#1
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How do strum using fingers, without a pick or long fingernails?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP10E-RC3yM
I really want to start writing material like this mixing fingerpicking with strumming but i'm not sure even how exactly to strum with just fingers... how is it done? |
#2
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Down stroke with the backs of some or all of the fingernails, up stroke with the back of the thumb nail. The nails do not have to be long for this; mine never have been.
Sorry, didn't see the link, just answered the question. The guy in the vid probably has a callus on the side of his thumb. Last edited by Guest4562; 01-04-2014 at 06:41 AM. |
#3
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Thumb is mostly downstrokes, sometimes on single bass strings, sometimes on almost all the strings. Finger is mostly upstrokes between the thumb strokes. I don't think he has a long nail on his index, it sounds like just the fleshy tip. It's a kind of lazy combination of thumb-strumming, and fingerstyle. "Lazy" because he's not being too precise about which strings are hit. With the chords he's using, any strings are OK, and a lot of the work is done with the left hand. You can see the thumb is moving all the time, just as your whole hand would be when holding a pick. Sometimes the thumb hits both the D and U, sometimes just Ds with the finger filling in the U. As A-Mac says, you can - if you have long enough nails - strum down with the backs of the fingernails and up with the back of the thumbnail. That way they don't catch on individual strings. I don't personally recommend this, because it wears down the fingernails on one side quite quickly. I sometimes strum like this when I'm too lazy to find a pick, but it wears dips in the side of the nail, and they end up chipping, or just worn into an awkward shape for fingerpicking. YMMV! But as I say, I don't think this guy is using nails at all.
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#4
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The exact best technique to use depends on the specifics of what you are trying to accomplish.
Myself, on fingerstyle for quick inserted strums I often down strum with the back of the fingernails - the index finger, or the index and middle fingers together. After that you can rake those fingers back up. This technique makes it easier to strum just selected strings (often the inner ones) and leaves your fingers in position to carry on with the next fingerpicking notes. Here is an example of a song of mine using this:http://www.dcoombsguitar.com/Guitar%20Music/Hannah.mp3
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#5
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Here's a video I did for students & friends on my method of strumming without picks (which I mix freely with fingerstyle). I detail it in the video... Three types of strumming without picks - CliCk If you watch the explanations there is quite a bit of finger style mixed with the strumming... Hope this helps... |
#6
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Long nails will rather make strumming more difficult than help, i found (at least on nylon string).
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#7
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That was the original video. Quite possibly a little callus. I use the bottom side of the thumb for softer strumming, and it does have a bit of callus, but nothing like my fretting fingers. More like my plucking fingers. I don't think strumming has to be limited to only one technique for fingerstyle play. In fact, as a fingerstyler, one can do at least three types of unique strumming with the same fingers where flat pickers have to shift picks or change picks to accomplish the same thing. I find it freeing and flexible. John Stendefer (great player, clinic teacher, and National thumb picking champion) has slightly long nails, and he strums down with the back of his nails (fingers 2-3) and up with the tip of the nail (finger 1). It really works for him. Todd Hallawell (extroidinary fingerpicker!) who only picks with Thumb-n-two fingers and wears long artificial nails strums both ways with his with zero limitations. He uses them as flat picks (when not using them for knives). So Pure-A, if you are just starting on this part of the fingerstyle adventure, it's a matter of scoping out the different styles of strumming out there and mastering some of them which match up with your desires/style. |
#8
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I often use a technique very similar to "frailing" a banjo. Seems to work well.
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