Guitar Strumming Chords - 4 Mistakes That Might Be Screwing You Up

You have to remember that it's not your guitar that's in charge of strumming chords and making them ring, but it's you. There's a lot that can be lost in each chord and progressions by not putting your full attention on the task at hand.

And hey, you might just be beginning and you don't know the difference between a good strum and a bad one and that's OK. Here are just a few things that maybe you should work on when you start to strum a set of chords.

1. Don't start too fast.

If you're not very good at strumming rhythms, let alone simple repetitive chords, put your foot on the brake and ease into it. Only after your arms, fingers, and wrist feel the repetitive nature of the process will you begin to act almost involuntarily.

Then it's OK to step on the gas a little and start hitting those chords a little faster.

2. Fight off the gaps between chords.

When you start strumming, you may feel pressure to stop between a chord to make for a perfect change from one chord formation to the next. (Taking the time to switch your fingers on the fret board)

That actually isn't necessary at all. Really, it sounds pretty awkward having those half-second pauses where you should be strumming through the gaps. Just let that "gray-area" chord come through. It makes everything much smoother.

3. Hit only the strings that you need.

If you only need to have three strings ringing for a chord or riff, why would you strum all six? It just doesn't make sense.

Confirm what strings are necessary to make a chord sound its fullest and then confine to only those strings. If you strike any more or less, you could be altering the chord.

4. Put a little muscle on the pick grip.

When I first started, sometimes I would hear all these dead notes and nothing would sound right and I found it was because I held the guitar pick like a weakling. haha Don't let your pick just flop around on those strings. Grip it like you mean it and strum through the strings with a little power.

Strumming is one of the fundamental skills of playing the guitar, so you should make sure you get it right. Just think about what you're doing and how you can solve the problem when your tones don't sound quite natural.

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How To Guitar Play- Important Tips For Beginning Guitarists
Fast Electric Guitar Learning Course
Best Acoustic Guitar Lessons

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