How To Strum A Guitar

Free Guitar Lesson

- How To Strum A Guitar Properly
Your guitar strumming ability is directly related to two things: your level of relaxation; and your feeling for rhythm. Now I can’t teach you to have good rhythm, nor can I make you relax, but I can give you a few pointers. Relaxing is just a state of mine. Remember, you’re playing guitar for fun, this isn’t a required but an elective course, so lighten up already. First of all DO NOT use your entire forearm as a lever to strike the strings with. What you must strive for is a controlled, yet loose, wrist action with only a minimum amount of movement at your elbow. Concentrate on your wrist action and any necessary elbow movement will happen on it’s own. Practice strumming your strings by moving only your wrist, keeping your hand and elbow in one position. If you can master this you should have no problem playing in a relaxed state as you will not be able to strum with your wrist only, UNTIL you learn how to relax. Give it a shot.

Keeping everything loose is also a key to learning how to strum a guitar fast.

Most guitar players I have seen over the years who don’t seem to have a good sense of rhythm usually have one thing in common: they play too hard and too deliberately. You will never develop a sense of rhythmic style if you are worried about how hard you can hit those strings. Number 1 mistake: trying to play on every beat exactly as they occur. Pausing and playing on the offbeats are just as important to developing a sense of style as knowing where the downbeats are. Listen to your favorite guitar players comparing what they are playing to the drumming. Listen very closely. Count the beats in the song as you listen to the guitar strumming. What you are probably going to notice is how little they are playing, less than you probably thought. Knowing when not to strum is equally important to knowing when to strum.

How to strum a guitar video: