So lately I have been struggling with strumming a lot. It is mostly when I attempt to play faster songs, like Save tonight by Eagle eye cherry or Little talks by monsters and men. As soon as I get to the correct tempo, my pick gets sort of stuck on the strings (especially with up strums) or just gets out of control completely and my upper arm starts cramping up a lot. This only happens with faster songs and only when the pattern has lots of up strums involved, it doesn’t happen when I play songs with a pumping 8s down strums. I started justins’ strumming sos course and try to relax my arm and all but I feel very frustrated. It also happens with power chord songs. Up to this day I still can’t play Smells like teen spirit at the original tempo, because my arm cramps up and I lose control of my pick.
I feel like I should not be still experiencing these issues because I have been playing for 4,5 years now. Of course, if I practiced more in those years, say 1 hour per day consistently, I would no doubt be better at certain things but still, I do practice and try to play somewhat every day and the last couple of weeks I am up to approximately 1 hour per day.
Do you have any tips on how to fix the problem of the arm cramping up, the pick getting out of control and getting able to play those songs? And do any of you ever get frustrated with where you are and where you wish you would have been in your journey?
What thickness of pick are you using? Thinner is easier and as you get more comfortable you can go thicker again. I started on 0.46mm, moved to 0.60 after a while and am about to experiment with 0.73mm now
On the subject of frustration, I’ve learned to recognise it and let it go. It’s very much a mindset that I’ve had learn to adopt.
I’ve learned to accept where I am on my journey. I could look back and say that if during my teens I’d picked up a guitar rather than playing video games I’d be a superstar guitarist by now… but I had no interest in guitar then so that’s not useful.
Or when I did first buy a guitar 20 years ago I shouldn’t have quit so easily but there was no resources like this and there was no one I knew who played who could have guided me.
So I am where I am. I still don’t put as much practice time in as I could do but I’m making progress and enjoying it. I’m more realistic these days. I’m setting myself realistic goals and they take as long as they take because I’m never going to compete with my guitar idols, that ship has sailed! I think this helps keep the frustration at bay
Hi Inge,
That sounds like a real challenge for you, however hopefully this frustration you’re feeling will help lead to a breakthrough if you can keep at it Playing anything fast is always tricky in my opinion, however here are a couple of thoughts that spring to mind. What is your posture when playing? Are you finding yourself hunched over the guitar, getting yourself into a cramped position, when you go to play these faster songs? I’ve noticed myself doing that subconsciously when I know a song is a challenge for me, it sometimes takes a little focused self awareness to adjust and relax. Also, what’s your arm doing? Is it doing the whole strum or is it coming more from your wrist? If the former, then perhaps check how your strumming arm rests on the guitar and get in a position that feels comfortable to use your wrist rather your whole arm. Moving just your wrist should go a lot faster than moving your whole arm. Maybe also check your how you’re holding the pick. If it is flat to the strings, and perhaps quite a long past the end of your fingers, then it will be harder to strum fast. Perhaps try holding it more on an angle to the strings and closer in towards your fingers to help it cut through a bit better?
If you felt comfortable, maybe share a video of your strumming with us and that could help diagnose where any technique issues may lie?
Cheers,
Jeff
I’m glad you mentioned this. I have the exact same problem whenever I attempt to strum 16th notes above about 80 bpm. I can do it at slower speeds but when it gets fast my pick is bouncing all over the place. Thinner picks do help but they don’t sound as good ( a lot of “clacking” on the strings). I started with 0.38, and now use .46 with the grip on them so they don’t spin as much. I suspect the problem when I use thicker picks (in my case) is tightening up on the pick so it doesn’t rotate or fly out of my hand. This causes it to not flex enough and it bounces around. I am hoping I will eventually get the feel of holding it loose enough yet maintaining control.
Take your strumming arm. Relax it and shake it fast like a floppy noodle. Can you shake it real fast? That’s kind of like fast strumming, but with a little more control. Can you hold a pick in the hand, while shaking it like that?
