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Please sort my strumming action.


knotty

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On my electrics I can strum away quite happily and be relatively pleased with the results. When I pick up an acoustic my strumming emphasises the thin 'e' string. This happens with down and up strums. The result is a high pitched ringing throughout, giving a harsh and tinny rather then smooth melodic sound. I have tried varying the slope of the pick and thinner picks.- better but not cured. Its obviously a fault with my action but I don't know why it does not show on my electrics.

Any ideas?

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I'm by no means an expert of any kind but if it is any acoustic I wonder if it is due to the fact that guitar is further out from your body than an electric.  Do you play acoustic while sitting and electric while standing?  Play acoustic in a classical guitar style? 

A video would probably get you a lot of good advice from the various experts

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work on not strumming all the strings at once... it will teach you control... get a really simple chord progression and be very repetitive with it... try strumming the e,a,d... and then the g,b,e strings... then mix it up... strum the middle strings etc... work on where you put your accents... it will make your rhythms more interesting too

do it like an excercise for 10 minutes.. then have some fun playing for ten minutes... then do the excercise again etc... it'll come

and loosen up your strumming hand

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Your posture might have something to do with it. Maybe you're letting the guitar lean against you in your lap rather that holding it up right? Maybe try a thinner pick? Maybe your action is too high? Maybe your wrist is too stiff? A video of you playing would help us help you.

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MrSully had a great advice. I;d add that a thin pick is only good if you're looking for the particular sound it gives (not my taste but...). A thick pick held loosely sounds way better.

You may also want to try half muting some of the strings at the bridge. That's a terrific sound for strumming.
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knotty wrote:

 

I am thinking my arm action had
wrong
a more electric-friendly
angle.

 


 

Fixed.

One thing you can try as a starting point is placing your fingertips on the top of the guitar, so you're strumming will be more controlled; it will at least start engramming the different angle you'll need for acoustics.

After all, most of them are quite different from electrics in terms of body depth.

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