“If I were to strum a full barre-chord voicing for each chord, it would feel too ‘chunky.’ Instead, I do what Nile advised me to do”: Cory Wong on the most important technique you can learn from Nile Rodgers

Nile Rodgers plays his Hitmaker Stratocaster onstage at OverOslo 2025. He wears a black bandana.

This month, I’d like to talk about the paramount importance of the right, or pick, hand – how it’s the keeper of time and the thing that gives us the groove while we play.

I’ll demonstrate some examples and practice tips for you to work on to help develop your strumming technique.