Help With Smooth Strumming (Mar-19-03)

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I am wondering if someone, maybe Ney, could suggest an exercise for developing a soft strumming technique for use with an acoustic guitar. Here is the problem. I have been watching a friend of mine play using the following pattern. Say in 4/4 time, playing the "G" cord. Beat 1 pick the Base "G" note; beat 2 strum down and up; repeat for beats 3 and 4. When he plays, his strumming is very, very smooth and soft, but not too soft. When I play the pattern, the longer I go the louder it gets to the point of irritation. It seems to me I even start "out loud". I can only imagine what it will be like when I plug in. I have used the Principles, as far as they go for using a pick, with no improvement with this problem. Either I am missing something or I am just a clumsy slug, or maybe both. I appreciate any suggestions for resolving this problem.

-Richard

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Richard

Never call your self “a clumsy slug”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Think positive!

Not seeing you play makes it difficult to offer the correct solution but it sounds like a dexterity problem. Playing softly requires great control. As your muscles start to tire, you begin to lose control of the soft attack. You eventually start to force the strum due to muscles tiring thus creating a harder attack on the strings as time progresses.

Try this. Time yourself playing with a metronome. When you notice the attacks getting harder, stop. That is your max time at that specific tempo and rhythm. Then gradually try to increase the time even if it’s by 5 seconds.
It’s still an improvement.

Hope this helps,
Byron Santo
http://www.ByronSanto.Com
http://www.myspace.com/byronsanto

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Hi Richard,

IMO, it is a problem of endurance. Try this, get a soft stress reliever (or anything soft that you can squeeze), and squeeze it a minimum of 100 times in a row. Gradually increase the number of repetitions. Since it is soft(that's the key), it is easy to squeeze a couple of times, therefore it does not develop strength per se. Over time you should see a higher level of endurance coming into your hands. Ney had talked about this in a number of posts, about how
important it is to be physically fit, and have a high level of endurance as well as strength.

Also do what Byron suggested.

Hopefully this helped a bit,
Mike

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Thanks to both Bryan Santo and Mike for your insightful suggestions. I’ll definitely try what you both have suggested. I’ll also post back on the results. By the way, I don’t really think I’m a slug. I’m just progressing slowly due to limited time to practice.

Again, thanks very much.

Richard

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Hi Richard,

Most likely, you are right, you are a clumsy slug! That is what we all are before we have mastered a particular skill. The question is how to transform from "clumsy slug" to "beautifully skilled butterfly".

Here is what I think. I think if I saw you I would see a tense arm holding a tense pick, doing a tense, and yes, clumsy strum. In fact, it Tom B. reads this, he will back me up that I just pointed out the same thing to him in a lesson he came for a few weeks ago.

It is extremely common. Probably, you are too tense from the "git go". That is why your strum is loud. "Loud" means too much force brought to the string. You get louder as you go because you get tenser as you go. It is subtle, and very common.

Tom was having the same clumsiness in his strum and picking. But, don't go to the other extreme and only play soft. The secret is to use minimum force, feel the arm tense appropriately (and minimally) at the point of highest force, and most importantly RELAX AFTER EACH STRUM.

Extreme no tempo, and attention is required. It is the kind of thing I usually must correct in person. It is hard to catch by yourself, but not impossible.

Hopefully, Tom will comment. Also, use that "matchbook" technque I reported on in my last newsletter, the tecnique that a teacher named Rocco uses.

Good luck!

Best,
Jamie

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"In fact, it Tom B. reads this, he will back me up that
I just pointed out the same thing to him in a lesson he came
for a few weeks ago."


C'mon Jamie, it was just last Friday! Or does time really pass that much faster in Jamie world?


"Hopefully, Tom will comment."


This afternoon, I sent you an email (to jamie@guitarprinciples.com) with a recording and some questions. I'd prefer to hear from you first, before I respond. Just want to make sure the best info gets posted directly to the Forum!

-Tom

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Whoops, I forgot! You are on "normal time". In Jamie World, we live in "hyper-life", where things move at about 3 or 4 times the speed of the normal world, with 3 or 4 times the normal amount of change and events.

Yes, in normal time, that was last Friday, wasn't it?

It really sounds like Rich is having the same issue we dealt with in the lesson. I will reveiw those questions soon for you, thanks Tom.

(I heard the ski resort Geraldine suggested worked out well, and you had a good "Principled" ski!)


Best,
Jamie

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Okay, I listened to the recording Tom, very good. Your beat is solid. I think you have a good idea of how to proceed, from reading your comments. Now, here are your questions and my replies.....


