In this lesson you will focus on strumming with a pick.
Hold the pick the same way for strumming as you did for playing single notes, but feel free to adjust the pick position for strumming. If, for instance, you would like to get a softer sound when you strum, you might want to experiment with rotating it so that the rounded side makes contact with the strings. It is not the conventional way to hold a pick, but it works great, so it’s worth trying.
Strive to achieve “one sound” when you strum, as opposed to rolling the pick over the strings, which results in the sound of an arpeggio or broken chord. In order to produce a clean, unbroken chord, focus on keeping your pick on the surface of the strings. In other words, bring your right hand away from the strings just enough to keep the pick from going in between the strings as you strum.
Whether you are using the pick for single notes or strumming, get in the habit of using a downstroke for notes played on the beat and an upstroke for those played between the beats. Of course, there will be exceptions to this rule, but when you use your pick differently from this, it should be for a good reason – not because you’re using it haphazardly. If you don’t have a lot of experience with the pick yet, this rule may not make sense to you, but it will eventually, so for now just make proper pick direction a habit.
Begin your practice by strumming a steady stream of eighth notes (down, up, down, up):
/ v / v / v / v I / v / v / v / v I
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & I 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & I
Be certain that your strums are evenly spaced, rhythmically.
As you vary the strumming or picking pattern, you will strike the strings some of the times that your hand moves up or down and not on other times. For example, on the next pattern you will avoid hitting the strings on every other upstroke, which will result in a repeating rhythmic pattern of a quarter note followed by two eighth notes. You will continue to count (1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & ), but on the beats in parentheses, your hand won’t touch the strings as it moves upward and prepares for the next downstroke:
/ (v) / v / (v) / v I / (v) / v / (v) / v I
1 (&) 2 & 3 (&) 4 & I1 (&) 2 & 3 (&) 4 & I
Once you understand how this works, you can create endless strumming patterns of your own, but here are a few more for you to try when you are ready:
/ (v) / (v) / v / (v) I / (v) / (v) / v / (v) I
1 (&) 2 (&) 3 & 4 (&) I 1 (&) 2 (&) 3 & 4 (&) I
/ v / v (/) v / (v) I / v / v (/) v / (v) I
1 & 2 & (3) & 4 (&) I 1 & 2 & (3) & 4 (&)I
/ v (/) v (/) v / v I / v (/) v (/) v / v I
1 & (2) & (3) & 4 & I 1 & (2) & (3) & 4 & I
Now it’s time to use one of your strumming patterns on a song of your choice. Be sure that you choose a song in 4/4 time if you want to use one of the patterns above and remember to count out loud during the learning process. If you are confident enough to combine patterns within the same song, feel free to do so!