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I’m adding this discussion to my favorites.
Strumming is definitely an acquired skill, doesn’t come naturally. About a year into my journey I’m definitely more comfortable strumming than in the beginning and have learned that when I perceive I don’t sound good, I need to back off and not dig into the strings as much.
There’s a fine line though, during the Old Man benchmark recently I wasn’t getting the hammer-on to make any sound at all and this had been happening for the past 10 months. I discovered that my strum wasn’t even touching the high E string so the hammer was [OF COURSE!] doing nothing!
It takes a while for a player to have an awareness of which strings are being hit and controlling the intensity accordingly. But this is just one reason why all guitarists have a unique sound. The strum is one of many signatures or finger-prints if you like.