Strummin with no pick. Can't figure out what instructor taught me

So I've been playing guitar for 13 years (electric since I play mostly Metal). Yesterday was my first day with an instructor after more than 8 years. I'm learning classical/flamenco guitar. I can't quite figure out one of the strumming techniques that my instructor told me to use. Maybe I'm more confused as to the "why" in this technique.

Anyways, he told me to strum by rotating my arm. Not up and down from the elbow. The way he described it was like opening a doorknob. To picture the movement, put your arm straight out in a fist as if you were holding a pole vertically. Then rotate your arm so the pole would be horizontal, then back to the original position. That "rotating" movement is what he wants me to do to strum the guitar. I don't see the benefit of not allowing your arm to go up and down, but only in this rotating thing.

There's much less distance to move, it's a lot faster to rotate the wrist than it is to swing the arm up and down. I can't speak for the flamenco style (but Hanspeter and others have really good tutorials, check out that section) but I do know spanish guitar uses a lot of crafty fingerstrumming techniques. Watch a little bit of Gypsy kings and the like and you'll see that it's a lot of rotating for that flamenco sound. That's the best I can explain it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mifnMC_Kn1Q

Originally Posted by: hunter1801So I've been playing guitar for 13 years (electric since I play mostly Metal). Yesterday was my first day with an instructor after more than 8 years. I'm learning classical/flamenco guitar. I can't quite figure out one of the strumming techniques that my instructor told me to use. Maybe I'm more confused as to the "why" in this technique.

Anyways, he told me to strum by rotating my arm. Not up and down from the elbow. The way he described it was like opening a doorknob. To picture the movement, put your arm straight out in a fist as if you were holding a pole vertically. Then rotate your arm so the pole would be horizontal, then back to the original position. That "rotating" movement is what he wants me to do to strum the guitar. I don't see the benefit of not allowing your arm to go up and down, but only in this rotating thing.

If I understand what your instructor is trying to say, it would be the same as good circular alternate picking. It's really about economy of motion and using the larger muscle groups to your advantage. In my opinion anyway.

It sounds like the instructor wants you to move your arm somewhat in a 'sawing' motion or like the arm that moves the wheels on an old steam locomotive.

I always thought that doing so economized motion even though with larger groups. It gave more strength and less complexity to pick movements. Think about country or folk strumming, you do so with the whole of your arm. I think this apply to many motions on the guitar. The larger in size the muscle group, the more apt it is to handle repeated motions over a longer period of time and do so with assisting accuracy. In this case, many of the motions you will do in classical are lent to using this kind of motion for what little I know about it.

Just my experience, anyway.