Generally beginning players are too concerned with the sounds that they are making.

Strum along, stop take a break and just listen then go back to strumming. If you find that you keep going out of sync with the recording try taking breaks as you strum. If you find that what you are strumming doesnвЂ™t feel quite right and you are getting confused ask someone who has experience with strumming to show you what they would do. It tells you a lot about the basic feel.Дў. Listen for the high hat in songs that you like. The high hat is the cymbal that he hits with his right hand. HereвЂ™s a clip of a drummer playing simple rock beats. Most of the time the high hat is playing exactly what the BASIC FEEL movement should be. If their is a high-hat in the song it can be very helpful. Try and find a steady right hand movement that fits what you hear. If there is a strummed instrument in the song focus of that. Or try strumming along with last weekвЂ™s вЂњYou AinвЂ™t Going NowhereвЂќ or this version of вЂњStand By MeвЂќ.ДЎ. Try it! Grab a piece a paper and see if you can strum along with a song you like. That is the basic steady Down Up strumming movement that will work through the whole song. In the clip I play what I call the BASIC FEEL of the song. In it I demonstrate how you can use the Paper Strum to strum along with any recording. HereвЂ™s a short clip from the Expansion Section of my DVD, Hear the Strum. This way they can focus on getting the feel of strumming without being to concerned with the details we will add later. They hold the piece of paper in their left hand (for right handed players) and hit the paper with down strokes and upstrokes.

I have beginning players spend a lot of time strumming on pieces of paper. So, I developed something I call the PAPER STRUM GAME. They need to build up endurance at just keeping the strumming hand going in rhythm and continuing to listen as they do so. I find that new players need a lot of experience with the simple act of keeping rhythm with their strumming hand. How can I strum and sing at the same time?.How can I change between the chords and keep strumming?.What finger should I strum with on my right hand? Thumb? Index finger? Both?.Learning to strum can be a little daunting especially if you have never played a strummed instrument before. From Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek

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