Acoustic Strumming Step-by-Step, Level 2

Description

The strumming pattern presented in this lesson is a classic rhythm that you will hear all over the place in folk music, rock and pop music, country, bluegrass, and other styles. By learning this pattern and experimenting with some variations, you'll open up a whole world of musical possibilities.

This more advanced pattern starts with the bass note of the chord (a downstroke), followed by a downstroke and an upstroke across some or all of the remaining strings of the guitar. This is followed by another upstroke, downstroke, and upstroke.

I like to notate it this way:

Bass

Down/Up

Up/Down/Up

It's important to play the downstrokes and upstrokes exactly in this way, even if you feel you can get similar sounding results with a different mix of downs and ups. This technique will serve as a strong foundation for moving on to more advanced patterns down the road. The consistent up and down strokes allow your hand and arm to work like a pendulum, adding feel and groove to the music.

In the next lesson we'll put this new rhythm pattern to work in a practice song. Meanwhile, try it over a few chord changes to see if you can keep the rhythm consistent, and make the chord changes on time without a pause.