Struggling with strumming fast songs

[MacOneill]

@ahimsa

JIM DUNLOP 449P.88 Max-Grip® Nylon Standard

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[Inge_guitar29]

@nzmetal

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.

Hi @nzmetal thank you so much for your advice and studying my video I know that I hold a small fraction of the pick but that happens accidentally while playing. It’s really not what I want because when I start I hold the pick with a lot less hanging out but as soon as I start strumming fast it starts slipping and then I tighten my grip because I want to make sure the pick doesn’t fall out of my hands. I guess I still have to find a way to control the pick…

@stitch Hi stitch, yes I started Justin’s strumming sos course last week and I am going to focus on it for the coming months to make sure I relax more. Thank you for your advise and compliment

@roger_holland Thanks for your kind words Rogier! You are right with the posture though, I never paid attention to it before but now that you and others mention it, I do sit very hunched/shrunken so I will try to fix it. Maybe i should just stop playing on the sofa and sit up straight on a chair when I practice

@mattswain You’re not talking rubbish, I get what you’re saying. I struggle a lot with controlling the pick and that’s when I start to put more pressure on it, because while playing it slowly starts to slip out of my fingers and I haven’t found a way yet to fix that.

@Richard_close2u I think it is a regular dreadnought size guitar, I am not sure. You are totally right about my posture though, I am definitely going to work on fixing that. Also I find it difficult not to look at my fretting hand because I don’t trust myself yet to change chords without looking when things go fast. Sometimes I do, but you know how it is when you film yourself, you don’t want to mess up the chords.

@ahimsa thanks for the tip about the picks, I will check them out!

Thank you all so much for all your kind words, looking at my video and your advise I will make a new video in a couple of months of this song, hopefully things have improved then

[sevi1]

I only have two things to add: when I tried to figure out how 16 not strumming works, and how to relax while doing it, I tried it without a pick one day, just with my thumb, and it was so much easier. I practiced a lot with that, getting comfortable, finding my chill like this, and when I took up the pick again, it was way easier because I found a way to relax.

As for improving posture while playing, as some have suggested, do you have a big mirror? Because when I practiced in front of it for the first time, that’s when I noticed how hunched over I was, and how my right shoulder was so much higher than the left, which looked wrong. Also, you can watch the fretboard in the mirror, and therefore sit more upright while still seeing what you’re doing. It helped me improve a lot. I even tried putting the guitar between my legs like the classic people do, and found I prefer it for things like barre chord practice, or fingerpicking with a capo in higher frets.

Oh, and I think having something to put your foot on helps with posture, or maybe even a strap? I haven’t done that yet, but I’m thinking of picking up weaving to make a strap, and give playing standing up a try.