It is assumed that you already know how to read guitar chords. If not check out that lesson now and then return here.

Now that you understand how to read chord symbols it's time to learn how to strum chords. Strumming means to play the strings by brushing the pick across the strings. The two types of strumming are the up and down brush stroke which are indicated by an arrow. On the down brush stroke, the pick glides across the strings towards the ground. On the up brush stroke, the pick glides across the strings towards you.

This diagram below shows a C chord with both down and up brush strokes.

Now that you know about the up and down brush strokes, it is time to learn how to approach strumming chords.

When learning how to strum first take note of how many strings there are in the chord. In the C chord above, there are five strings that will be strummed (the X = don't play that string). This means that you will have to take care not to strum the sixth string. Once you know how many strings to strum, then just follow the strumming directions which form strumming patterns.

Congratulations!

Congratulations on following each of the 10 steps. You now have a solid understanding of how to play guitar and are ready to start learning how to put all this information and learn to play songs.

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