I think as you go faster, you’re probably tightening your arm, rather than relaxing it.
Like most things with guitar, I’d suggest starting at an easy pace and in a controlled way, increase the speed. Put the metronome at a comfortable tempo, and strum the pattern you want in a comfortable way. Do it for 3 minutes, then stop. Change chords/play a song if you feel like it (otherwise it would be boring), but stick to that slow tempo.
The next day, increase the BPM by 1 or 2, then 3 minutes of strumming again. Do it every day, keep increasing the tempo. If it gets really hard, drop the BPM a little bit and stay at the same speed for a few days before increasing it.
Yes, definitely, although what we struggle with varies. Rhythm has been straightforward for me, but finger flexibility & ear training/melody have not.
Hi Inge,
Good tips are already there. I will add an exercise/song that has helped me in the past…
This is the life of Amy McDonald…
I first played it with a capo for (come in )complete relaxation and the first weeks I alternated up and down strums without really paying attention to the original… just playing along as relaxed as possible,and if I got a tired arm, and that happened quite often then I knew I wasn’t relaxed… I stopped and had a cup of tea. or just try something else on the guitar and try again, just relax and strum along, it may not be of any use to you, but then you will have a nice song for the future because the pattern is quickly very recognizable, especially if you have someone who sings with you(us )…
Oh, and I don’t know that frustration, I know that if I just carry on calmly, things like this will work out sooner or later, and sometimes a little much later…
Hi Inge, a lot of helpful advice already, I have only two thoughts out of own experience. First of all, I would start at the point to get the pick under control, as it is for sure a major issue to get a cramped arm while trying to fix the pick and not to loose control while strumming at a faster tempo. I use Dunlop Tortex 0,6 for acoustic and found the material to be a bit slippery. I simply put some fabric tape on the upper side, which gives me some additional traction (I don’t have the issue with the Nylons).
Second thought: are we talking about acoustic or electric? I get much more tension in my strumming arm, when I play electric. I find the bodies of the electrics not to be as comfortable as acoustics to give my arm a place to sit comfortably as they are much smaller and more slippery, so I tend to have more tension in may arm. My arm is much more relaxed when playing at faster tempo, when I’m standing with electric. When sitting, I find myself pulling up my shoulder which leads to tension also in my strumming arm. Often it’s just a process of awareness and active relaxation for me.
Yes and yes! Sometimes, I simply can’t believe how long it takes me to nail some things and how slow I’m progressing compared to others. And then, there are those moments, when something simply clickes or I suddenly am able to do something after a pause I couldn’t do before.
@roger_holland Wow, you slipped in a reference to This is the Life by Amy Macdonald, a song I had not heard. Being left-handed playing right, strumming with any accuracy at a fast pace is my nemesis. I found the chords and played along with Ms. Macdonald for the entire song. Three minutes at 190 bpm is quite a workout! So I rested, did it again, and had heard less strumming sloppiness. I’m going to make this part of my regular exercises for a while. Thanks Rogier.
I share your sentiment with strumming fast over long songs. In my case, I came to think of this as an athletic exercise, and practice strumming faster than needed in intervals to build stamina.
As for the pick grip, I came across these on Amazon: JIM DUNLOP 449P.88 Max-Grip® Nylon Standard, Dark Gray, .88mm, 12/Player’s Pack
The pick has a grippy section almost like sandpaper. Really makes a difference for me. I don’t find the pick turning around half way through. AFAIK they come in a variety of gauges.
Thank you for your replies, you all have very helpful advise!
I made a video so you can see what is going on:
Look forward to hearing what you all think and if you hear the same irritating clunky sound I do Don’t mind my facial expression, I always get this grumpy look on my face when I’m concentrated haha
I am using .60 mm, and experimented with thicker picks since my real life guitar teacher suggested that because the guitar sounds better and fuller that way. Unfortunately I can only play with thicker picks than .60 if I use a grip max on it…
Have you tried the trick Justin suggests? Mute all your strings and just try getting the strumming pattern down and up to speed.
