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UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45

Up or Down

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HootsmonHootsmon Frets: 15657
in Technique
Which is more important to you.....the up or down stroke?
tae be or not tae be
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  • vizviz Frets: 10211
    Are we talking guitar?
    Paul_C said: People never read the signature bit.
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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2457
    Downstrum is about timing
    Up strum  is about groove 
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  • tabanotabano Frets: 90
    depending on the accents really,

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  • tanihhiavlttanihhiavlt Frets: 659

    as a southpaw - I spent several years playing my Dad's right handed guitars the wrong way up - as he gigged them and, for a while, that was the sole income for the household. 

    As a result my up-stroke in chords needed to be stronger and clearer to emulate other musicians (an important part of learning)

    That means decades later, I still sometimes start on the upstroke (okay for Reggae and Bossanova) but not so good for everything else.

    I had a lesson with Phil Robson once a long time ago and he practised playing tunes with nothing but down strokes.. 

    I don't know if either is more important. or if one direction is weighted for one thing or the other ... my left hand (picking hand) is still a complete mystery to me :(
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  • MattharrierMattharrier Frets: 402
    If I can be a facetious arse for a moment, I am finding that it's actually the strums I don't make that I'm focusing on - if you take down-down-down-down and down-up-down-up-down-up-down-up as the default patterns, it's the beats I don't play that make my playing (such as it is) sound better and more musical.

    As a beginner, I'd say that down strums are the most important in general though.
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33263
    Depends on the player.
    People should work on their weaknesses, if your downstrokes are weak then work on them... I am sure you can fill in the rest.
    James Richmond

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  • vizviz Frets: 10211
    octatonic said:

    I am sure you can fill in the rest.

    With an upstroke. 
    Paul_C said: People never read the signature bit.
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  • slackerslacker Frets: 2093
    Imho depends on the music.

    Ramones-down
    Reggae-up
    Nile Rodgers-down up very fast and mute for accents

    And so on.

    I don't actually think about it as technique just how to play the song.
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  • LewyLewy Frets: 3795
    edited October 2021
    Downstroke, because I use the bluegrass/flat picking philosophy of downstroke on the downbeat, upstroke on the offbeat, so for me downstroke is always the beat (or rather the beat is always a downstroke)
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  • NiteflyNitefly Frets: 4697
    I'm sure I read once that John Lennon only played downstrokes in his rhythm parts - anyone able to verify/disprove?

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  • MellishMellish Frets: 945
    @Nitefly I think in the Get Back rooftop performance there's a side-on view of his strumming hand that shows him doing down up. It may be a different performance I'm thinking of but I've seen it somewhere :) 
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  • CarpeDiemCarpeDiem Frets: 248
    They’re both important, and has already been said it depends on the song. Accenting of either upstroke or downstroke is needed for certain genres (eg some metal styles or reggae), or a particular beat in the bar. You can generally hear if something doesn’t sound quite right, so I’d suggest working on both.
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