Accent on up strum, finger pad or nail? or ?

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Hi,

I'm trying to achieve syncopation on the up strum which also coincides with a chord change.

The video below, I play C-F-G chords, the accent I want to put on is the up strum on the 4th beat, which also is when I start the G chord.

So the music goes: C (down, up, down, up), F (down, up, down), G (_UP_, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up). Then repeat.

I'm having trouble getting the _UP_ part.

In the video, I used my finger pad between times start - 0:14; and I used my thumb nail from 0:15 - end.

Not quite happy with both ATM; but before putting in more practice time, I'd like know if I should use finger pad or nail? or is there another method?

Thanks.

 
I strum with a loose fist configuration. Therefore on the up strum I usually contact the strings with the edge of the thumbnail. Or some times I will use the knuckle of the thumb for a different sound. I feel it is more important to stress the beat you want to stress by putting a little bit of empty space around the strum and then catching up to the beat by strumming a little bit faster and louder. I know of a little exercise I learnt if you'd like to try it.
 
I'm not a fan of strumming up with the thumb nail.

To get an accented strum, I prefer strumming up with the index or middle finger and hitting the strings with both the pad and fingernail. You don't need real long fingernails to do this, just slightly longer than your fingertips. This also works great for finger picking.
 
Shake it up baby now!

Try letting the UP strum ring for an extra beat. Cut out the next down strum and start on another up. It will give it a bit more pop.
 
Thanks for the tips.
I'm going to give them a try tonight.

Not sure about @man0a's tip since I don't really have much nail hanging out, but it does sound very reasonable for people with longer nails.
 
I'm been practicing this a little the past few days, and I think I've gotten it down ok.

I couldn't apply the suggestions in this thread because I found strumming with the side of my thumb nail to be too inconsistent and not loud enough; also putting in a delay sounded too artificial (maybe it is subconsciously noticing it); leaving out the down strum also didn't sound right. However, I do appreciate these suggestions and I'll remember them; many times I've found that I go back to previous ideas once I've gotten better and can implement them better.

Anyway, I want to share how I solved this just to give another idea to the next reader. I've settled on strumming with both the pad of my finger and thumb nail based on what sound I wanted; but I deliberately make the strums surrounding this up strum soft. I still give this up strum as much energy as I can (in a consistent way, of course). This gives me a good syncopation impression.

So the music goes: C (down, up, down, up), F (down, _soft_up, _soft_down), G (_UP_, _soft_down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up). Then repeat.
 
I'm not a fan of strumming up with the thumb nail.

To get an accented strum, I prefer strumming up with the index or middle finger and hitting the strings with both the pad and fingernail. You don't need real long fingernails to do this, just slightly longer than your fingertips. This also works great for finger picking.

This is what I do, using the index finger. On the upstroke it seems to hit the side of the nail the most.
 
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