To begin with just strum in a straight downwards motion.? You can use your pick and also try by just using your thumb.? The action is a relaxed wrist action.? Do not hold your wrist firm while just moving the thumb but allow your hand to rock up and down at the wrist in a relaxed manner.
You can also strum with the back of your fingers but in it's most basic form a strum is a single stroke with the thumb.? You can vary the angle of your thumb to find the best sound.? Using more of the tip and less of the side with give you a louder, clearer sound.? Make sure your nails are clipped so that you do not accidentally pluck a string with your nail which will produce a louder sound than intended.
Spend 5 minutes or so playing the F, C and G Major chords, in that order, until you feel you have memorized each chord.? You might want to consider your fingering to make the progression from one chord to another easier.? For F use finger 1 on the 2nd string, 2 on the 3rd and 3 on the 4th.? Now to change to C all that you have to do is move fingers 2 and 3 up to the 4th and 5th strings.? The easiest progression to G is to simply move fingers 2 and 3 up to the 5th and 6th strings, release the 2nd string and place finger 4 on the 1st string, 3rd fret.? If the G is tricky just leave out the 1st string altogether and lift your finger of string 2.? In fact it is OK to leave the 1st string out of it for all 3 chords.? If you accidentally hit it just mute it by allowing the 1st finger of your left hand to gently touch it.? Try each chord for 4 beats in the following progression.
F/// C/// G/// C///
You are aiming for even counting - 1234/1234/1234/1234 - Take it slow and concentrate on smooth even counting.
It is permissible to use the 4th beat to move your fingers from one chord to the other.? In this case the 4th strum would play the open strings giving you time to get your fingers in position for the 1st beat of the new chord
Repeat until you are happy with the result.
?I am sure that, if you have given sufficient practice to each individual chord, after a few minutes you will be able to progress from one chord to the other without difficulty.
