Strumming Perfect Upstrokes - DrKevGuitar.com
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- Beginning guitar players will have some initial difficulty with strumming and rhythm. for many players, part of the difficulty is learning to strum upstrokes. In this video I explain the 'secret' to playing upstrokes, along with a simple practice technique that will make your strumming and rhythm playing smoother and more fluid.
I'm a guitar teacher and guitar tech living in Paris, France. For more info on my guitar lessons, and teaching and guitar tech blog posts, go to DrKevGuitar.com
Check out this video on how to hold your guitar pick...
• How to Hold Your Guita...
and this one on not strumming from your elbow...
• Stop Strumming from yo...
Such a soothing demeanor. Like watching Painting with Bob Ross back in the day.
ROFL! Thank you!
when I do upstrokes it just sounds like someone's dying. seriously One string is way lounder than the others and it's just really awkward.
Keep at it and you will improve, I promise. Every minute you spend trying to improve counts, even you see no immediate improvement. Your brain has to figure out how to control a ton of muscles fibres in ways it has never done before. It needs time and that means you might have accept some crummy playing for a little while. But it's all part of the process and you will get there! :-)
Kevin Kretsch thank you! yea I hope so. anyways your videos are really helpeful so I'll just keep on following those things everyday and eventually I will have to get better.
The secret of funky strumming is to get the hand moving down at the same time as the forearm is moving up - I'll do a video about this one day to show what I mean. If the hand is going down and the forearm is going up, then the wrist is REALLY loose - Funk baby...
KiraKira BurningNight the string resistance is way worse
I have the same problem too
This guy's a good teacher. And the muted strings gives you the intro to "Back in Black"🎸
exactly ...
"let your brain figure it out" ...You don't know my brain, dude. My brain suuuuuuucks.
I DO know your brain. It'll get there. Be patient, give it more practice time. :-)
Through the Abyss lmao
Omg.. it really works when you close your eyes and let your brain figures the thing out on it owns.. ty!
Yes, it does! And well done, you! Just keep at it, keep trying, and it will become second nature.
Hi Kev - Excellent, simple instruction. The obstacles I've encountered in the past (and still persist somewhat) are: wrist too relaxed or too tense, inconsistent pick depth, 'forcing' myself to 'just relax' (builds habit or anticipatory tension), and the prize winning - trying to play more sophisticated patterns to solve less complex problems.
Your video is so helpful. I'm going to follow it. I also found that by practicing strumming way up on the actual neck changes the way my brain processes what it thinks it's 'supposed to do' and is helpful too.
Thanks again!!
I have the same exact problems!
I literally watched this video once and now I can down strum, you are seriously a legend!!!
Same!
Fact : If you can play consecutive down strokes you are already playing perfect upstrokes you just haven't applied it yet .
This solved half of my problem , I told this to my mind and I was able to do upstrokes not perfectly but yeah
From last 2 days i spent sleep less nights and practicing upstrokes, after watching your lesson now i understand my mistakes. thnak you sir
Happy I can be of help to you! Have a great weekend, and get more sleep! :)
it was hard for me to do up strumming but after closing eyes its working it sounds good now. That was best tutorial. You are really something man. ❤️
Thanks I had problems with upstrokes and rhytm and this helps
Close eyes , best advice ever .
Yeah, it never ceases to amaze me what a difference it makes, how much it focuses our ability to listen. And not just "stare into the distance" or "look at nothing", but really truly close your eyes.
I'm using my fingers and no matter what I do they always either get stuck or miss some strings on the upstroke
I have never been able to play upstrokes comfortable and after watching this video doing a upstroke felt normal, this video is amazing.
Thank you, Matthew! And well done!!
Kevin,
You are a great guitar teacher. I used to take guitar lessons but then I stopped (Due to lack of practice). I have been teaching myself songs at home but have been having trouble figuring out strumming techniques. Therefore, my rhythm was thrown off. This video made a tremendous difference in my strumming. Thank you so much!
