lesson
Strumming Chords
Strumming chords is one of the most important skills new guitarists need to learn. The pattern, or way you strum is called rhythm. Rhythm can be notated using rhythm notation. Rhythm notation is similar to standard music notation, except there are no note pitches and the note heads are slashes and rectangles. Look at the example below. The top staff is the standard notation and the bottom staff is the corresponding rhythm notation.
Strumming Exercise #1
In the example below, you will be playing the C chord (you already learned) using all quarter note strums. The down arrows indicate that you will be strumming using all downstrokes. Notice that there are four measures but only one chord diagram. When you encounter a chord diagram (or symbol) you continue playing that chord until you encounter a different one. In this case, you play the C chord for all four measures (since there are no other chord diagrams or symbols.)
The goal here is to play using a steady tempo (rate of speed the music is played at) and strumming all the chords cleanly at an even volume.
links
Audio Files
- Strumming Exercise #1
-
Rhythm Guitar 3
- Strumming Up and Down
- This lesson was adapted from my book: Better Guitar Method Book 1, which is available at the Better Guitar Shop.
