Hello everyone, well as the title says i’ve been struggling for years with strumming , i can’t pass 16th 110 bpm , and i don’t know if is a technique problem , i was taught as right handed but i’m lefty , but i tried to learn the other way and the same happened , later i found out that i have scoliosis , (my lumbar back is deviated to the right) and i’ve noticed that influences the way the guitar fall off when i’m playing standing up , also i’m kind of confused on one hand tommo fujita says that you really need to play with almost no strenght and piano , and cory wong says he hits the strings hard , both have different techniques and position , i must add that i often study without an amp and may be that has something to do , wrist flexion on the on the 1st and 2nd 16ths and some sort of away movement on the 3rd and 4th 16th kind of feels better but i have my doubts, i’ll try to post a video later but it would be a helpful if some of you have figured out , maybe is the grip or the movements i really have no idea at this point anyway i’ll thank you all deeply your feedback and tips
Is your primary motion DSX?
I ask because mine is and I also can’t strum fast from the wrist. To get the Nile Rodgers, Cory Wong type funky strumming, I think you have to have a very loose wrist and sort of flick your hand up and down in a type of USX strumming motion. I have tried this on and off for 5 years and never have found the motion, my wrist will only move freely at speed in a DSX motion which is going the wrong way. To bend my wrist in a gypsy jazz type of position helps a bit but it still isn’t very usable.
No, my alt picking is usx primarly, but i get what you’re saying. It seems its easier. with more supinated forearm but for some reason when i increase the speed mine does’nt supine so exagerated as niles or wong, also they are trailing edge pickers but i haven’t figured out that so so with picking but not strumming the curious things is that cory wong tomo fujita ans guthrie govan seems to have diferent positions so may be the key is on which movement at what time, i tried the flickering thing but my forearm does’nt flick as wide as the besties hehe., ine thing that kind if helps is to have some downward pickslanting or usx since the begining of the strum who knows i haven’t found the silver lining, i think the only way is to watch cory or guthrie in slow motion to dissect each thing. ( pick grip, wrist, forearm, elbow movements how hard they hit and how many string they hitl)
I’d recommend posting a video so we can see things like arm position/set up and grip etc.
In my experience, a change in grip solved most issues with fast strumming.
Oh also i noticed , niles cory or frusciante have very large thumbs and index and i think that makes the “pinch” grip easier but how to addapt that to small thumbs for me it feels hard and unnatural
here’s the video hope it helps
and in slow motion
here ben eller talks about the pinch grip
here cory talks about his strumming from 14:02
Thanks for the video. Personally, I don’t find that type of grip works too well for fast strumming. I feel the arm has to turn to much for smooth up and down strums.
Have you tried a trigger style grip? You’ll get a little more edge picking which will help the up and down strums feel even without much arm flip flop.
So try curl the index and have the pick on the side of the finger.
This is just my experience with that type of grip, it may work well for some.
thanks , what’s trigger style ? if i curl my index and place the pick on the side of it should i have my forearm more “neutral” or “pronated”?
Your arm should end up a little more neutral, tbh I’d just play around with it without overthinking arm position too much. The change of grip from fully extended to trigger style will alter the arm position naturally. When I say trigger, I don’t mean curl the index in all the way, that might feel a little odd for strumming… I’m not sure though, I’ve never tried that one.
I’ll try it., although i’d really like to figure it out cory wong’s technique i wonder if anyone in the Forum have discovered?
Maybe make some picks out of cardboard, sometimes I wrap some packaging tape on them and cut back around, and when they get nice and worn play with it for awhile it will be like paper. I do this cause I like to get a different sound, I play my classical alot with no amp, so I can hear different shades of the pick sound. Then go back to plastic pick see if this helps with your control. oh lol different types of cardboard matters to just experiment with it see if you can find ones that sound better than others.
Thanks man, so you suggest that to gain control and to stop the pick slipping?
With cardboard the sound can sound muted/dull enough where it will allow you to not fret about mistakes, and you can try to go more crazy than most plastic picks. At first they can sound kinda punchy, but the more the cardboard gets used the more muted the sound gets. Then when you go back you can feel better control with plastic, at least it did for me anyways. But I use them quite a bit when learning gypsy jazz chord progressions, or when I lose all of my really thin picks.
Do you strum soft or hard? I can strum soft but with a small range i don’t. Cover all strings at higher speed
Well in order to get a loud enough sound I have to strum with some oomph behind a classical guitar for the sound to carry far enough as to sound competent behind the instrument. So it can depend really, if the song calls for certain dynamics you should be able to kind of alter depending on the situation.
Have you checked out some of the Gypsy Jazz rhythm players? Like Sven Jungbeck or Noushe Rosenberg?
So so, not in detail but they’re great, i’m begining to realize that may be the problem lies in ny scoliosis, you see, when i dont workout my body streches, i notice the position of the guitar changes and my arm ends up way more pronated also i feel tense and my strumming feels. Sloppy but when i stretch my back and hip flexors my arm ends up supinated naturally and the guitar falls off inclinated , any way i feel it more natural and the strumming feels better, not great but it flows more , thanks for the suggestions i used to listen a lot of gypsy jazz i really love la pompe and they’re rhythm aproach