I can’t really tell from the video but it looks like you have a lot of pick sticking out, this can cause problems with the pick jamming into the strings. Also try and relax you look all tense and it’s not all that important that you play songs at full tempo. Slowing them down to a comfortable speed will sound a lot better to the audience and the more comfortable your playing becomes the faster you will be able to play.
Over all I think your doing a pretty go job on the strumming.
Hi Inge,
Because the general sound of the rhythm guitar is going quite well, but you are apparently still building up tension in your arm, the only thing I can think of now is that your overall sitting position is perhaps a bit too shrunken and should relax a bit more in the entire body, still a kind of mindset or something ,slow it down and strum for minutes muted like you don`t give a crxp , it’s a bit difficult to say, again you sound pretty good
It does look like you’re struggling to hang on to the pick in the video. I might be talking absolute rubbish here but I wonder if it’s from having too much tension in your arm from trying too hard to stop the pick moving. I can hold my Dunlop nylon 0.60mm picks pretty lightly and allow some back and forth movement of it as I strum up and down the strings. I think what I’m doing is pinching the top of the pick between my finger and thumb but then they open to a V shape at the tips of them and my pick is free to move back and forth between them. I’d say I put no more than medium pressure on my pick and certainly if someone grabbed the tip of my pick they’d have no problem taking it from me.
Hi Inge
Other people have already mentioned this so I’m just reiterating the comments.
Your posture looks to be hunched up and bent over. You need to be comfortable and sitting up straight. If you can train yourself not to have a fixed head always staring at your fretting hand it will help.
I would have liked a more zoomed out view to see all of your strumming arm. It does look like your wrist is a little loose and that is key to playing fast strumming - lots of very loose, relaxed wrist motion and not very much forearm swinging.
Is it a dreadnought size guitar? I wonder if you will find things more physically comfortable and relax more with a smaller bodied guitar?
Hi Inge,
Thanks for sharing a video
So much great advice above, so only a couple of additional observations to add in case helpful. I checked out your video closely and slowed it down to 25% speed. To me it seems that the pick is catching between strings at times, throwing off your rhythm. Also, your fingers seem to be grasping tightly onto just a small fraction of the pick, giving it a lot of leverage to force its way out of your grasp as it passes over the strings. So (aside from what others have mentioned above) I wonder if some of the tension could be coming from asserting a lot of force with your fingers to maintain your hold and control. If so, I’m thinking a couple of things might help… perhaps holding on to more of the pick between your fingers to allow greater purchase and therefore reducing the force you would need to apply whilst also reducing the amount of overhang that could potentially get caught between the strings. Alternatively, if you like the tone generated by having more of the pick attacking the strings, then I wonder if trying a larger pick that would allow you to gain better purchase but still have your preferred tone? I am not confident of that second approach, having not tried it myself (I’ve always preferred small picks with only a small overhang beyond my fingers), but could be worth exploring if you haven’t already?
Playing anything fast is always tricky in my opinion, however here are a couple of thoughts that spring to mind. What is your posture when playing? Are you finding yourself hunched over the guitar, getting yourself into a cramped position, when you go to play these faster songs? I’ve noticed myself doing that subconsciously when I know a song is a challenge for me, it sometimes takes a little focused self awareness to adjust and relax. Also, what’s your arm doing? Is it doing the whole strum or is it coming more from your wrist? If the former, then perhaps check how your strumming arm rests on the guitar and get in a position that feels comfortable to use your wrist rather your whole arm. Moving just your wrist should go a lot faster than moving your whole arm. Maybe also check your how you’re holding the pick. If it is flat to the strings, and perhaps quite a long past the end of your fingers, then it will be harder to strum fast. Perhaps try holding it more on an angle to the strings and closer in towards your fingers to help it cut through a bit better? 
)…
Don’t mind my facial expression, I always get this grumpy look on my face when I’m concentrated haha
, it’s a bit difficult to say, again you sound pretty good