Learning How To Strum The Guitar...Start With The Basics

If something is too hard to do, then it's not worth doing. You just stick that guitar in the closet next to your shortwave radio, your karate outfit and your unicycle and we'll go inside and watch TV.

Matt Groening (1954 - ), The Simpsons

One of the most important skills in learning to play the guitar is learning how to strum the guitar. People who know how to strum the guitar know it's much more than simply running your hands up and down the strings to make a tone. The strum patterns are important and can lend novelty and rhythm to your music, so the more variety you can learn the better.

When learning how to strum the guitar, you should start with the basics. Learning to Play with Guitar Strum Patterns consist of upstrokes, downstrokes, or a combination of both. An upstroke is when you strum the strings from the bottom to the top, and a downstroke is strumming the strings from the top to the bottom.

To keep the rhythm going strong in any song, it's best to use a combination of up strokes and down strokes when learning how to strum the guitar. The down-up-down-up pattern is one of the most basic pieces of knowing how to strum the guitar. Practice strumming evenly and firmly, but not too hard or too soft. As with any new skill, practice makes perfect, so plan to spend time every day using your new skills.

People who know how to strum the guitar practice often to keep their rhythm smooth and consistent. You can learn how to strum the guitar more effectively if you start strumming very slowly, and then only speed up once you've mastered the pattern at a slow speed.

Once you're familiar with how to strum the guitar in a basic down-up-down-up pattern, you can start learning more complex techniques for how to strum the guitar. These more complex patterns take the basic pattern and start leaving beats (or strums) out, while adding rests, which are periods where the rhythm stops.

A common strum pattern is down-up-down-up-rest-down-up-down. With this pattern, you simply leave out one strum and rest instead, to give the rhythm some variety. Most of learning how to strum the guitar consists of learning these different patterns, and even creating some of your own.

You can learn how to strum the guitar with help from an experienced teacher, but you can also learn how to strum the guitar by purchasing an instructional book or CD. Some people even learn how to strum the guitar by taking lessons or reading information online. Some websites offer video and audio clips to teach you the basics up close and personal. You can find local instructors at your favorite music store, or try a local recording studio for leads.

Once you've learned how to strum the guitar with speed and skill, you'll have developed a very versatile talent that will serve you for a long time.