Strumming mechanics

[NowhereMan33]

Many have probably noticed the differences of players with regard to strumming technique. Some players strum mainly with wrist movement and a rotating motion of the forearm, with very little movement at the elbow, while others mainly swing their forearms at the elbow, keeping the wrist stiff.

The wrist strum seems more precise and controlled, more readily allowing partial strums of the strings as well as riffs between strums, and is less likely to damage the guitar (and perhaps the player). I can always spot an arm strummer's used guitar for sale from the telltale damage above and below the sound hole. I also think that the wrist strum may be less fatiguing. Any thoughts from the forum on this?

[PeterM]

My opinion...

Arm strum, less precise. Better in the long term
Wrist strum...less fatiguing. Worse in long term.

ALWAYS use big muscles (arm) when possible. Unless you want carpal tunnel, CMC joint issues, tendonitis in wrist, and on and on

YMMV of course. Also, I am not a Dr, just a guy with all those hand and wrist issues.

[soma5]

Well, Doc Watson played from the elbow.

[Robin, Wales]

As long as it's in time, it's good.

I don't think there are wrist players and elbow players - most folks mix and match.

BTW - a lot of that sound hole and scratch plate area damaged comes from having an open hand pick grip as opposed to a closed hand grip. Neither being better than the other, just different. For example: Molly Tuttle uses a closed hand pick grip but Billy Strings uses an open hand pick grip. Consequently, Molly has more elbow and Billy more wrist. There are no rules!

[NowhereMan33]

Originally Posted by PeterM

My opinion...

Arm strum, less precise. Better in the long term
Wrist strum...less fatiguing. Worse in long term.

ALWAYS use big muscles (arm) when possible. Unless you want carpal tunnel, CMC joint issues, tendonitis in wrist, and on and on

YMMV of course. Also, I am not a Dr, just a guy with all those hand and wrist issues.

No issues after 40 years. I think it's actually the forearm rotation that does most of the work, and does not really put stress on the wrist itself.
...but maybe onset is after 41 years. Hope your hand/wrist feel better!

[Charlie Bernstein]

Rick Beato has a strumming exercise that would probably help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FTndcu891g

That's what I think of as Step 3 of learning to cowboy strum. My steps are:

1. Learn the chords of an easy three-chord song.

2. Learn to play them in time, without breaking the rhythm — even if it means just playing the chord once before grabbing the next chord.

3. Learn a steady strum. It can be Rick's or one you make up yourself. What matters is that it's steady. Notice that sideways windshield-wiper motion he's using. It's easy, it sounds good, and you don't get tired.

4. Vary your patterns, and give different beats different emphasis. The idea is to start adding some expression and feeling to the chords.

5. Add songs that teach your more chords, like minors and sevenths.

6. Experiment with picking fingers up and putting fingers down in different places. For instance, play a D chord. Then lift your finger off the first string and play it again. Then put your pinky down on the first string, third fret. Then go back to the original D. You quickly learn what sounds good and what doesn't.

7. Experiment with hitting just one or two or three strings on some strokes — another way to vary it.

8.Find in-between bass notes. For instance, walk up from the low G of a G chord to the low C of a C chord. Or the low E of an E-minor to the low G of a G chord. Pay attention to which notes sound good and which to avoid as you walk up and down.

Put those steps together as you go. You'll find you can strum with feeling just about any folk, blues, or Americana tune.

[Mandobart]

I favor more of a wrist action. In the mandolin world the desired motion is often compared to "shaking out a lit match" or "turning a door knob" - both are more of a wrist rotation than an elbow bend.

I find this motion provides more control and facilitates going back and forth between a boom-chuck rhythm and single note runs as is often done playing bluegrass.

[Silly Moustache]

I guess it depends on whether you consider playing guitars using the "windscreen wiper" approach -i.e. just scraping all strings up and down to make a wall of sound.

(or)

Playing by picking out the bass lines and chords in a "boom-chick" method.
This involves both the elbow, but far less than above, and "fine control" of the wrist to ensure that the pick contacts all strings as necessary at the same angle.

Lastly, we don't "pick" strings, we "stroke" them.

[raysachs]

The surest way to screw up a golfer is to ask whether they inhale, exhale, or hold their breath on the backswing. I see this question kind of the same way. I’ve been strumming for a looong time without really thinking about how. I read somewhere once about how you’re supposed to hold the pick - I don’t hold it that way, I tried and it messed me up until I just said screw it and went back to how I always did it. I’m not sure what my mechanics are, but I tend to mix and match strumming with arpeggiating the notes of the chord and I don’t have any idea HOW I do it, I just do it. Never had any injuries from it, and short of that, I really don’t want to think about it. So, I’m not gonna…

-Ray

[Nymuso]

Not a strummer, but I was when I started out. For me it was always from the wrist, I’m a big economy of motion guy when it comes to playing.

As for those who claim this or that will lead to CTS, etc - I say show me the evidence, ie., medical evidence reported in controlled studies. Don’t give me anecdotes, such as, “I know a guy who did this and got that.”

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by raysachs

The surest way to screw up a golfer is to ask whether they inhale, exhale, or hold their breath on the backswing. I see this question kind of the same way. I’ve been strumming for a looong time without really thinking about how. I read somewhere once about how you’re supposed to hold the pick - I don’t hold it that way, I tried and it messed me up until I just said screw it and went back to how I always did it. I’m not sure what my mechanics are, but I tend to mix and match strumming with arpeggiating the notes of the chord and I don’t have any idea HOW I do it, I just do it. Never had any injuries from it, and short of that, I really don’t want to think about it. So, I’m not gonna…

-Ray

THIS!

