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How you can Strum An instrument Without A Pick

[http://www.more-than-guitar-chord-charts.com/acoustic-guitar.html guitar chord charts] - How you can strum an instrument with no pick is a question beginners and advancing guitarists often ask, specially because they become excited through the discovery of new guitar styles.
Definition of strumming versus plucking

"The left-hand is the smart one, as the right executes"

This famous phrase was the response given by Paco de Lucia on the Spanish television show several decades back. It did indeed cause him lots of suffering in the way of physical injuries.
Those injuries were inflicted with a number of extreme right wing fanatics because they decided that Paco's response had political connotations.

The question resulting from the interviewer was: "As a guitarist, which of these two hands carries the largest challenge?"

As in Paco's answer, yes, it is correct that the right hand executes the notes prepared (or fretted) through the left hand, as well as open strings. (Please note that the example covers right handed guitarists, obviously the opposite holds true for a lefty guitarists).

If we want to learn how to strum a guitar without a pick, there are various techniques by which this can be done, but they all belong to either from the following main groups:

Plucking and
Strumming

Plucking is when each string is picked individually. You can do this in succession, as in executing arpeggios, or concurrently, as with "claw hammer" style.

Strumming is when the strings of the instrument are played in fast succession, one after the other, in a sweeping motion, which can be descending, ascending, or a mixture of.

With the possible exception of some "rasgueado",( I'll return to this later) strumming is always done over several strings consecutively. Plucking can be achieved either using claws and thumb picks, as in banjo styles, or with bare fingers or natural nails, as in classical and flamenco guitar styles.

Strumming can be achieved using a plectrum, aka pick, or with bare fingers or natural nails. We will focus on this article on how to strum an instrument with no pick.

Finger strumming styles

The fundamental bare hand strumming styles could be split into three main groups:

Thumb strumming
Index or index and thumb strumming
"Rasgueado" or ripping style
Plus all combinations of the three listed above.

Thumb strumming

Perhaps the standard from the bare hand styles. Thumb strumming is performed by resting either the little finger or both little and ring fingers from the right hand on our bodies, underside from the strings and running the end of the thumb across the strings.

The motion could be descending only ( most common), ascending and descending (less frequent) and ascending only ( rare). As we grow their nails around the right hand, the descending stroke will be done by the nail striking the strings, which gives a more percussive tone and sharp attack.

The ascending motion is always done by the nail punching the string. This technique does not involve any wrist movement, hence the small finger resting on your body of the guitar.
Some typical uses are in playing jazz ballads, specially one chord per bar type songs.
The very notorious jazz player Wes Montgomery used thumb strumming as his main right hand technique.
To learn efficiently how you can strum a guitar with no pick, it will likely be very useful that people observe such players and grow from them.

Index or index plus thumb strumming

This is perhaps probably the most widely used technique for strumming a steel string acoustic guitar, although not necessarily exclusive to. The basic motion is, since it's names indicates, completed with the index finger alone, or both index and thumb pressed together.

[http://www.more-than-guitar-chord-charts.com/acoustic-guitar-lessons.html guitar chord charts] - When having fun with the index finger alone, the ascending stroke will attack the strings using the back tip of the finger, or nail, based on whether we have grown it.

The downward motion always involves the finger nail hitting the strings. When utilizing finger and thumb together, the ascending stroke will always attack the strings with the thumb's nail.

Again, nail attack is sharper and brighter. The most crucial part of this technique is the wrist movement. The right ways of executing the strokes are:
Before beginning the down stroke, the rear of the hand is facing slightly upwards.
To execute the down stroke, the arm must descend gently because the cuff is rotated inwards and the index finger attacks the strings starting in the
The upstroke is done exactly reversing the down stroke, starting to rotate the cuff first, then raisin the forearm as the finger begins attacking the strings
We can choose to grow the fingernails depending on what sound and tone we're trying to accomplish

"Rasgueado" or ripping style

The most difficult of the strumming techniques may be the "rasgueado". The reason for this is because it involves more muscles from the right hand than the other styles, although it doesn't need a rotation of the wrist for that down stroke.

The fundamental technique starts by making a fist using the thumb extended away from the hand. The palm from the hand holds the tip of the fingers, which are primed to spring out.
Then, as the arm lowers the hand onto the strings, we spring each finger with force in rapid succession, starting with the index. Some players will release the index first, while the most typical technique is to produce the small finger first and index last.

This results in a ripping effect since four fingers are hitting several strings, creating a very percussive, drumming and dry sound.

The upstroke, if required, is done usually with the upper part of the thumb, the nail, requiring then for that wrist to be rotated. Styles done with just the down stroke would be tango and some flamenco "palos".
Styles done with both are mostly flamenco styles or "palos", rumba, and other South American styles for example milonga.
Almost all players have a very solid foundation on how to strum an instrument without a pick.

Mixtures of the above

[http://www.more-than-guitar-chord-charts.com/acoustic-guitar-lessons.html guitar chord charts] - Most flamenco guitar players, such as Paco de Lucia allow us very advanced right hand techniques in addition to those explained above

This concludes the description from the basic styles based on how to strum a guitar with no pick.

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