Strumming: Poll of technique

**jaygazm** · Joined: 28 Apr 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Indiana

I've been playing this game with many other people for a few months and have noticed that everyone has a different strumming style. What is yours?

1. Which hand strums?
Right
Left

2. What holds the strum bar?
Index Finger
Middle finger
Multiple fingers (which ones?)
Other (what?)

3. In which direction do you strum?
Up
Down
Alternate

4. What do you use to strum?
Finger movement
Wrist movement
Arm movement
Other (explain!)

5. How well can you play?
Explain, please. Example: (5 star expert, 3 star hard, etc)

6. How do you support your guitar using the strumming hand?
I don’t
I hold the whammy bar
I use my non-strumming fingers to press down on the face (please explain)
Other (please explain)

7. When you whammy does the appendage with which you strum maintain contact with the strum bar?
Yes
No

Thanks for the info!

**jaygazm** · Joined: 28 Apr 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Indiana

Mine:
1. Right
2. Middle Finger
3. Up
4. Finger movement
5. 3-4 stars on most Expert songs
6. I use my middle finger to strum, so I use the tips of the other four fingers to press down on the face of the guitar. My thumb makes contact above the strum bar, my ring and pinky fingers make contact below the strum bar, and my index finger doesn’t do anything.
7. No

**SkepticalMario** · Joined: 01 Mar 2006 Posts: 310 Location: Minneapolis, MN

1. Which hand strums?
Right

2. What holds the strum bar?
Thumb & index

3. In which direction do you strum?
Alternate

4. What do you use to strum?
Wrist movement

5. How well can you play?
45 *****s on Expert

6. How do you support your guitar using the strumming hand?
I don't (I play sitting down; the guitar is resting on my lap)

7. When you whammy does the appendage with which you strum maintain contact with the strum bar?
Yes
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Hard: 11M, 47 6-stars
Expert: 11M, 47 5-stars

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**Hellion42** · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:17 pm Post subject: Re: Strumming: Poll of technique

1. Which hand strums?
Right

2. What holds the strum bar?
I only hold the bar when I'm doing alternate picking, in which case I use my thumb and 1st finger. On most songs I only use my thumb though, no holding.

3. In which direction do you strum?
Down where I can, alternate when required.

4. What do you use to strum?
On slower parts, it's mostly thumb movement. The faster it gets, the more my wrist gets involved.

5. How well can you play?
5* Hard, 3-5* Expert

6. How do you support your guitar using the strumming hand?
Um, the strap should be supporting the guitar.

Like, seriously.

7. When you whammy does the appendage with which you strum maintain contact with the strum bar?
Sometimes, if I'm strumming with my thumb.
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**rabies** · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:40 pm Post subject:

1. Right
2. Nothing - I use a guitar Pick
3. Down and/or Alternate (as needed)
4. Guitar Pick
5. Pretty well.
6. This is a weird question. How can you possibly be supporing your guitar using your strumming hand? That can lead to injuries. Either your strap, or your lap should be supporting the guitar...like a real guitar.
7. No. I whammy with my pinky and ring finger... while my index/thumb hold the guitar pick for strumming.
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**MaximusDM** · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:40 pm Post subject:

1. Which hand strums?
Left

2. What holds the strum bar?
Thumb
Index Finger
Middle finger is sort of there and some times comes into play if I want a better grip of the bar.

3. In which direction do you strum?
I stum down on easier songs and alternate when there are streams of notes are faster or more difficult passages.

4. What do you use to strum?
Finger movement

5. How well can you play?
I don't know, I got my score card down there but I know much of my harder stuff can be improved but I have been working on keeping my title for easy. I'm pretty sure I can at least move 5-10 places higher on Medium, 10-15 places higher on hard and probably 40 places higher on expert. I just haven't looked at any note charts besides easy.

6. How do you support your guitar using the strumming hand?
I use my non-strumming fingers to press down on the face.
The rest of my fingers sort of curl into the face because they are going with the other finger that is in strum position, if that begins to feel uncomfortable during or after a song I play a bit with not strumming fingers stretched out on the face. And I try to keep my palm on the select button at all times.

