Best way to strum on expert level?

[boboette]

My guitar is in perfect shape, but i could never get the timing right when I down strum. So I've been doing up strum only (with index & middle fingers) from easy - hard. But at the expert level if I do one-directional strumming in fast songs, my wrist gets tired really fast. I'm starting to relearn and do up down up down, down strum with my thumb and up strum with the index finger.

Before I invest too much time to learn that, I'd like to know you experts' tips. Do people hold the strum bar and do up and down? with 1 or 2 fingers only? one direction or up and down?

[cdillio]

I up and down strum in fast sections. and in not so fast sections i one direction strum. helps me have more precision.

[bounchfx]

grip the strum bar and just push/pull up and down. you don't have to go nuts.

and practice on getting your downstrokes on time. shouldn't be too bad for ya

[Rock_Starman]

I only down strum using my thumb in GH with a few exceptions,like Miserlou and KoC. Any time I try double strums I do it too fast and miss anyway.

[Richw425]

So this may be easy for you, but is there a "trick" to hitting the same note in succession (like highway star) I swear I am hitting every note...should be easy right?

[rworne]

So this may be easy for you, but is there a "trick" to hitting the same note in succession (like highway star) I swear I am hitting every note...should be easy right?

Timing is everything.

You can also check if your guitar is malfunctioning and doing "double strums". The easiest place to check this is on the song selection menu. Each strum should take you up or down one song. If it skips a song or two, your guitar's strummer is broken and about to fail.

If it is double strumming, pester EA for a replacement.

[WillDrum4Food]

I used to be just a down-strummer but when things start getting quick, it usually gets pretty hairy for me...

Thanks to this new Fender controller with its 'lip' strum bar, I've managed to get comfortable with a thumb-and-index finger-picking style that's helped me in the game immeasurably.

[ibender]

do not grip the strum bar. gripping the strum bar is lame and makes you suck. hold your hand as if you were holding a guitar pick and flick the strum bar up and down with your thumb.

[Xerosnake90]

Songs like highway star and dead on arrival are slow enough to use down strums on, that's how I got gold on HS and 5star on Doa.

Parts like on creep, that's when you need to do downstrums, or even the solo on Highway star when you hold the green and alternate between the other buttons, those require down strum or you'll mess up, and most likely fail.

[.Taby_Rocker.]

I up strum but sometimes when it gets little fast I down strum.

[Exayle]

Songs like highway star and dead on arrival are slow enough to use down strums on, that's how I got gold on HS and 5star on Doa.

Parts like on creep, that's when you need to do downstrums, or even the solo on Highway star when you hold the green and alternate between the other buttons, those require down strum or you'll mess up, and most likely fail.

So... you downstrummed Highway Star entirely to get gold stars, but you alt-strummed during the solo? Kind of contradictory, isn't it? And how about the string of yellow notes that go on forever [and have strange timing/patterns]. There's some cramped notes in there -- did you downstrum all those, too? Just curious.

I got in the habit of always alternating strums back in GH2. Even on easy/slow songs [Say It Ain't So, Maps]. Just habit. Not only does it keep pressure off of just the downstrum - since you're only hitting it half as often - but it just becomes habit. I would hate to "downstrum most of the time, but upstrum rapid notes" or whatever. You're more-than-likely to screw up a few times while your brain registers which direction to strum. And contrary to what everyone says, I personally have no problem "keeping rhythm" going up and down. If I were to actually try to strum just down, it'd totally mess me up.

My little brother [14] strums solely down, and then up-down for quick notes. He's been playing GH for probably a year prior to myself, and, all bragging aside, I pretty much crush him at the trickier songs with more notes. He can only play for so long downstrumming before his "arm hurts". I play for literal hours on end with no real issue.

Kind of as iBender said - gripping the strum bar isn't necessary [but I've yet to "suck" while doing so]. It really is all about a loose grip/"flicking" motion.

[Frederf]

do not grip the strum bar. gripping the strum bar is lame and makes you suck. hold your hand as if you were holding a guitar pick and flick the strum bar up and down with your thumb.

I have to agree on this one. With the old GH guitars there was an audible/tactile click associated with the strum registers but with the Strat not so. When you grip the strum the natural assumption is that the strum registers at the extreme limits of the strum's motion, but that is not how it works. The Strat's strum registers pretty much at the center of its motion.

Many people I see alt strumming the Strat while holding the strum will miss a lot of notes because their timing is off and blame the controller for being "crap." However playing the Strat strum as if it were strings and "hitting it" on the beats does not create this tendency to be off-time and the note hit percentage goes up.

My younger brother (21) pretty much only does down strums which does work but tires him out and makes faster parts more manic than they have to be.

[NGW]

For me it depends. For most parts of most songs I just down strum. On harder/faster sections I'll alt strum.

Works best, at least for the group I play with.

[SuperFlyXXI]

I guess another tip I can throw in is not to strum when it's not necessary. Learn the pull offs and hammer ons. Learn to see them coming and use them as much as possible. I learned them late in GH's Expert levels, and I used them whenever possible in GH2. Same applies in RB.

[skrib]

I strum both up and down even in the simplest songs, based on the sequence. It feels much more realistic to play like that, just as you would with a real guitar. No need to grip the strum bar just use your thumb and fingers to pick it - you can use multiple fingers that way. I have also tried a pick, but that was not as effective for me.

[AdamBomb629]

I know this has been discussed in other threads, but I find it very difficult to alt-strum with the Strat.

[DoublePhister]

I do the invisible pick method but it's my index finger that is hitting the strummer not my thumb.