One of the quickest ways to "mess up a good thing" is to engage in Analysis Paralysis.

[Brent Hahn]

I do think it's worth analyzing a thing or two, like how much you want the feel to swing, and the importance of downstrokes vs upstrokes in what you're going for, and whether or not you want to hit all the strings (which is a sure way to crowd out a vocal).

[Mr. Jelly]

Yea, do that. Do them both and whatever else you can think of. Making music is about expressing yourself. What rules do you go by when you do that?

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by NowhereMan33

Many have probably noticed the differences of players with regard to strumming technique. Some players strum mainly with wrist movement and a rotating motion of the forearm, with very little movement at the elbow, while others mainly swing their forearms at the elbow, keeping the wrist stiff.

The wrist strum seems more precise and controlled, more readily allowing partial strums of the strings as well as riffs between strums, and is less likely to damage the guitar (and perhaps the player). I can always spot an arm strummer's used guitar for sale from the telltale damage above and below the sound hole. I also think that the wrist strum may be less fatiguing. Any thoughts from the forum on this?

There's so much variability here.

To begin with, I'd go even more basic than Rick Beato in Charlie's link. (I've only been teahcing for 20 years, btw, so Beato has a few years on me...)

1. Forget about strumming patterns. They confuse so many beginners pointlessly. (Few songs really need specific patterns.)

2. Establish a steady rhythm with a forearm swing. Relax the wrist, move from the elbow, in an arc approximately the same width as the guitar, so the hand is moving equally above and below the strings. Practice the move without hitting the strings at all to begin with. It should feel like the action you make when shaking water off your fingers - a slight flick of the wrist on the way down. The speed should be comfortable - the faster you make it, the more the movement is focused on the wrist; the slower you make it, the more your elbow will stiffen up. I.e., you really need both elbow and wrist feeling relaxed.

3. Keeping that same wide and relaxed movement, hit the strings with downstrokes only. If you want, you can experiment with hitting some strokes louder. Count 1-2-3-4, and hit a little harder on 2 and 4. It can also be a good idea to set a metronome and play with the click. A tempo of 100-110 is good for starters. No faster or slower for now - the arm should be able to stay relaxed and swing wide around that speed.

4. Here comes the no-brainer. Between every downstroke, what is your hand doing? Coming back up for the next one! That's where the downstrokes come. IOW, no conscisus effort or planning is involved. It's not complicated!

5. BUT, you do need to make sure you are holding your pick correctly (I'm assuming you're using a pick). Ideally use a thin pick: 60 or even 40. Point it straight in to the guitar. Don't point it upwards as some beginners do (to stroke the strings on the way down), because then you need to rotate your wrist to stroke the strings on the way back up. Watch the pros, you don't see them rotating their wrist. Hold the pick firmly and let it bend as it hits the strings. (If you only have a rigid pick, hold it loosely and let it flap.)

6. To begin with just hit the strings on every down and every up. That's DUDUDUDU in 4/4 time. The ups should naturally be a little quieter than the downs, because the downs have the weight of the arm behind them. Experiment with making the ups really quiet, just brushing the strings on the way up between the more forceful downs. I.e, you are still focused on the downs, counting the beats; you just allow the pick to hit the strings as it comes back up - don't think about upstrokes at all.
Don't hold back on the downs! Feel free to really hit the strings! Here is where the thin pick matters. Hit the strings with any force with a thick pick, it will either ping out of your hand, or you could even break a string. Of course, you don't always want to play loud, but it's important for getting into the swing of the action to not pull your punches.

7. Once you're getting really comfortable with this down-up swing - staying with the click, not losing the pick! - experiment with missing the strings now and then. Again, don't stop the arm movement. This is where beginners typically lose it. They'll see a strum pattern, try to emulate it, and their arm starts getting jerky and chaotic. Whatever the strum pattern, your arm is constantly moving DUDUDUDU - it just doesn't always connect with the strings on every pass!

E.g., that pattern Beato demonstrates in his video, calling it "down down up up down up", is NOT "DDUUDU". It's DuDUdUDU, where the caps are string hits and the lower case is string misses.
You'll see that, of course, if you watch him, but just about every beginner I've ever taught, if they see DDUUDU, will try to avoid playing a down between those two upstrokes! I.e., they are thinking consciously about each stroke, applying a Down or Up accordingly. That never works!
You have to have the constant swing established first, and then just avoid hitting the strings where an accent is not required. The essential is not the strum pattern, it's keeping the beat - it doesn't matter if you get the pattern wrong; it matters very much if you lose the beat.

OK - that's all just basic steady 4/4 patterns at medium tempo!

The slower the tempo gets, it will feel like you need to move your forearm more slowly, or just stop the movement at the bottom or top end. When you start to feel uncomfortable in that way, double the speed. I.e., once the tempo drops below 90, it becomes more comfortable to strum down on the 8ths as well as the quarters. So now upstrokes mark 16ths between the 8ths. A lot of famous strum patterns are like this. E.g., Wonderwall (tempo 88).
That's a complex pattern, but - again - it arises from a relaxed steady arm action with downs at 176 . That's quite fast, so will need a slightly narrower swing; and you'd still accent the quarters at 88, with the 8ths as a slightly shorter downstroke. But the point is, you get comfortable with the constant movement at that rate before attempting varying the accents to get the pattern you need for the song (which is a little variable anyway). Remember Noel Gallagher didn't compose the song around the strum pattern! He got into the groove at that speed, and the pattern was what happened to be intuitive (based more on the syncopation in the changes than the DU pattern itself).

[mr. beaumont]

"Strumming" isn't one thing...different rhythms/styles require different techniques...