What makes a good strummer???

[onewilyfool]

I've noticed some guitars are just NOT good strummers. It's not just the size of the sound box that counts, I've played some pretty small guitars that are EXCELLENT strummers. OK, it may just be my ears, and to each his own and all that, but some guitars are just born to strum. What makes a good strummer to me are theses things:

1. No muddiness when strummed. I think this muddiness stems from a lot of overtones on the MID strings.

2. Even-ness across the strings. If the bass string is too dominant, or the treble strings tend to over- ringing, the strum will not sound even. The best strummer for me, where the strings are equal volume when strummed the same.

3. No "harshness" when strummed. Some guitars just sound raw and harsh when strummed, especially when strummed hard where the guitar just seems to get "overwhelmed" by it's own sound. Sometimes new strings can sound harsh.

4. When strummed softly, the guitar has a piano or "harp like" sound that is very sweet. I'm not a "dig in" kind of guy, so this is very important to me.

5.I like a guitar, that when I strum and deaden the strings either by lifting off, or muting, that the guitar has a great "percussive" sound, so you can use it for rhythm, or setting down the "boogie"beat. This is also an aspect of a good strummer to me. Not all guitars are good at this!

6. Can take a pick or back of nails and sound good. A good strummer will sound good under both styles of attack. With a new guitar, I will go through a pack of picks, looking for the right one to sound good with THAT guitar.

7. I've noticed that some guitars BECOME good strummers when the strings get a little older. So string choice can make or break a strummer, you may have to kiss a lot of packs of strings til you find your prince of a set!

8. Often I've found that "cannon" guitars which are good for cutting through the mix when competing with 10 dreadnaughts at a jam, may not be a great strummer when played solo. This type of jamming is not my style really, so the need for a cannon is not that important to me. LOUD guitars are often just that...LOUD, tone, and such may get lost in the translation.

9. I often mix strumming with finger style as I play, so set up is very important.I used to set up my guitars "as low as possible without buzzing", but while this may be great for finger picking, the strings may hit the frets and buzz upon strumming, especially HARD strumming, so, I have been setting up my bass E string at about 3.5/32" which works well for me, strumming and picking with the old fingers.

 

Anyway, just sharing some thoughts, and welcome yours...keep pluckin'!!

[EuroAussie]

Good and creative sense of rhythm and dynamics.

[tpbiii]

I guess I have a slightly more nuanced definition of "strumming." When my wife and I first started playing music during the folk revival, what I consider to be generic strumming was common. This was mostly used for vocal back up, and the goal was to produce a space filling full sound which in and of itself was adequate back up a single voice or a whole room full of singers. Generally, the attack was mostly full strokes with a flatpick -- a lot of different rhythm patterns can be incorporated using this approach. Also it is relatively easy to do -- accessibility was a hallmark of the folk revival.

 

Here is Tom in 1963 on my LG-2.

 

 

There are several guitars in our collection that seem to excel in this role (and not too much else that we do). These include our '65 Dove and '62 Hummingbird. Other guitars I have played (but don't own) that seem also to excel are guitars like the maple J-185 and even the maple J-200.

 

I would describe the tone of these guitars to be very full and very blended. Whether they are old and clear or green, the overall effect is pretty much the same. IMO, fingerpickers they are not.

 

Our music is much changed from those days -- we seldom do that style anymore. We do do a lot of rhythm in acoustic string bands, and IMO that is not strumming in the sense discussed above. That music incorporates a lot of single string runs, and depends on the rest of the band to add to the rhythm -- particularly the bass and the mandolin. The "strum" part of the guitar back up is sort of like a shape charge usually performed on the overly big midrange of an AJ or D-28 for bluegrass or maybe a Jumbo for Old Time. These guitars are perfect for these application largely because the genre was built around the specific characteristics of these instruments. If the guitars are old and clear, they also make great flat picking guitars.

 

When we do go back to our folk roots nowadays, my wife often plays bass and I do a mix of finger style and flatpicking. My favorite for that is probably banner J-45s or SJs -- they are sparse enough for finger style and full enough strumming.

 

I guess I will mention one other interesting (to me) guitar that we use as a strummer occasionally -- our 1965 F-25. This is a strong, raw, in your face paint peeler in the tradition of the early L-00s, J-35s, Jumbos, and Smecks. One of our passions is mountain style traditional singing -- an acquired taste for sure. This guitar is a bit much for our attempts at that -- but over the years it has grown on us. It is kind of a separate category of strumming (also I guess a separate category of finger style as well.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[JuanCarlosVejar]

I think basically anything can be a strummer ... but not everything can be a bluegrass/fingerstyle guitar .

If you only play in your room alone and don't need to be heard I'm sure you would get a kick out of strumming a hog guitar like the L00 .

but I'm not so sure you could to the same if you wanted to do bluegrass and you only had a Dove .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JC

[Tarrr]

owf, the kind of clean balance you are describing is not rare but it doesn't exist in most guitars. The best sounding rhythm guitar I've ever heard was a 1971 J50. The harshness thing you described is very common with new guitars (no matter the cost) but not always. Wood matures without regard for our ears and no two are ever the same... some better than others always.

 

Really enjoyed reading your thoughts, thanks for the tune-up. A great rhythm guitar is a special thing.

[Rambler]

I think basically anything can be a strummer ...

eh.... dunno there, JC. A pal of mine was using the Blues King I once owned to do what TPBiii called the standard folk strum = glass shards. Back to what Wiley said about some guitars sounding harsh (pretty much applied to a 50s D18 of my acquaintance).

 

I think what you want for folk strum/rock chug guitar is blend: The notes either ring in harmony or decay quickly enough so the overtones dont go to war or have enough low end to cover the upper end. Many answer the call: J200, H'brds & Doves, AJ, MartinM38 & like, D28 & like, J45 & like, J185, LG2 0018v. Some don't as much: L00, 00018, D18 (all to varying degree bright, busy in the upper mids, and less bass to cover).

[bram99]

Onewily...I like the way you characterize a "good strummer" sums up the difference between my J-45TV and my LG-2 reissue pretty well....as much as I wanted my very comfortable LG-2 to to be my one guitar (as I get older and comfort becomes more important) it never will because of how far it is away from the the J45 on the strum....

 

Admitting my bias because I am a big Paul Weller fan....this performance (to my tastes) is a good example.... the ability to maintain clarity across highs mids and lows at various positions up and down the neck while driving it fairly hard...Weller plays a mid 70s square shoulder J-45....

 

[duluthdan]

The audio on this clip is not ideal - but the J-200 certainly earned its strumming stripes with this guy:

better audio - classic strummer:

[JuanCarlosVejar]

Onewily...I like the way you characterize a "good strummer" sums up the difference between my J-45TV and my LG-2 reissue pretty well....as much as I wanted my very comfortable LG-2 to to be my one guitar (as I get older and comfort becomes more important) it never will because of how far it is away from the the J45 on the strum....

 

Admitting my bias because I am a big Paul Weller fan....this performance (to my tastes) is a good example.... the ability to maintain clarity across highs mids and lows at various positions up and down the neck while driving it fairly hard...Weller plays a mid 70s square shoulder J-45....

 

 

 

you can't go wrong with Paul Weller . one of the few british artists I really wnjoy and respect

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JC