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Any help on strumming two strings?
I’ve been involved in TAC since December 22, (Wow! My one month anniversary!) and had to miss two days (darn!!) because of visiting relatives. But I have been thoroughly enjoying learning from Tony. THANK YOU, Tony!
I am picking things up fairly quickly, except for one skill: I’m having trouble strumming two strings without the noise of adjacent strings. Can anyone make any suggestions to help me build that skill? I would be much beholdin’ to you.
BTW, did I say how very much I am enjoying this new learning process? I have a BS in psychology, and I have to say, Tony must have a PhD in psychology, because he really knows how to employ that knowledge in his teaching. Keep up the good work, Tony! Your technique keeps me at the guitar for much more than that 10 minutes per day. I often am at it for more than an hour! And I have to drag myself away from it even then!
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6 Replies
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Hi @garyrc4aol-com and welcome to TAC. I would recommend having a look at completing the Flatpicking Jumpstart and the Cross Picking 5 Day Challenge.
The other thing I have learned is to slow down when learning something that is new. A metronome is a must here. Set the metronome to a BPM wherein you are able to hit the two strings perfectly without any adjacent strings. Practice at that speed to build the muscle memory of your picking hand. Once you have accomplished that Increase the speed incrementally and see if you are able to again do it perfectly. If not, dial the metronome back again. Repeat this process until you are able to execute the goal (in your case hitting two strings without the adjacent strings) at the desired speed. It may seem like an excruciatingly slow process however it is tried and true! Good luck and keep on going playing!
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I understand completely what you say about Tony’s approach – he really does have a knack for making you believe you can do this! And you’ll find the TAC community to be very helpful and supportive.
As for the 2 string dilemma, I assume you’re referring to those power chord exercises? I have struggled with those, too, not only hitting the right strings but I haven’t fully managed to get my palm muting technique down pat. But there are many excellent videos on YouTube showing how to mute adjacent strings with your other fingers so they don’t ring out even if you stray onto them with your strum. This seems to be a critical skill for blues guitar players, as well as for slide guitar.
Keep on enjoying those daily sessions! That’s easily the biggest win I’ve gained from TAC – the urge to pick up my guitar every day and work on something I want to learn.
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Hi @garyrc4aol-com , welcome to TAC. @Kitman is giving some sound advice – slow it down, it does take time to gain control of and be able to “target” string pairs when strumming. One thing that I do when strumming 2 adjacent fretted strings is to use the edges of my fretting fingers to touch the sides of the strings that I don’t want to hear, essentially muting those unwanted strings. By doing that, I can strum within that 3 or 4 string range, but only get sound from the 2 fretted strings. Hope that helps
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Thank you so much, Bill_Brown, Gerry856 and Kittman. Your responses are very much appreciated. I will see what those different approaches can do to help me.
Regards,
Gary
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Thank you, Kitman. I will give that a try. I appreciate your taking the time to assist.
Gary
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Hey Gary @garyrc4aol-com ;
It is a pleasure to run into someone with a Bachelors in psychology who can understand the magic of Tony’s method. That’s usually what I find myself trying to explain to newcomers.
2 string strumming is rather advanced. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. That’s the whole thing about Tony’s method. Have fun trying and don’t try to master.
So first, whether you do it with the flat pick or your thumb, use one or more of the Monday technique lessons to drill your ability to hit each string by choice, even when skipping one or 2 strings. Here are 3 I’ve found that will teach you to hit the string you want. Once you have that skill, hitting a section of the 6 string area becomes much easier.
https://tonypolecastro.com/exercise/wu25-string-locater-flp/
https://tonypolecastro.com/exercise/wu14-travelling-pairs/
https://tonypolecastro.com/exercise/wu21-index-reference-flp/
These are not in any particular order, and it doesn’t really matter which one you use, just pick one and do it every day for a few minutes over at least a couple weeks, or even several months if you have the discipline.
Once you can reliably hit a certain area of the strings, using the method @Bill_Brown mentioned, string muting, and you’ll be able to make it sound like you’re hitting just the 2 strings. But again, work on the skills and have fun, because this skill will take months or even years to really get down. And not all chord shapes are useful for muting certain strings. All of this you will learn as your guitar journey unfolds.
Have fun and trust the process, Gary.
MG 😀
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