Question #12

I was wondering if you could give me some guidelines to figure out the strumming of songs through hearing them on albums, records, etc. And, what are the things that I should look out for in order to get the strumming?

Answer

Unfortunately, this is one of the hardest things to teach. There is no practice method or specific exercises that I can give for this. Try to listen for key rhythms that you are hearing, in the bass or drums. Sometimes you are not going to specifically hear the rhythms that the guitar player is playing. You are going to have to decide on a strum based on the overall feel of the song. Different strums can be equally correct for the same song, as long as you are playing in the same feel. How do you know what that feel is? There is the thing that is hard to teach...experiment a little. Find the basic speed that you think your right hand should be moving (usually 8th or 16th notes) and hit the strings when you want to hear something, and miss the strings when you don't. The general idea of strumming is that your right hand will be moving constantly down and up.

Learn as much as you can about rhythm. Understanding rhythms is the key to hearing them. Check out the understanding rhythms section.

Check out the lessons that I have up on strumming, they may help.

Chord strumming 101 - an intro. to basic strumming patterns

Basic 4/4 accompaniment strum patterns and song examples

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