Supplemental Material for Pages 20 & 21 (Chapter 2)
Strums/Rhythms
The pick & strum
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Page 20 introduces the "pick & strum". As the name implies, this type of playing combines the picking of individual strings with the strumming of multiple strings. Page 21 offers some progressions for practicing the pick & strum.
For these pages, an "x" note head indicates that you should pick an individual string. The circled number below the "x"-note indicates which string to pick. The "normal" quarter notes and eighth notes indicate the strumming of multiple strings.
Generally in this style, it's effective not to include the string you have just picked in the subsequent strum. For example (as shown in exercise 1), after picking the fifth string of the A chord on beat 1, your strum on beat 2 includes strings four thru one. After picking the fourth string on beat 3, strum just the top three strings (strings three, two, one) on beat 4.
In fact, you may opt to separate the "picked" strings from the "strummed" string entirely. That is, in exercise 1, where you pick the fifth and fourth strings, you may stick to strumming the top three strings (strings three, two, one) throughout. This would mean that on beat 2, you "jump over" or "skip" the fourth string after picking string five. This can be a little trickier at first, but it creates clearer definition between the "picking" and "strumming". Note that when all six strings are available in the chord (as in exercise 2), this would mean skipping/omitting the fifth string (and sixth) from your strum on beat two. You can create an even greater distinction between the "picked" and the "strummed" by perhaps just strumming the top two or three strings throughout, even though all the strings are available in the chords. When using just four strings, as in the D chord in exercise 3, it's perfectly OK that as few as two strings are strummed.
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