Most of us learned strums as a sequence of moves: down, down-up-down-up down. This is fine for getting started, but there’s a trap here that many beginners fall into. They think more about the strum direction than about the rhythm itself. Playing good rhythm takes more than counting and swinging your arm! You want to be able to feel the rhythm in your body like a drummer. Of course, we create the sound by moving that strumming hand, but the idea is for the hand to follow the rhythm you’re feeling instead of the other way around.

What we’re really talking about here is a more sophisticated and subtle approach to rhythm, but it’s not hard to learn. The trick is to think like a drummer!