Beginner Guitar Lesson 02 - Holding and Strumming

Welcome back to part 2 of the 6 part learn guitar e-course. It's great to have you on board. Keep up the practicing, we’ve only just begun your exciting journey!
Yesterday we looked at how to tune your guitar and how to play the A and E chords.
Today we’ll have a closer look at how you hold the guitar and how you strum each note.

The picture below shows you how to properly hold the guitar. Now, learning to strum is simpler with a pick. However, if you are strumming with your fingers, make sure you strum with them closer together (as if you were holding a pick between your 1st & 2nd finger & thumb) like this.

If you are a beginner, at least have a pick on hand in case your fingers get tired. Using a pick will help you produce better sounds straight away. Hold your pick firmly between your thumb and the side of your index finger. Make sure that you keep the palm of your hand clear away from the neck and strum.

                                        

Another picture of the parts of a guitar labeled.

Now that you know how to sit (which should come naturally), and hold a guitar and a pick, lets get on to strumming. We’ll start by learning how to down strum. Try to strum the following:

A A A A E E E E

A A A A E E E E

A A A A E E E E

A A A A E E E E

Video camtasia here, guitar + metronome - /camtasia/strumming-a-e-metronome/strumming-a-e-metronome.html

 

Play button here (guitar without metronome) - /audio/a-e-strumming.mp3

 

When you change between A and E and vice versa, try to keep your strumming in time with the beat, regardless of whether or not you get your fingers into position in time. It is more important to keep your timing than to strum the chords correctly. Your brain will catch up eventually, and you’ll be better at getting those fingers into position faster.

Now, it's time for an exercise in finger strengthening. Do the following exercise for 6 minutes.

1 minute	No strumming, practice putting your fingers straight into the A position, then lift them up and put them back down on A again. Keep repeating.
30 seconds	Have a break
1 minute	No strumming, change between A and E back and forth as quickly as you can.
30 seconds	Have a break
1 minute	No strumming, practice putting your fingers straight into the E position, then lift them up and put them back down on A again. Keep repeating.
30 seconds	Have a break
1 minute	No strumming, change between A and E back and forth as quickly as you can.

The purpose of all the above repetition is to teach your brain what A and E feel like. This exercise is a great one for learning any new chord.

*** Remember if your fingertips start to get sore, this is normal. You’ll need to build up strength in your fingers. Calluses will form on the ends of your fingers and they will eventually go numb so that you can press down on the guitar strings hard without it hurting. ***

Now we’ll get back to strumming. Using the down strum again, try to strum the following:

A A E E A A E E

A A E E A A E E

A A E E A A E E

A A E E A A E E

Camtasia here -  camtasia/strumming-a-e-2ndset/strumming-a-e-2ndset.html

 

Hopefully you have enjoyed this lesson. For your homework, keep practicing the exercises above until you can change quickly between A and E.