Where to strum

[Marlinark]

Where should you strum on the guitar?

Do you ever vary or change struming area for dynamics?

[fingerpikingood]

i always change where i strum, and usually i strum in an unconventional area, or i should say "strum" because i usually don't just strum, or just fingerpick, but use combinations of these.

up the fretboard you get kind of a nicer rounder tone i find, wherease down lower over the body you get a more crisp sharper sound.

i often play my left hand right over the fretboard because up there i can also fingertap if i want, and play harmonics as well. it just puts my left hand more "in the game" and for some reason i'm more comfortable that way. although for fingerpicking it is less good because it's harder to get your fingers in there if you have a low action like i have on my guitar. if you finger pick slow it's ok, but for fast playing, it's not ideal. unless maybe you had longer finger nails than i have, but then you're hurting your ability to finger tap, you need to have one hand with longer finger nails than the other, and it sucks if you want to play piano or bass or even drums.

so i try to strum lower over the body more mostly only if i want to do quick runs, but i'm actually finding the habit a little hard to shake because it's only really for runs that i feel the need to play over the body. but that tone is nice also.

I actually noticed also that for playing natural harmonics plucking the string right down near the saddle of the guitar gives nice strong harmonics for some reason whereas if you pick higher up they're less powerful.

[JazzMick]

Strum where it sounds good to you :)

Sure you can definitely hit the strings at different angles and areas but ultimately it should feel right to you personally. That takes a while to figure out though.

As a rule of thumb. Try just under the neck pickup, or between the neck and the middle of the sound hole (if its acoustic) that's my sweet spot anyway. If you play too close to the bridge your guitar may start sounding like a banjo :p

[Malcolm]

Strum where it sounds good to you.
You'll find all those sweet spots mentioned in the other posts. If you are just starting out where is not all that important now. Later yes.

For dynamics, the last couple of strums in the song - go down the neck into the fretboard with a flourish, say around the 17th fret - more for show than sound. Not appropriate on every song, you'll know when to use it.

[Marlinark]

That is good to know, I have been playing for a while now and am totally ready to do it the professional way.

I am actually play the violin/mandolin professionally and have been told that closer to the bridge mean louder. Looking at my guitar right now, I actually think that, that does apply to some degree other than playing to close would would decrease noise due to the tightness of the strings.