Description
One of the most frequent complaints I receive from students is that they are unhappy with the sound of their strumming. In this tutorial I'll be talking about the role your right hand plays in generating solid, musical rhythm guitar.
Whether you're accompanying your own vocals or playing in a group situation, rhythm is the backbone of all things musical. Considering its important role, one of the most neglected topics in lesson conversation.
For these lessons I'll be demonstrating using my fingers, but you can definitely apply everything to your flat pick.
We'll quickly review the basics of counting in the context of strumming, and connect that information to the concept of directionality. We'll also look closely at how to use the right fingers, hand and arm to achieve a relaxed, even, consistent method of getting across your strings easily and with great tone.
We will think about what to play, and more importantly what NOT to play. Once we gain some control over how we approach the strings we will learn a basic strum.
With a little focus on counting and emphasis, you will discover this strum can be morphed in many directions by learning skills like zoning, syncopation, what I like to call extreme zoning, and damping. You don't need to learn a bunch of different strum patterns, you need to learn how to manipulate what you already know.
With some listening, some thought, and some mindful practicing you'll be amazed at how much better you sound, and how much versatility this work will bring to your playing. Even though we are focusing on our right hand today, you might learn some things about your left hand as well!
Lesson Info
