I know this has been covered, but i am having a difficult time moving my hand and not strumming strings. What is the best practice resource for learning to keep hand moving in time when not actually strumming???
Hi there TenorLee, Look I’m certainly no expert, as I am only nearly 12 months in from a “Justin” subscription. The way I did it (not saying this is the best way) but try moving your hand in sync with your foot. So tap your foot to the beat, then when your foot comes up, that when your hand comes up, and so on when moving down.
Hope that helps!
Lee, there is Justin’s strumming course that consolidates many of the strumming learning spread over the grades into a single course, which may make it easier to focus in on strumming.
That said, I don’t think there is any specific resource or trick to this, it just takes practice. So be patient with yourself and aim for regular practice. Foot-tapping may help and I’d encourage using a metronome. You could start with 4 down strums, get into a groove, and then skip one. If you can spend some time on this every day, then over time you will master it.
Hello Lee, I think the best you can do at the moment is to slow things down as much as needed. Every time you learn a new technique, your brain needs a considerable amount of time to process the information, so that your hand is finally able to do what you want from it.
In the beginning, you will have to concentrate a lot on this new task. But over time and with practice you’ll get better and better at it. Then you can speed it up, and it will soon be quite a natural thing to do .
I wrote a topic geared towards strumming and counting to a backing track. It has much relevance to the issue you are facing so check it out here: Counting and keeping time when playing to a backing track