Thumb Strumming

Twiggy

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So, I am practicing strumming, because I figure that's probably the best place to start as a complete noob.

I am using the thumb method, I can strum down fine, but I am having trouble strumming up. What happens is that when strumming up, the entire side of my thumb hits the strings, so I miss most of them. I have to find a way to avoid that I guess, but I don't know how. My thumb just seems to automatically go to that position on the way up.

Anyone got any tips?
 
Use your index finger for the upstroke. You only need to engage two or three strings for upstrokes on offbeats since you want a lighter dynamic level. If you really want to use a thumb upstroke, a common method is to use a couple millimeters of the top edge of the nail to engage the string. And, yeah, you need about 5mm of polished smooth nail extending past the tip of the thumb for that technique to work well.
 
^ Thx, that works. (using index for up stroke), now it's just practice.
 
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