Here are Andy's top tips for holding a pick and strumming a guitar in the most effective way!

Strumming position

Keep the guitar as close to your body as possible and don’t let it slip down your leg. Keep your wrist as close to the guitar as possible. On acoustic, it can be helpful to have the inside of your elbow on the top corner of the guitar similar to the photo on the left.

Keep loose!

It is so important to keep all parts of your arm and hand as relaxed as possible. Tension is the enemy of speed and good sounding strums. Any strumming action should feel similar to shaking your hand, even if the movements are very small, your arm and wrist should be pretty loose, with the main point of tension being to hold the pick in place only.

Holding a pick 

A pick should be held between the thumb and first finger only. The longest point should come out of the side of your thumb and point towards the strings. Keep the rest of your fingers and arm relaxed.

Strumming action 

Be sure to catch all strings you want to ring out evenly by keeping the strumming action vertical. This is helped by making sure the guitar is into your body and not slipping down your leg! Missing strings In the beginning, you need to miss out thicker strings on some chords, which is shown by an ‘X’ on chord boxes. In my beginners course at level 5, we learn how to mute the thickest string with the thumb, which makes strumming the harder patterns a lot easier!

Missing strings 

In the beginning, you need to miss out thicker strings on some chords, which is shown by an ‘X’ on chord boxes. In my beginners course at level 5, we learn how to mute the thickest string with the thumb, which makes strumming the harder patterns a lot easier!