7. When you whammy does the appendage with which you strum maintain contact with the strum bar?
Yes.
It is sort of different using the strum bar when I have it on Left Flip which is why many avoid it. I keep my pointer finger on the bottom of the strum and reach my thumb up to whammy.
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**eachann** · Joined: 09 May 2006 Posts: 1340 Location: Michigan

**dd3mon** · Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 68

1. Right

2. Thumb strums downward normally, thumb & pointer finger grip the strum bar and alternate strum for those points where it's needed.

3. Down, except on certain songs (BATM, CfH, Breaking Wheel, Decontrol, couple small parts of others) - those songs I alternate strum because strumming one direction for all those notes can and will kill you ;)

4. Thumb, with varying amounts of arm movement (more arm movement the less I know the rhythm).

5. I've got all of hard 5 star'd and only 3 songs remain on Expert for me to 5 star.

6. Sometimes I support the guitar a bit (not so much weight support, but stabilizing support) with my other fingers by wrapping them underneath the guitar.

7. Not usually, but in some cases it's necessary if I wanna whammy the entire note. Usually my other fingers are underneath the whammy bar and I pull my hand up off the guitar to whammy. However the notes I really need to whammy fully I'll continue strumming with my thumb and pull my fingers up over the whammy bar to hit it simultaneously with my strumming - I'm still getting better at this as there's a few songs I need to do it more in to improve my score significantly.
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**Cliff** · Joined: 06 May 2006 Posts: 3002 Location: Springfield, IL

1. Which hand strums?
Right

2. What holds the strum bar?
Other (Nothing, I strum with my thumb)

3. In which direction do you strum?
Down

4. What do you use to strum?
Wrist movement

5. How well can you play?
5 star expert

6. How do you support your guitar using the strumming hand?
I don’t

7. When you whammy does the appendage with which you strum maintain contact with the strum bar?
Yes

Also, I keep the end of my palm positioned above the SP button, for easy contact.
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**Echelar** · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 1246 Location: Fort Wayne, IN

**ES942** · Joined: 02 Mar 2006 Posts: 3445 Location: Snalbans

**krimsunmunkeys** · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:50 pm Post subject:

1. Which hand strums?
Right

2. What holds the strum bar?
Thumb on Top
Index Finger on Bottom

3. In which direction do you strum?
Alternate all the time.

4. What do you use to strum?
Wrist movement.

5. How well can you play?
Expert Guitar God, #1 Expert Player.

6. How do you support your guitar using the strumming hand?
I don’t.

7. When you whammy does the appendage with which you strum maintain contact with the strum bar?
Yes

**HylianHero** · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 4673 Location: Santa Cruz, CA

1. Which hand strums?
Right

2. What holds the strum bar?
Thumb on top, and in extreme cases, I'll bring in the pointer finger and middle one for the bottom

3. In which direction do you strum?
Trying to teach myself to always alternate, but as of now it's down most of the time.

4. What do you use to strum?
Wrist.

5. How well can you play?
I'm 7 songs away from Guitar God on Hard and about halfway to a Guitar God on Expert

6. How do you support your guitar using the strumming hand?
When I'm standing up, I usually use my ring and pinky fingers to support the bottom of the guitar (I have really long, skinny fingers)

7. When you whammy does the appendage with which you strum maintain contact with the strum bar?
If I need to whammy a note or a series of short holds, yes. Otherwise, no.
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**AskewedOne** · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 118 Location: Yukon, OK

1. Which hand strums?
Right

2. What holds the strum bar?
Depends on what song and level I'm about to do. Easy songs, usually thumb only, if it's something where I know there's going to be fast parts, I'll switch frmo thumb only to using thumb and forefinger. If it's Breaking Wheel, thumb & forefinger all the way through.

3. In which direction do you strum?
See #2, easy, slow songs, down, faster/more complex songs/rhythms, alternate.

4. What do you use to strum?
Finger and/or wrist movement.

5. How well can you play?
3/4 star hard and expert

6. How do you support your guitar using the strumming hand?
I don’t

7. When you whammy does the appendage with which you strum maintain contact with the strum bar?
Depends on the song and how long I'm going to be whammying, considering I tend not to actually grasp the whammy bar any more, and typically use my pinky at the base of the bar to activate, normally, yes, I keep contact with the strum bar.
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**RandomJebus** · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 101

1. Right
2. Other (Thumb only)
3. Down
4. Finger movement
5. Check my status
6. Hold the whammy bar
7. Yes