Before You Strum, Do This

Day 1 of 10 · One chord + the arm

Hey Tomasz,

For the next ten days I'm going to get you strumming a real song shape, ten minutes a day. Here's the whole plan:

Your 10-day strumming plan: one chord and the arm, the up-strum, two chords, the loop, changing on time, Old Faithful, which strings, the chuck, a real song, make it a song

Today starts with one chord. Em is the easiest there is:

Em: middle finger and ring finger on the 2nd fret, then strum all six strings

Strum it once, slowly. Every string should ring. Now the strumming arm:

Your arm swings down and up eight times a bar, but only the four downs hit the strings

It swings down and back up on every beat, like a pendulum, and never stops. For now it only hits on the way down. Hold Em and follow the light. The little > means hit that one a bit harder:

Animated strum-along: a downstroke on every beat while the arm swings back up between them

Keep it going for two minutes. Every strum you'll ever play, here or in Acoustia's interactive strumming courses, rides on this one habit.

See Acoustia

TOMORROW → the up-strum, and why it's lighter than you think.

Picky's arm never stops either.

Talk soon,

Andrew SeguinFounder & Guitar Instructor

P.S. Hit reply and tell me the one song you'd love to strum. I read them.

Join Acoustia

Acoustia · You opted in to receive occasional guitar tips, updates and offers from Acoustia when you signed up. Didn't mean to? You can unsubscribe below at any time.
PO Box 22069 Tecumseh/Banwell PO, Windsor, ON N8N 5G6, Canada
Unsubscribe