I also have a really tight and stiff wrist. I hold the pick too tight also. Any tips?
Thank you sir, this lesson was much appreciated!
So Calm. I love how he teaches. I really do wish he was my teacher.
Wow brilliant video. I struggle with upstroke. It feels so awkward and sound out. I will keep practicing this as trying to learn to play a song at moment.
Thank you, Caroline.
Thank you for sharing
Its scary how simple yet helpful this video was; thx!!!
Thank you so much Kevin for this beautiful video😊
I am a beginner and looks like this will help me to make the strumming easy.
You’re very welcome. I shot this video so long ago I forgot how young I looked! Keep working at it you’ll get there. Everyone can do this, just a matter of time. Keep turning up, keep putting in the time in, and you’ll be a great player!
THANKS KEVIN. PLAYING FOR A WHILE NOW. SOMETIMES UPSTROKE GOOD SOMETIMES TERRIBLE. I WORRIED ABOUT IT TO MUCH. LET MY LITTLE BRAIN WORK. MAGICALLY NOW IT'S SMOOTH AND EASY ON MY EARS
Great video, I really like the pacing of your teaching & your Steve Buscemi-like demeanor!
I still don't understand the Steve Buscemi thing but it's not the first time somebdoy said that to me. Thanks! :-)
this was so helpful, thank you!
@@michellef3110 You are very welcome! Thank you for the message, Michelle.
Amazing video. I finally got it. You are Steve Buscemi, my favorite actor :)
This helped A LOT! Thank you
You are very welcome!
wow never thought of it like this. I can already notice some improvement and I was getting so frustrated with this. Funny thing is I had more trouble muting the strings then the strumming itself. Thanks man
Glad you find it useful! Keep at it and good luck!
Thanks!!! Upstrokes are getting in the way indeed :)
First upstroke is at 5:36
Omg thank you, I had issues with upstrokes but now I'm getting it thanks
Well done you! Keep at it!
Super HelpFul. Definitely recommend this Chanel 👌 😁
This video iis great! BUT I gotta just say, you have THE most calming voice I have ever listend to! This is great
Really enjoyed you lesson. Very helpful. Great Job!
Thank you, Paul!
One word thanks! You described problem perfectly and seeing improvement immediately
Got to say I need this I finally got it and someone suggested I use a very thin pick I use a nylon pick it makes life even easier
Well done you! Fantastic! Once you get comfortable with the thin nylon pick try lots of other picks, different thicnesses, materials, shapes, see what works best for you. They all sound and feel a little different. Thicker generally makes life a little more difficult at first but you learn much more control of volume with thicker picks in the long run.
Wow, this was such a simple concept, but helped so much by just the end of the video.
Big Help! Thanks Kevin
Wow it helped man, thanks
Hey man, really appreciate the lesson. Going to add this to the daily practice until it’s second nature. Enjoyed the content, thanks
Thank you, David!
This is most helpfull video i watched.Ijust listen and followed you and i got it in motion.Thanks!
It sounds stupid almost but i makes a heck of s lot of sense. Thanks. I'll be sure to try this when i get home. Been practicing and i would almost either studder or stop part way threw.
Do try! Give it some time, it"s not the kind of thing that comes 'magically' first time you try. Mute the strings, close your eyes, listen, and allow yourself to get it wrong every so often while you try to get it right. You will get there in the end. Good luck!
Top Sir,thanks
Thank you🙏
Thank you Kevin. These great insights into simplicity are the best.
You are very welcome!
My finger always gets caught on the first string on the way back up. Is it just muscle memory trying to get your finger to not do this?
omg ur a amazing teacher thank you for this video
You are very welcome, and thank you!
Great teatching, thanks!
You're very welcome. Thank you!
Thanks sir
Oh God! you are my saviour!
