Technique for strumming gently...

[pgj]

Looking for some tips on strumming gently and consistently even. Every time I get into a strumming groove I catch myself eventually just crushing the strings...really digging in aggressively and basically beating it up. Thoughts?

 

[Stephen J.]

Loose the pick.
Keep in mind that I am a hobbyist, so my perspective is not as refined as the more accomplished artists around here. But I find using my fingers gets me better results. Not all styles will accommodate this, but it works for me.

 

[CandidPicker]

Looking for some tips on strumming gently and consistently even. Every time I get into a strumming groove I catch myself eventually just crushing the strings...really digging in aggressively and basically beating it up. Thoughts?

You could transition to gentle strumming first by hybrid picking...the action slows down the right hand somewhat...you could even move towards simple fingerpicking that might evoke more toneful notes...

I've personally struggled with similar issues regards hard strumming...then I remember what dynamics are, and employ these....

 

[Reo Clayton]

You can try rotating your pick 90 degrees and using the soft shoulder of the pick for strumming. I do this once in a while for strumming when I want less attack and a warmer tone.

 

[veinbuster]

As with most things on guitar, the only real answer is practice. But maybe some of these will help:
Turn the pick in your hand so you are using a rounder edge. If you don’t expose as much pick, it will be much more difficult to smash the snot out of the strings.
Don’t strum across all the strings. If you only contact the bass side, or the high side, or the middle strings; you are forcing more control and you won’t brutalize the strings.
Try to play as quietly as you can, then build the volume and come back down again. You’ll quickly develop a feel for softer playing.

Almost all of my volume change is without touching the volume knob. If turn it to adjust the overall sound, but not my volume within a song.

 

[pgj]

You can try rotating your pick 90 degrees and using the soft shoulder of the pick for strumming. I do this once in a while for strumming when I want less attack and a warmer tone.

Just tried that. Seems to works pretty good. thanks.

 

[pgj]

As with most things on guitar, the only real answer is practice. But maybe some of these will help:
Turn the pick in your hand so you are using a rounder edge. If you don’t expose as much pick, it will be much more difficult to smash the snot out of the strings.
Don’t strum across all the strings. If you only contact the bass side, or the high side, or the middle strings; you are forcing more control and you won’t brutalize the strings.
Try to play as quietly as you can, then build the volume and come back down again. You’ll quickly develop a feel for softer playing.

Almost all of my volume change is without touching the volume knob. If turn it to adjust the overall sound, but not my volume within a song.

There's that dang "P" word...

but I want to be good now!

 

[RallyFanatic]

Your overall body tension plays a big role, I used to be very tightly wound when I played and it made me a bit heavy handed. Now I’m conscious of being nice and loose, and with strumming it made a big difference.

Also - turn your amp up uncomfortably loud, you’ll learn to be gentle real quick

 

[AP515]

Use a light pick to start. You can move to heavy later. A light pick will bend and it's hard to be aggressive with a pick that bends.

Also, get a metronome. Strum on the beat. It will focus you on your technique, not on the music you are making. All you need is to focus on your technique.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Change your pick angle. Instead of pointing the pick straight at the strings, angled the point back on a down stroke, and down on an upstroke. Meaning whichever way you’re strumming, your pick tip is angled back from the direction your strumming. You’ll end up rolling your hand to do so. This technique allows you to do so for dynamic purposes, without losing the ability to strum loudly when you want too. It also loosens up your pick hand for other techniques. I find a lot of guys who are hitting it hard are stiff wrested and hammering with their arm. Practice rolling your hand to down stroke and up stroke with no or little movement of your forearm.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

P.s. just realized I didn’t add this.

You can also rotate your pick slightly so that rather than hitting the strings as a flat surface, you’re hitting it more with a V shaped surface, so the ramp up and back down of the transient attack is softened. This is a HUGE part of picking fast for me. But it can also be used to soften the attack of a note, notes or chord.

The pick glides better across the string or strings, which is why it’s so much better for playing fast. But the reduced plucking bounce (I just made that term up!) evens your attack as well.

 

[Huggy Love]

Use a light pick to start. You can move to heavy later. A light pick will bend and it's hard to be aggressive with a pick that bends.

Also, get a metronome. Strum on the beat. It will focus you on your technique, not on the music you are making. All you need is to focus on your technique.

I agree 100% on the technique aspect of this but I humbly disagree with the thin pick idea.

Here's my reasoning:
A thick pick has no give, thus requiring you to develop pick grip technique to strum at an even level. Then after someone has acquired enough skill at this, when they go down to a more flexible pick, strumming more consistently is even easier because as you said, strumming with a thin pick is generally easier anyway.

Think of a baseball batter on deck swinging a heavy weighted bat to make their standard MLB regulation bat feel lighter at the plate. The same thing applies to thick and thin picks IMO, I've tried it several times and that's how it works out for me. YMMV


*Disclaimer- I admit to be a lazy bum that noodles lead licks most of the time and rarely plays rhythm, unless I have a gig with a good singer.

 

[pgj]

Your overall body tension plays a big role, I used to be very tightly wound when I played and it made me a bit heavy handed. Now I’m conscious of being nice and loose, and with strumming it made a big difference.

Also - turn your amp up uncomfortably loud, you’ll learn to be gentle real quick

I do feel quite tense...particularly squeezing the strings very hard which tends to make chords out of tune. I'm working on loosening up.

 

[merciful-evans]

Some very good advice. All the important stuff has been covered.

A lighter pick might help also.

 

[Boogie]

+1 for the thin pick. You will naturally reduce your impact with a thin pick...especially on an acoustic.

 

[JJJ]

Loosen your grip on the pick

Focus on using your wrist and hand, not your arm/elbow.

Maybe look up some drills for modulating how hard you pick, it's important for lead playing too