Why Foundations Matter: Part 5 - Why Your Strumming Sounds the Same

Preservice rehearsal. Small team. Worship leader on guitar, another vocalist, me on keys.

Worship leader: “We sound monotonous. How can we vary the dynamics?”

Me: “You know why we sound monotonous? Because you’re strumming non-stop.”

Him: “Okay… then some parts I play softer?”

Did I stutter?

People wonder why I’m such a grumpy old man. But frankly, I don’t blame the guitarists. I blame how they were taught.

If they came from a cookie-cutter, mass-production school, odds are they were made to memorize a few strumming patterns by rote. Instead of learning to build rhythm from the ground up, to adapt to chord changes, to accent key parts of the singing, just be glad if they can even keep time with drummers at different tempos.

Critical details, such as:

• Where to strum
• How to use the palm for percussive drive
• How to move between whisper-light accents and floor-holding power

…Forget about it.

In the rush to churn out factory-preset guitarists, basics are always the first to die. Same as with drums: stick drills reveal if the wrist motion is correct. Strumming has its own checkpoints too, but they take time, they take correction, and correction doesn’t sell.

Because too many adult learners don’t like being corrected, and too many teachers won’t risk losing students to the “fun” music school down the street. So what we get is a generation of guitarists who sound the same, no matter the song. In a small group or prayer meeting, the continual spamming and right-hand spasms might still be tolerable, but in a church band? You should see the horrified expressions from guitarists when I suggest they maybe take a break during the verse and let the pianist anchor, just for sonic variety.

So what’s the answer, JJ?

I don’t have one. God didn’t appoint me the Church Music Standards Police. I’m not issuing chord-offence citations every time someone abuses G–D–Em–C. And I’ve got no interest in starting another cookie-cutter factory school to compete with the ones already out there, cajoling adults who think learning skills are supposed to be as easy as casual hobbies. I’m too old for this.

But if you’ve ever felt stuck, if you’ve wondered why your strumming sounds the same no matter what you play, maybe it’s time to stop memorizing patterns and start learning rhythm for real.

[Click here if you’re ready to trade cookie-cutter strumming for real rhythm →]