Thank you. I've been frustrated trying to learn
Guys it's not bs, closing my eyes actually helped lol
🤣 No matter how many students I tell, they never believe me. Until they try it. Like, really try it. Don’t be afraid, be brave, nothing can go wrong, your guitar won’t explode, nobody will be hurt, not even you, and the worst you can do is play something that momentary sounds bad before it evaporates and vanishes. Fearless is the path to awesomeness. 🙂
@@DrKevGuitar haha yeah, I think it's one of those things that make you think "he's just saying that, I don't REALLY need to close my eyes. Maybe someone who's a bit slow would need that but not me, I can just skip over that." But it's an important step and you really need to give it a chance to help you.
I like the way you do your own outro that's very original (not being sarcastic)
thank you
0:08 OMG 😱 what a great strum.....Feels awesome to hear... 👍
This actually helped waaaaay more than I thought it would thank you! ^^
Great tips on strumming with the eyes closed. It really helped me.
Thank you!
Can you do a lesson on how to practice upstrokes when certain strings have to be avoided, depending on which chord it is? I haven't see such a lesson by anyone, yet it's the hardest thing I've tried to do so far.
I just did a video called "Keeping Strings Quiet While Strumming". It'll cover most of what you need. ua-cam.com/video/3DyEMhf7ukA/v-deo.html
Great! I love the way you explain it.
Thank you!
Thank you sir, It might help me. 🙏
Very very useful. Helped me a lot :) thanks Sir. U teach very well
I have no words about how your video helps me. Thank you so much! 😀👍 I live in Russia and my English is has some problems but I hope you can understand me. You are the best music teacher that I saw. You are only who told me about upstroke accessibly. No one told me how to play upstroke through two or more strings. Thank you! ❤️ I wish you to have million subscribers channel. Next step I will try upstroke with palm mute. I hope I will learn this. Have a good day. ❤️
Thank you so much Александр. 😊
thanks a lot
Very helpful !
Very helpful
+Anik Yamin Glad you you found it useful!
Nice video. Thanks for uploading.
thank you so much helped so much hope you can make reommendents for songs
Thanks
Extremely helpful, thank you!
You are most welcome!
Helpful. Thank you.
This is exactly what I needed! Thanks!
You're very welcome!
you’re an amazing teacher!!
Thank you!
thank you 😭
You’re very welcome!
2024. you helped me!! :D
I like you :) Do you take students ? Not sure about taking lessons with a teacher yet but you're the first one who look for me as a good teacher. Living in France also but near Lyon.
Hi Mike, yes I take students. DrKevGuitar.com
Its really helpful
Omg sir u literally described me in the beginning
Thanks bro
Should my guitar pick point downwards or upwards when down stroking
Dudes voice sounds like a hypnotize yourself video voice.
"Listen to my voice. You are now under my control. Your guitar playing will be smooth and beautiful. And you place $100 in my paypal account..." :-)
If you use a pick that is floppy is it easier on the upstroke? What do you recommend for a beginner?
Upstrokes can be initially tricky for some players and they'll just need to keep trying before it comes right. That will be the case with or without a guitar pick. I think upstrokes should not be part of the decision of which pick to use.
Choosing a pick really is a personal decision and there is no right or wrong answer. My recommendation is to spend some time with a few different picks and eventually choose the one that produces the best results, i.e. what sounds best and feel most comfortable for the music you want to play. Picks come in many shapes, thicknesses, and materials, and they all feel and sound a little different. So try a bunch out and see what works well. Some beginners prefer a thin pick because it we feel less string resistance (because the pick moves out of the way more). Other players prefer a thicker pick which affords us greater control and range of volume but at the expense of taking a little more time to get used to.
I think it's well worth persevering with a thicker pick, e.g. medium or heavy gauge, and I encourage my students in that direction, but ultimately it's still their decision at the end of the day (though almost all settle on medium or heavy in the end). Just make sure that you don't give up on something too quickly just because the results in the first few minutes are not great, i.e. spend enough time with the picks you do try to give you time to get used to the new feel under your fingers and give a pick time to prove itself before you reject it.
