Bluegrass Strumming 103

The Upstroke

To play an upstroke, start your hand below the first string right beneath the sound hole. Quickly brush the pick up through the all of the strings. The main difference from the downstroke is that you're working a little against gravity for the upstroke and this requires a bit of arm and wrist movement. In the next lesson you'll learn how to combine down and upstrokes and how downstrokes can provide some momentum for your upstroke.

Use the tab below as a rhythmic reference for your upstroke practice. You can change the speed using the tempo slider.