16th note strumming + accents

[Taylor414ce]

I find 16th note strumming troublesome in getting it sounding consisently rhythmic, particularly when accenting an upstroke in that the following downstroke I often miss entirely (not by design) so it becomes a 'ghost' downstroke but isn't supposed to be. Or the following downstroke isn't as quiet as it should be so I guess I'm still struggling with dynamics. Is 16th note strumming with accents something which can be tricky to get the hang of as a beginner? I'm quite new to guitar but am working pretty hard and be interested to know others experiences of this when they were learning - I've been playing about 3 months so clearly am still a beginner and not expecting my strumming to be perfect! I have a good teacher but always interesting to hear if others had once struggled with this but got it in the end.

[JonPR]

Generally speaking, when you accent an upstroke in 16th note strumming it's OK (or desirable) for the following downstroke to be missing or an underplayed "ghost" stroke. The intention in accenting an upstroke is usually to syncopate the following beat, meaning it's OK for the beat itself to be inaudible (because you've brought it forward).
Of course, you need to be able to control whatever accent pattern you want, but the basic feel and time-keeping is what matters.
As usual when practising tricky techniques, start slow and get a feel for how the accents you want work. What kind of right hand move do you need if you want both an accented upstroke, and a clear following downstroke? Does that need to be adapted at faster tempos?

[Taylor414ce]

Originally Posted by JonPR

Generally speaking, when you accent an upstroke in 16th note strumming it's OK (or desirable) for the following downstroke to be missing or an underplayed "ghost" stroke. The intention in accenting an upstroke is usually to syncopate the following beat, meaning it's OK for the beat itself to be inaudible (because you've brought it forward).
Of course, you need to be able to control whatever accent pattern you want, but the basic feel and time-keeping is what matters.
As usual when practising tricky techniques, start slow and get a feel for how the accents you want work. What kind of right hand move do you need if you want both an accented upstroke, and a clear following downstroke? Does that need to be adapted at faster tempos?

Hi Jon yes I agree. Just at this stage I'd like to have the control to choose. I guess strumming dynamics can take a while to get to grips with. I play a lot with the metronome at slower speeds which as you said does help.