Try Not To Be So Tense
When you are strumming guitar it’s important to be relaxed. A tense guitarists strumming technique will sound stiff, rigid and amateur to the listeners. An important element of any great guitar players style is relaxed arms, shoulders and wrists while playing. When you are relaxed while playing, your strumming will sound natural and will flow with the beat of the song.
Make Certain That You Hold Your Pick Correctly
It is vital you hold your pick correctly when you are strumming. You need to hold the pick firmly between your thumb and first finger. It should be held in place by the pressure of the thumb.. Try and keep the pick held at an angle of 90 degrees to the strings as you strike them.
Make Sure To Keep Time
Rhythm and beat are really important when you are 
playing guitar. Try and practice with a metronome. If you don’t use a metronome at the very least tap your feet to keep time when strumming. If it helps, count the beats out loud when you are first learning.
Don’t Start Learning Without a Plan
It’s important to listen to the strumming pattern of the song you want to play. Try and hear each up and down strum. At first this will be difficult, but it will get easier. Eventually the strumming patterns will be obvious to you on your first listen. Write down the pattern clearly on a piece of paper and then practice until you can get it to work. This works better than blindly strumming away hoping to get it right.
Don’t Think That You Have To Learn Lots of Guitar Strumming Patterns
Concentrate on just one or two strumming patterns at first. You would be amazed how easily you will pick up new patterns once you mastered the first few.
String Damping Techniques
Learn guitar string damping techniques. There are two main types – one for the right hand and one for the left. This technique basically involves stopping the strings dead immediately after playing them. This creates a driving almost percussive sound.
As an added bonus, string damping can hide your mistakes.
Build Your Finger Strength
Building your finger strength using devices like a grip master will help you change chords quickly. The more confident you are changing chords fast the more variation you will be able to introduce into your strumming patterns
Check out our 3 FREE E-Books on Learning Guitar Chords ($27 value), learning guitar scales ($27 value) and learning guitar tab ($17 value) at learn acoustic guitar
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