Okay, oh I got a little carried away there at the end. Anyway this could be
one of the simplest strum sessions that you've had but it could be one of the
more complex depending on which stage you're working at and which part of this
lesson you want to really push. So to start off with, we're gonna do this basic
down, down, up, strum. It is kind of a foundation of many many 4/4
strums. What I mean it strums that have 4 beats in them - 1 2 3 4
but there's some subtleties that I want to explain to you also because
it's a simple strum we can use it to start working on some of those
subtleties. Let's start with the basic strum. It's gonna be down down up down up down up. That's one down and three down ups. We could count it and it's
helpful to at least understand this counting cause when you get to more
sophisticated strums it'll help you divide up a beat a little bit. So we're
gonna count like this 1 2 and 3 and 4 and. And you'll notice the whole
motion is just my arm going up and down. By the way, don't go too far down and too
far. I'm trying to stay within 2 or 3 just inches just because it takes too
long to get back if you get way up here and have to come back down. The other
thing is, aim for a smooth strum. I have lessons for more details and how to get
smooth strumming depending on how you hold the pick. But just a quick refresher, try
to hold your pick so it wobbles a little bit but not so much it flies out to your
hand. And I usually put my pick - I point my finger a little bit like this and
then put my thumb over the pick so a little just below my first knuckle and
the pick can move a little bit. And I'm going up and down but at the same time I'm
moving my wrist just a little bit to kinda accommodate the string so on the
way down but pick is aiming up so it's not digging straight in and on the way
up it's going down a little bit. Try not to worry too much about that. If you do
you'll have a heck of a time keeping up with the strum. The idea is you pay
attention to it and over time you keep nudging it so it get smoother and smoother
over time. Now let's do that strum together just a little bit. Start with
left hand muting the strings just so we can concentrate on the right hand. Here
we go, ready, hit it - 1 2 and 3 and 4 and.
You'll noticed the AND mean up in this case. ready, go - 1 2 and 3 and 4 and
again 1 2 and 3 and 4 and again 1 2 and 3 and 4 last
time 1 2 and 3 and 4 and. So let's try that with a G chord. I'm gonna
use a 4 finger G and my second finger on the third fret sixth string,
first finger on the fifth string second fret and I've got my 3rd and pinky
together on the third fret of the 2nd and 1st string that's a 4 finger G.
Now if this is hard for you and you want to do a different G that's fine so we
can play together for a little bit. Any G will sound fine together. Ready, go - down, down, up, down, up, down
and again.
Now let's do that same thing on a Cadd9 chord. It's actually a very simple
chord from the 4 finger G. You just move these 2 fingers over one string.
So I'm on the fifth string now third fret and the fourth string with my first
finger second fret. Sounds pretty huh. The pinky and the
third fingers stay right where they are. Ready, go - down, down, up, down, up, down
Two more, ready now - down, up, down, up. I'll count
now - 1 2 and 3 and 4
and. Now you might be thinking ''Do I hit that sixth string or not?'' It doesn't matter
because if you do it like I'm doing it my second finger is actually touching
the sixth string so it doesn't sound anyway so I can stop the whole thing and
you'll hear the sixth string. But let's say that you were able, you got your
finger in there in the sixth string did sound. No big deal. The E which is the
low E string is actually a part of the Cadd9 chord anyway so it just changes
the bass note but it still sounds fine.
No big thing. Okay now we're gonna turn this into a simple exercise. We'll do 2
strums on the G, 2 strums on the C. Let's try it together one time through
and then you can try it with the play along tracks. Ready G go - 1 2 and 3 and 4. Again 1 2 and 3 and 4
Now to that C - Cadd9 1 2 3 and 4 and 1 2 3 and 4 and back to the G
again
and to the C
one more time.
Okay, so this might seem like a simple exercise for some. If you do the
strumming and guitar this might be just fine the way it is but if you want to
take it up a notch here's what you do. When I strum, let me
play something for you first and then I'll explain it.
That is different than this
Could you tell the difference? No. Listen one more time. Number one (strumming)
number two (strumming)
Okay, looks the same motion in my right hand and I'm doing the same up and down.
I'm doing this 1 2 and 3 and 4 and the same but the difference is
and number 2 I'm alternating where I put the emphasis on hitting the strings
instead of every time hitting all the strings down and up I'm hitting the low
strings sometime and on the up I'm hitting the high strings and not
covering all the strings. I'll kind a bring it up a little bit before I get to
that sixth thing. I'm hitting somewhere around the first 3 maybe 4
strings. It doesn't really matter that much how many
you have but it creates a kind of a rolling motion which is not necessarily
the right way to do it but it's an alternative way that actually creates a
little spice to the strum. This creates a little more motion and when you hear
specially experience guitar players they're doing things like that. They're
not banging straight up and down usually on the strings. So listen again and then
I want you to try this as you practice the strum. Don't get hung up on it. If
this is keeping you from just doing the motion you're not there yet. This is a
subtlety you add as you can do the down down-up strum and you wanna get a little
more sophisticated - down, down, up, down, up, down, up, down - down, up, down, up, down, up.
Now what I'm doing is I'm hitting the low string and then I'm going to the
high string. High string, low string.
Let me see - down, down, up, down, up down, up. I'm doing low string - high down, up. Low down, up. I'm
here like in the middle of a string and then high down up.
That's not the one way to do it. You could alternate it. Matter of fact, if I were
playing a song I'd probably mix it up a little bit but start with one way. Get
used to it. You'll have more control over time you can just improvise as you go.
Down, down, up, down, up, down, up. So try that much with me. We'll go even slower. I'm going bass and then down
up on the high and not one high string but 3 or 4 strings and
then down up on the low strings and then down up on the high strings.
Ready, hit it - low, low, high, low, high. I'm exaggerating. Again, go low, high, low, high.
Again, ready go - low, high.
Last time, let's do it - ready, hit it. Low, high, low, high. Keep going. Low, high, low, high, low, high,
low, high, low, high, low, high,
Okay, go for it.