How to Strum a Guitar

Contributor

By eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating:

(46 Ratings)

Get a guitar manual or songbook with chord symbols and use these techniques with different chords and songs. It's more fun to practice if you're playing "real" music at the same time.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Acoustic Guitars
Electric Guitars
Guitar Amplifiers
Guitar Cables
Guitar Cases
Guitar Picks
Guitar Stands
Guitar Straps
Sheet Music For Guitar
Electronic Tuner For Guitars
Chairs
Chairs

The Downstroke

Step 1

Sit in a comfortable position. Rest the guitar on your right knee.
Step 2

Relax your hands.
Step 3

Place your right hand over the body of the guitar, with your thumb slightly touching the lowest (low E) string.
Step 4

Finger the easy G chord with your left hand: Press your index finger down on the third fret of the top (high E) string. This will give you a "real" chord to play.
Step 5

Stroke with your right thumb from the fourth (D) string down across the strings.
Step 6

Start counting 1-2-3-4 with each stroke, stressing the 1 (4/4 time).
Step 7

Alternately, count 1-2-3, stressing the 1 (3/4 time).
Step 8

Count 1-2-1-2, stressing the 1 (2/4 time).
Step 9

Use your index finger or a guitar pick instead of your thumb. Listen to the differences in sound. Experiment.

The Down-Upstroke

Step 1

On the same chord, stroke down across the strings.
Step 2

Stroke back against the strings, from the smallest to the largest. The down-up strum goes like this: Down-1, down up-2, down up-3, down up-4 (in 4/4 time).
Step 3

Play in 3/4 time (down-1 up-2 up-3).
Step 4

Play in 2/4 time (down-1, up-2).
Step 5

Use your index finger or a pick instead of your thumb.
Step 6

Practice, practice, practice.

The Bass-Down-Up Strum

Step 1

Pluck the bass note of the chord you're playing (in our case, the D string) with your thumb.
Step 2

Follow with down- and upstrokes. It looks like this: Pluck bass note-1, down up-2, down up-3, down up-4 (in 4/4 time).
Step 3

Experiment with the same pattern in 3/4 and 2/4 time.

Comments

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 7/9/2006 The key to learning how to strum a guitar is to always keep your hand moving, even when you're not touching the pick to the strings. Your hand should move up and down for each beat of the timing: ex 3/4 time your hand should move up 3 times and down 3 times within each one-two-three.