Hello from New York!
Thanks to Justin, I have been getting the hang of strumming the correct strings on the A and D chord. I realized recently that I can mute the low E string for the A chord with my thumb. Should I make this muting technique a habit or practice my strumming accuracy?
Thanks a bunch!
Hi Remus welcome to the community.
Its not actually a bad habit and you will come to rely on it in time. But not just yet ! When you are starting out it is important to develop hand and finger strength and picking accuracy. This is why Justin teaches you to place you thumb at the back of the neck. This builds your hand strength but also forces you to hit the right strings and after a while that become such a natural action you wonât think about it.
Great youâve discovered this but keep it in your back pocket for now. It will get pulled out soon enough !
Cheers
Toby
Will do. Thanks for replying!
So Im not the only one not doing a good job of hitting only the correct strings when strumming.
I have a fear that if I donât master strumming the correct strings now, I will establish a bad habit that will be hard to correct later. This also goes for sloppy chord positioning. I am a little unsure about moving on to the next lesson, and adding new chords and strumming patterns when I am not very good at strumming the right strings and my positioning isnât always perfect when playing along with the practice songs.
Hey! I donât know how long you have been practicing for, but strumming the correct strings will become easier as you progress. As long as you know the chords well enough (not perfectly), can change between chords at least 30 times, and play one song with the chords you should move on.
The later modules will still have you practice some of what you learned previously, so no need to have strumming perfect now.
Have fun!
Gotcha! Thanks for the reminder. This is just the end of my 2nd week! Itâs tough out here for us perfectionists!
Two weeks is no time at all. Diligently practice ensuring you hit the correct strings and see how youâre doing in 2 months.
Love how in previous lesson on Bars & Strumming I left with the sole question of âok but I keep hitting the extra string, is that ok?â and next vid autoplayed on exactly this topic. Great ordering.
You didnât explain how to strum only the correct strings at allâŚ
Hello @UnknownGhost5 and welcome to JustinGuitar and the community.
Justin explains that this is / will be an important skill which will be the centre of focus and dedicated learning further down the line. The main aspect to trying to hit the correct strings is not swinging your arm in too big an arc and watching what your strumming arm is doing.
I hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard | JustinGuitar Approved Teacher, Official Guide & Moderator
Whats difficult is trying to the correct strings without the extending of your neck, ill rather avoid having to see an osteopath even though my neck is abnormal. But it is truly hard not being able to see the strings your strumming so does one learn to feel what the string feels like?
Thatâs part of it. I found it helpful to distinguish the wound strings - E, A, D, G on acoustic - by touch.
Also, feeling the frets against your fingers, as Justin explains in one of his videos.
I also found it useful to mentally picture the chords before playing them.
that seems extremely difficult for any beginner I would think, but Ill consider that.
I have found it useful to simply try plucking individual open strings as an exercise so that my strumming hand can learn where a strum for an A or D for example should start from compared to my default all strings strum position.
Something like picking the 6th string 3 times, dropping down to 5th 3 times etc. Then coming back up in reverse. Having done that a few times I then go 6-4-2 and back up, switch to 5 3 1 and back up. All down picking and making sure itâs coming from forearm action rather than just the wrist.
Oh, and like everything guitar itâs just time and patience. Itâs not until you stick with something for a while and then look back that you can see how far youâve come with it.
Like sweep picking but not really?
Not sweep picking, each pick stands alone.
I Think you are teaching us well but my fingers are still hurting way too much
I will not give up but it is quite hard ti play continuously
Hi Japneet @JapJap_smart12, welcome to the community! You are experiencing the rite of passage that all guitarists must endure: sore fingers! Itâs a unique pain, isnât it? I (we all) promise, it will pass. When I was starting out, I practiced for only 15 minutes at a time. To increase my time, Iâd often practice twice a day for 10 or 15 minutes. If I recall, I only did this for about a month, but it sure felt longer!
If youâre up for it, tell us a bit about yourself in the Introduce Yourself section. 
The best advice I can give is:
Practice placing your fingertip as close to the fret as possible
practice using the least amount of finger pressure required to make the note clear (youâd be surprised how little pressure it takes)
In a few months, youâll have callouses starting to build on your fingertips and the discomfort will be much less.
Hi ,
I started the program a week ago and have been practicing every day. Iâve never played guitar before, so this is my first time learning. After the first week, I can remember the A & D chord shapes, and I can perform chord changes 30+ times between A & D. However, the issue is that I cannot strum these chords with the pick. It sounds horrible even though I correctly place my fingers because I am either hitting the wrong strings or strumming at awkward angles. If I strum with my thumb, I can get the chords sounding perfect most of the time with 30+ per minute. I hope someone can offer some advice on how to improve strumming with a pick, or should I move on to module 2?