GUITAR
STRUMMING WORKOUT 2.0 | David Harsh
In the November 2024 issue of Worship Musician , we released an article / video called Strumming Workout 1.0 . This interactive lesson is fast becoming our most popular offering , so by request , we ’ ve made a follow-up lesson called Strumming Workout 2.0 .
I invite you to experience today ’ s workout by clicking on the thumbnail . You can also follow along with the diagrams I ’ m providing on the next page .
To keep things simple , we won ’ t be playing chords . I ’ ll invite you to take your fretting hand and gently rest it against the strings to mute them . No need to press down . It should sound pretty dry without any notes . Also , as I mention in the video , your pick is optional today .
But right out of the gate , we ’ re going to jump into 3 / 4 time ( a contrasting time signature from our 1.0 workout ). We ’ re also going to strum quarter notes at 80 beats per minute ( see diagram “ a .”) with a click of 160 ( for 8 th notes ). Settle into this slower tempo . By the way slowing down to a tempo marking like this can actually be challenging at first !
Next , we make contact on the way down and up with 8 th notes ( b ). We ’ ll be moving our strumming hand at the same speed . The only difference is that we ’ ll be making contact with the strings on the way down and on the way up .
Next level is offbeat 8 th notes ( c ). We ’ re only going to make contact as we strum up . And with these repeated measures , it can be easy to get lost . I ’ m not worried about which beats start the measure at this point . I just want you to get comfortable with the steadiness that comes with consistent strumming . So , listen for the click of the metronome , but only strum down silently as you hear it , and then come up , making contact with the strings when you don ’ t hear the metronome . This is easier done than said .
Now we ’ ll play all down 8 th notes ( d ). This is useful for a variety of styles , including worship music . It ’ s also a great way to get our wrist and arm going . Same tempo as the original 8 th notes , but because they ’ re all down strums , our hand will move twice as fast .
Feel like your hand is getting nice and limbered up ? That ’ s good , because you can probably guess the next level . 16 th notes . I can place a ball on the end of the red “ down ” arrows to accent the beats ( e ).
As you watch the video of my strumming hand wrist and elbow , you ’ ll see that I ’ m distributing the action between both of them . A good amount of wrist , and a good amount of elbow . It ’ s a lot like badminton , if you ’ ve ever played that racquet sport . If we have too much wrist , it ’ s more like ping-pong . Too much elbow and it ’ s more like tennis . What we want is badminton , the best of both worlds . This is sustainable , because with the elbow and wrist working together to carry the weight , we can literally strum for hours if we want to .
Now if you ’ ve watched my previous strumming workout video and you ’ re a detail person , which you just might be , you ’ ll remember that the tempo I used throughout that video was quarter note equals 92 beats per minute . That ’ s 12 beats per minute faster than the tempo we ’ re strumming with right now at 80 beats per minute .
Why the slower tempo today ? Because I got enough feedback from people saying that they did fine until they got to the 16th notes , and then things got a little too tricky . Some people said the 16th notes were way too difficult in those early stages of their guitar playing . So , I ’ m working to help make these a bit easier by guiding you a bit slower through them . I hope that helps !
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