Re: [Worship] Guitar strumming suggestions

["Fred Kohn" <fkohn@columbus.rr.com>]

> I'm not classically trained but this goes against everything that I do and
> understand as far as flat picking is concerned.  The wrist IS the key as
far
> as I can tell. You mentioned the hammer and nail analogy.  If you've done
> much hammering you will know that the quick flick of the wrist gives you
> that snap that puts the nail in more efficiently.

The main point of my analogy was supposed to be that in hammering the head
of the hammer should hit the nail square on the head... that is the hammer
should not be tilted in one direction or the other. This is why the pick
should ideally be parallel to the guitar top.

To continue this analogy to wrist and arm movement (and analogies only work
to a certain point), can you imagine hammering a nail using _only_ your
wrist? The main power comes from the arm. A good hammerer understands the
function of both the arm and the wrist and uses each appropriately.

While beginning "hammerers" tend to make the mistake of using the arm too
much and not enough of the wrist, the _tendency_ of beginning "strummers" is
to use too much of the wrist and not enough of the arm.

Rereading what I wrote, I realize that I may have left the impression that
keeping your wrist totally immobile is wonderful guitar technique, but
that's not what I meant. The wrist has to remain flexible and move _some_ as
the occasion demands... but _typically_, and especially with beginners, the
wrist moves far too much for the picking to be efficient.

Hope the clarifies and doesn't enmuddy.
Fred Kohn
http://www.pianomoods.com
\o/


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