"I've had some success in reducing movement of my upper arm. It seemed to
be mainly caused because my shoulder was retracted, not because I was using
those muscles to strum. When I use "scapular protrusion" in my right
shoulder, this motion is much reduced, and things feel smoother. So I'm
pretty happy with this now. But do I need to keep my upper arm TOTALLY
motionless?"


No, the upper arm may move in relaxed and natural way in sympathy with the forearm. After all, most of the muscles moving the forearm are IN the upper arm, some, like the biceps, are actually attached to the scapula. Just keep those big muscles maximally relaxed. Keep putting your attention on them.


"I've also been watching the wrist motion you picked me up on. I can
reduce this as well when I make my wrist more rigid, but I don't like the result.
Feels stiffer - harder to stay in the groove. I'm tempted to stay with
the looser wrist. What do you think?"


Hard to say for sure without seeing you, but go with your intuition, and keep examining your results.


"Left Hand: Been working on the 5th root barre chords, mainly No Tempo and higher on
the neck so far. Still some difficulty spreading the 1st and 3rd fingers as I
move to the chord ("abduction"?), but better than when you saw me."


This will take awhile to fix up. One month to see significant progress, 3 months to become firmly established, a natural part of your technique. No big deal, it takes me 2 to 5 years to fix certain things I work on.


"One new thing I noticed is that when I slide my hand down the neck from
the A to the C, I tend to leave my elbow in the same place. Then, when I put
my fingers down on the C, I pull my elbow away from my ribs to maintain a
more or less right angle between my forearm and the guitar neck. This seems
wrong to me."

"Am I right in thinking that I should be moving my elbow along with my
wrist, maintaining the right angle for the whole time my arm is moving to the new
fret?"


Yes! In anatomical terms, it means using humerus abduction instead of lateral rotation, completley different muscles. Use constant no tempo and posing. The deltoids are moving the humerus, and you must keep the body relaxed as they do so, at the same time making the necessary effort in the hand. Your main problem was weakness in the hand (while stretching out 3) accompanied by "lock up" in the upper arm. So, this is all the stuff you have to re-train.


"If so, should I practice this and get it down before worrying about my
fingers? I ask because someone (Relic Strat, I think) said that it's a
good idea to train large muscles first."


That concept does not apply here. You need to train the hand to make the right effort WHILE the upper arm stays quiet.

The most important point I want to make here to Rich and everybody else, is that Tom walked in having "trouble with strumming" this syncopated rhythm smoothly, but it had little to do with "understaning" the rhythm. It was a physical, bodily condtion of considerable complexity. Solving it is a lot like untying a very complicated knot. It must be done in a certain way, in a certain order, every step guided by a deep understanding of the interplay of relevant dynamics.

It sounds like Tom has a very good grasp of these dynamics, and I am looking forward to hearing the next recording, maybe WITH the 16th notes! (But, don't rush it, go as you are, you are doing great!)


Best,
Jamie

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"The most important point I want to make here to Rich and
everybody else, is that Tom walked in having "trouble with
strumming" this syncopated rhythm smoothly, but it had little
to do with "understaning" the rhythm. It was a physical,
bodily condtion of considerable complexity. Solving it is a
lot like untying a very complicated knot. It must be done in a
certain way, in a certain order, every step guided by a deep
understanding of the interplay of relevant dynamics."

I'd like to point out that I was pretty much oblivious to the strumming problems I was having before I walked into Jamie's studio. I took the private lesson because of problems with my LEFT arm/hand - I thought I had the right arm stuff DOWN! Perhaps if I had been recording myself as Jamie always stresses, I would have been aware of this, and been able to correct it myself. Although I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to zoom in and improve the situation almost instantly like Jamie did.


"It sounds like Tom has a very good grasp of these dynamics,
and I am looking forward to hearing the next recording, maybe
WITH the 16th notes! (But, don't rush it, go as you are,
you are doing great!)"

Thanks Jamie - I get frustrated sometimes because I think it takes me a very long time to get this stuff. It's re-assuring to have a realistic time frame for when I should see major improvement.

Cheers,

-Tom

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"It is extremely common. Probably, you are too tense from the
'git go'. That is why your strum is loud. "Loud" means too
much force brought to the string. You get louder as you go
because you get tenser as you go. It is subtle, and very
common."

Hey Jamie,

Could the tension possibly be the result of undeveloped muscles trying to compensate for the lack of endurance or dexterity?

I'm trying to picture where the tension is coming from that would cause this.

Still Learning,
Byron Santo
http://www.ByronSanto.Com
http://www.myspace.com/byronsanto