumming is the first thing most people learn and the last thing that most people get truly good at. But the truth is, if you get really good at strumming with good technique - good rhythm and feel - you don't need much else, since strumming is the backbone of most musical performances on guitar.

So in this tutorial we'll start with the basics- how to hold your pick and how to get a good and sustainable strumming motion in your right hand. We'll also talk about some left hand techniques that help free up your right hand!

After that we're gonna move on to the musical side of strumming and break down a basic 8th note based strumming pattern. Then I'll show you a basic 16th note based strumming pattern, and finally we'll break down a strumming pattern in 3. We'll also talk about how you can determine when to use which one.

With these three strumming patterns you can go incredibly far and play thousands of songs. So let's get right to it!