I noticed you are strumming from your wrist, not your elbow. My teacher is teaching us to strum from our elbow with very little wrist movement. What are your thoughts on that?
Hi Lindsay! Thanks so much for your question, I've done a video response to your question here: ua-cam.com/video/etA1rCiVpEs/v-deo.html
Thanks for the personal video! I am incorporating all your advice into my strumming technique.
Question: when you're strumming, is your pick perfectly parallel with the strings? Or is it angled slightly so that the leading edge hits the strings on the downstrokes and the trailing edge hits on the upstrokes (without twisting your hand)?
Great question! Angled, never parallel! The guitar pick is parallel to my thumb, which is roughly parallel to my forearm, which is clearly NOT parallel to the strings. See my video on how to hold your guitar pick!
ua-cam.com/video/CmT8TnWWNXs/v-deo.html
Nice..
Remember the strings should be facing forward, and keep breathing.
do we hold the pick at the same angle up and down, I tend to keep it perpendicular to the strings on the down stroke but feel like I tilt it on the way up or I get stuck on a string, can anyone relate or comment please and thank you
Same angle down and up. Don’t even think about the angle in fact. Just close your eyes and feel your hand and wrist moving. Also, see my video on holding your guitar pick. It may be useful to you! How to Hold Your Guitar Pick -
ua-cam.com/video/CmT8TnWWNXs/v-deo.html
@@DrKevGuitar your video was very helpful, thank you
Kevin,
I also have a really stiff wrist when strumming and tend to have a hard time using my whole arm to strum. Any tips?
Yeah, whole arm makes life difficult. Notice in the video how my forearm is anchored to the top edge of the guitar, my elbow is behind the edge of the guitar. That's limits the amount of elbow/forearm motion and helps promote more wrist action. Place your forearm on the guitar, just like I did, so that your strumming hand hangs naturally over the strings. Relax all the muscles from your shoulder down to your finger tips. Grip the guitar pick as lightly as possible without losing control. Then try to keep your wrist as floppy as possible as you strum. It may sound and feel awful to begin with but stay with it. Give it time, it will get better, I promise!
@@DrKevGuitar Thank you. I will keep that in mind when I'm practicing. Happy July 4th!
@@DrKevGuitar Thank you so much for helping me. I appreciate it.
Kevin, I'm hoping you can help me. My particular problem is that for years I played without knowing strumming basics and would apply a downstroke to any accented chord -- never really alternating the strum consistently. As a result I developed a way stronger and faster downstroke than upstroke. Once, I relearned the proper way I found out old habits are hard to break. My upstroke seems to sound "rakey" as if the pick is being dragged across the strings instead of one instantaneous attack. My question: when upstroking, should you hit the chosen strings all at once? I can't seem to get my brain to do this and it's screwing my playing up. Thanks for any advice!
First, yes, old habits are hard to break - takes perseverance and patience and lots of repetition to allow your brain the time it needs to unlearn the old way and get used to the new way of doing things!
Sounds like you might be rolling your strumming hand on the upstrokes. Don't let the back of your strumming hand turn over. If you are using a guitar pick, draw a smiley face on your thumb nail. Before you start the exercise, note the smiley face should be facing the ceiling roughly over your head, perhaps just a little forward of you. When you complete a downstroke it should be facing the the general direction of the headstock of your guitar. As you do an upstroke it should move smoothly back to it's starting position, like you ran a film of the downstroke in reverse. The smiley face should be facing that same spot on the ceiling again.
Once you've gotten used to that idea do the exercise I show in the video. Invoke the "two minute rule" - do the exercise for TWO FULL minutes at a time (use a timer), non stop no matter how many mistakes you hear, preferably with a metronome. Close your eyes and as you play alternate your attention between listening to the result and, by feeling the motion of your hand and wrist, picture in your head where the smiley face is facing.
Now, I don't know how useful that smiley face idea will be. It may not work, in which case, find an experienced local guitar teacher. A good teacher in the same room will always be able to help you better than I can in the UA-cam comments section!
