#46
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It is bloody difficult to strum well. And it's bloody difficult to sing well. So you've not exactly picked an easy option with strumming and singing.
There are a lot of "good" guitarists who would struggle to simply strum and sing well enough to produce a good performance.
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I'm learning to flatpick and fingerpick guitar to accompany songs. I've played and studied traditional noter/drone mountain dulcimer for many years. And I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band. |
#47
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Thank you all for the awesome feedback! It is much appreciated!
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I am not innately musical. Every note I play (er, properly) has been hard-won. So I will happily take this ability as a bonus!!!
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Amateur musician, newish to guitars! Larrivee OM03...and representatives of other types! |
#48
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Those comments weren't on AGF. I've read/heard them elsewhere. AGF has been very positive.
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Amateur musician, newish to guitars! Larrivee OM03...and representatives of other types! |
#49
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I am going through all the videos recommendations! Thank you for posting those! It's very helpful and encouraging!
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Amateur musician, newish to guitars! Larrivee OM03...and representatives of other types! |
#50
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Depends upon your goals. If you are just playing for yourself or family/friends only knowing how to strum is absolutely fine.
If you want to perform a song or three at an open mic only strumming is probably fine. If you want to be a musician who gets paid to perform sets of music that are 30 minutes or longer (in a listening room as opposed to a bar) then only strumming is problematic because it gets boring. Mixing finger picking and strumming in a long set holds the attention of an audience better than a full set of either. In the same vein you'd want a mix of slow and up-tempo songs. Most of my uptempo songs are strummed. The contemplative ballads are fingerpicked.
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2021 Santa Cruz OM Grand Custom 2018 Collings OM2HT Baked 2014 Santa Cruz OM Grand Ovation Legend Guild D40 |
#51
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Looks like you beat me to it. |
#52
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WRONG with it? Nothing. It's difficult to do. Especially to do well.
My friend, Kylie Rae Harris, was very good at doing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct7YT0uo8lo After she passed away, I started writing some songs, and had to learn how to play and sing at the same time. It took a while. And then I finally got to where I could even do a bit of finger-picking while singing, too. But most of my songs are "just strumming", because singing while finger-picking takes a lot more effort. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZLKwB-qiPs |
#53
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People talk about strumming like it's one thing - it isn't. The strumming I do now is nothing like the strumming I did in 1980. It evolved over the years - for the better - along with my singing and every other musical thing I do. I enjoy what I do - why would I do it otherwise? I'm always improving, even after all this time - music is endless, there's no "best" as far as I'm concerned. I dabble in fingerstyle for my own amusement, but I have no interest in developing a repertoire of instrumental songs. I'll gladly listen to someone else do that, but that's not what interests me, other than the pure joy of hearing someone play well. In my world guitar and voice are forever linked, and I consider my voice another instrument that should also always improve. I try to make that happen every time - sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, I just strum louder...
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#54
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Where you read all those derogatory comments? For me, strumming and singing is a whole different set of skills which I highly respect. I wish I could sing well.
Do what you want to do and forget about what others say. It's their problem and not yours. |
#55
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The comments are everywhere; on-line, overheard at impromptu moments (ie. at bars), and over the years too. But recently I've noticed a lot on-line.
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Amateur musician, newish to guitars! Larrivee OM03...and representatives of other types! |
#56
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As someone with but two years of playing under my belt, I am interested to know what the definition of "strumming" is. Or more specifically, what are the boundaries of the term.
I got my first guitar after penning a couple songs that I wanted to perform. They reflected a simple I-IV-V progression. And I "strummed" open chords, essentially to keep me on the right musical path and moving forward. But as time passed, and I became more familiar with the guitar, and the songs, I began to incorporate picked individual notes or some arpeggios, either as fillers between vocal phrases, or even to parallel or present a melodic counterpoint to the sung word. So would the definition of "strumming" as it is commonly used, and in this thread, include both the voicing of chords in a rhythmic fashion as well as the melodic sounding of individual notes. Thanks for schooling me. David
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I took up the guitar at 62 as penance for a youth well-spent. |
#57
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For me I tend to look at strumming in at least two ways as you have noted. Regular chord only rhythmic plain strumming,,, and embellished strumming of chords with some amount of individual notes being sounded in between . Musically and performance wise both have their place In either case the notion that plain strumming and or using only first position so called "cowboy" chords is somehow musically or artistically qualitatively "less" than more notes being sounded, is simply the insecurity of ego surfacing in those making such proclamations. This is what the OP was referring to.
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Enjoy the Journey.... Kev... KevWind at Soundcloud KevWind at YouYube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...EZxkPKyieOTgRD System : Studio system Avid Carbon interface , PT Ultimate 2023.12 -Mid 2020 iMac 27" 3.8GHz 8-core i7 10th Gen ,, Ventura 13.2.1 Mobile MBP M1 Pro , PT Ultimate 2023.12 Sonoma 14.4 |
#58
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There's many ways to play guitar. All of them can be done well - or not all that brilliant.
However great you are at one style of playing, there's always somebody who will tell you that you are doing something totally wrong. It could be how you use your thumb, what you use for picking the strings, or what parts of the guitar you are using for making music. If it is working for you, keep doing it. Maybe try some other ways to play, too, if you are curious.
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Breedlove, Landola, a couple of electrics, and a guitar-shaped-object |
#59
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I would define strumming as sounding of more than one note at the same time with a single picking motion. Yes I know that's not strictly speaking possible -- while finger pickers can choose to sound several notes at once with multiple digits, a strum only gives the illusion of "at the same time" via very short intervals between notes and the guitar sustain envelope allowing them all maintain volume throughout the strum. And more loosely, we generally think of sounding a bass note and then strumming (as in the boom-chick style) as strumming too. The bass note is ornament, the strum the majority of the sound. Elaborate versions of some techniques allow one to be heard as strumming as well as arpeggiated picking at the same time--so when folks first heard some Chet Akins recordings they thought it was two guitarists. Now of course one is free to move notes around while strumming, and some more advanced harmonic styles, more or less every beat introduces a new note in the notes strummed. And also, there can be variations based on the order the strings are strummed (down, up patterns) which add variety and point out that the simultaneousness of the notes sounding is not strictly so. This is an alternative to arpeggiated playing articulated with finger-picking or movement of a single pick. In that playing style notes tend to be played monophonically (finger pickers can sound multiple notes at once, like a piano player playing block chords, but they most often don't) -- though again, the guitar's sustain envelope can make the notes run across each other as one note or another is still ringing as a new one is struck. Yes, there's a grey area too. A slow strumming motion, letting each note sound and decay considerably before the next one is arrived at is not likely "heard" as a strum, even if the motion of the picking hand is the same thing in slow motion. And while cross-pickers and finger pickers don't usually sound multiple notes at once (or so nearly at once that we hear them that way), they do avail themselves of that option and we don't always hear two note dyads as strums.
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----------------------------------- Creator of The Parlando Project Guitars: 20th Century Seagull S6-12, S6 Folk, Seagull M6; '00 Guild JF30-12, '01 Martin 00-15, '16 Martin 000-17, '07 Parkwood PW510, Epiphone Biscuit resonator, Merlin Dulcimer, and various electric guitars, basses.... |
#60
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Frank, thanks for your thoughtful reply to my question.
David
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I took up the guitar at 62 as penance for a youth well-spent. |