So? What's "wrong" with just strumming and singing?

[Robin, Wales]

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.

[Nimiety]

Thank you all for the awesome feedback! It is much appreciated!

Originally Posted by jdinaz

Hey, I can't come close to singing anything while strumming ! So you got me beat. LOL I have a lot of respect and admiration for the fingerstyle players, but I don't enjoy watching fingerstyle songs in the show and tell section (or on youtube) as much as a good singer/strummer. I told my self I can only do what I know and enjoy, and i think that's good for all of us no matter the style of play.

You know, I didn't realize that not everyone could strum and sing! It just never came up before and I hadn't thought about it. That's very interesting!

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!!!

[Nimiety]

Originally Posted by jim1960

If you want to strum, go strum. As for derogatory remarks about strumming, I haven't seen those here and this forum is pretty strict about it's "be nice" rule so I'm wondering if you're not just taking some remark in a way other than intended.

Those comments weren't on AGF. I've read/heard them elsewhere. AGF has been very positive.

[Nimiety]

I am going through all the videos recommendations! Thank you for posting those! It's very helpful and encouraging!

[Graylocks]

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.

[g-dude]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Strumming and singing - doesn't get much better than this ....

I read the first post, and thought, “I know what this thread needs!”

Looks like you beat me to it.

[SongwriterFan]

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

[ghostnote]

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...

[hatamoto]

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.

[Nimiety]

Originally Posted by hatamoto

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.

Well yes, I plan to continue on! See how 'good' I can get!

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.

[Deliberate1]

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

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

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

That is a very good question and I'm guessing the answer actually depends on ones individual interpretation .

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.

[perttime]

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.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

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

This is going to sound academic, and frankly to many readers, as "yeah, everyone knows this!" But here goes anyway:

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.

[Deliberate1]

Frank, thanks for your thoughtful reply to my question.
David