Good luck!
Thanks for the advice, Kevin. I will give it a try.
I keep dropping my pick!
Go watch my video on holding your guitar pick! :)
Uh...idk. I've been trying to 'upstroke' for a couple years now and the pick only seems to want to hit ( in my case 'gets stuck' ) on only one string. And that's not all.... the pick moves in my fingers! URGH!
Outside of holding the pick sideways (using the edge to glide over the strings), I'm the one student who's totally incapable of accomplishing this concept! 😢
I'll bet the tip of the guitar pick is too far away from your fingers. When it hits the string resistance it moves like a loose tooth. See my video on holding your pick...
ua-cam.com/video/CmT8TnWWNXs/v-deo.html
Hi sir,
Just have one question , I feel your technic good for strumming .. but my question is I have acoustic guitar .. which when I strum it's sounds very high or loud .. help me play it nice and soft ..
Difficult to say without being in the room with BUT you may need to learn control and touch. I'd suggest doing the exercise from the video, eyes closed, listening carefully, but do it playing as loud as you can for, say 30 seconds, followed by as quietly as you can for 30 seconds, and then at an in-between medium volume. The more often you practice like that the more control you will have with the volume of your guitar. And the tone! Listen to how the tone changes with volume and with the distance of your strumming hand relative to the bridge. There can be a lot of variation that you can learn to master! Enjoy!
I have a difficulty with the upstroke, everytime I try I end up just playing the first 2 or 3 strings and missing the others. Any tips?
Just keep trying! Assuming there is no major issues with your playing position/posture, you will get there. Do the exercise I describe in the video - close your eyes, count, listen, feel. Play with a loose relaxed wrist rather than from your elbow. Set a timer and do drills of two whole minutes at a time. Don't stop to correct mistakes, just try to keep a smooth constant rhythm going. Listen to what your playing sounds like - just be gently honest with yourself, acknowledge when it sounds crappy and, more importantly, when it's getting better!
These kind of frustrations affect everybody when learning to play the guitar. Everybody goes through something like this and everybody comes out the other side able to do it. You will too!
What is with the thing that you only should play the first 3 strings at upstroke
I don't recall saying that in this video. Where did that idea come from?
@@DrKevGuitar it comes from two other videos that explain upstrokes. They say it is better to play only the first 3 cuz of timing.
@@Keyc94 Let me put it this way...
I've been playing guitar for 30+ years, well over 1,000 concerts, followed by 8 years of teaching. That thought has never once crossed my mind before today. :D
Without thinking about it while we're playing, it's possible/natural that we don't play all six strings all of the time, but I certainly don't teach that as a basis for good strumming technique as you've heard. But I will add this point...
Playing fewer strings can be very useful because it simplifies/focusses/clarifies your sound, which can be very helpful in a band context. But other than that, i.e. doing so because you like the sound, there is no other reason that I'm aware of.
Fucking love you ❤
@@AjayThakur-cm9wn Fucking love you too, now go practice some more. 👍🏻
this is guitar ASMR
Thank you, I think?!
Kevin Kretsch LOL YES it was a compliment your voice is so soothing 😭
how the hell do you even hold the pick, cause it keeps falling out of my hand. Help...please
ua-cam.com/video/CmT8TnWWNXs/v-deo.html
How thin is your pick? And does it matter?
Michel Hoang I use thick, small picks, small teardrop (358 shape) 0.9 mm. But it makes no difference what pick you use, use whatever works best for you. Thin is generally easier for strumming but thicker picks, I find, gives more control of dynamics. See my video on holding your guitar pick for more discussion!
@@DrKevGuitar i made it, now i can do upstroke easily with 0.88 pick, thanks dude
Michel Hoang FANTASTIC!! Well done!
@@DrKevGuitar i even forgot how i failed to do it in the first place lmao
Michel Hoang ha ha! Yes, now that you have it you can never lose it!
🙏🏿guru
Did you get those big biceps from all the upstrokes?
Nice A F