Good Evening
I have been on my guitar journey for a while and it is still very up and down.
Recently I have been playing some songs using the D Major Chord.
However when I use a variation of an up down strumming pattern it does not sound good at all!
I have tried looking on YouTube to see what I am doing wrong and what sound I should get but I am still stuck!
Can anyone kindly give me some advice
Thanks
John
It might help to post a little video. Hard to guess what the problem is.
I found a nice consistent up strum was little difficult to learn to do well. Slow way, way down and practice a nice smooth up strum technique. You may be catching the strings wrong, or inconsistently. Perhaps just hitting too many strings.
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Hey John!
Question - does the D Major chord sound “right” with just downstrums? As Joshua @Jamolay points out, upstroke is a whole 'nother animal & doesn’t come automatically…
If your downstrum playing sounds good then the problem is just in the upstroke…
if the downstrum also sounds bad, it may be in chord formation, tuning issues, dynamics… a video sure would help to diagnose the problem.
Tod
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Thanks guys very much for reply and advice I will take it on board
As you say I should have attached a recording. So here is on A few down strokes first.
Then a few DDDUDU
Thanks again
Hopefully this will work:
it sounds for me, like 1st string is muted by finger 3, look the lesson " How To Play The D Chord" from 4:18, maybe it helps.
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you sound slightly out of tune. Check your tuning first.
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You might be tuning the strings correctly on open strings but it could be that by pressing down really hard, you are pressing some notes sharp
-Check what our fellow Community member @brianlarsen illustrated so nicely:
I continued on that, illustrating where you ideally could fret (no disaster if it is a bit futher from the fret). the orange circle is your fingertip
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make sure that you only play the 4 thinnest strings and that you don’t mute.
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try fretting and playing each note of the chord separately to check if you have any buzzing
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John,
I just experimented with my guitar & think that both @witkatz & @LievenDV are right…
Your tuning sounds a bit sharp & the 1st (high e) string sounds muted.
One other thing I notice is that you are holding the guitar with a lot of angle so you can see the fretboard more easily… that’s OK, but if you do that, you’ll have a harder time playing the 1st string cleanly… a little less angle might help.
Good luck!
Tod
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It sounds and looks like you are strumming down and then flicking your wrist up rather than strumming up.
Try to rotate the pick so that the tip points slightly towards the bridge. Then the upstrums will sound smoother and you can avoid the pick getting caught up between the strings.
For both the down-strokes and up-strokes, I don’t “hear” anything unusual. You may be muting a string sometimes, and you may be pressing so hard that the fretted strings are bent sharp, but those are just normal, new player issues. However, I suggest you adjust the way you are holding your pick and refine your strumming arm movement.
Here are two of Justin’s lessons that may help:
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Yeah, that’s what jumped out at me too.
I don’t know if that’s what’s causing the tonal problems,… But it’s definitely going to cause problems in the long run…
Good morning
Thanks very much to you all taking the time to offer me your advice.
I will look at all the points and work on them. I think I have got myself in some bad habits.
I will have to look at Justin’s videos again on the points you have raised.
Thanks again and happy playing
John
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E string muted on the up strum but something else is wrong could we see the fretting hand it does sound out of tune.
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