Three Steps to Better Guitar Strums
When you begin guitar you can obtain a better sound and make your songs sound more interesting by improving your guitar strumming skills.
You probably started with simple down strums as you learned your first chords and songs.
This lesson shows you three simple steps you can follow to build your strumming skills on simple songs.
Eighth Note Strums The first thing to master after the basic down strums are eighth note guitar strums.
To understand eighth notes you must know that musical bars are most commonly divided into four beats.
Each of these beats is called a quarter note.
When you strum down four times on your basic open chords you are playing quarter notes.
Eighth notes are what you get when you divide the quarter notes in half.
The simplest way to play them is to strum down and up.
You count eighth notes by saying "one and two and three and four and" as you strum down on the one, two, three and four, and up on each "and".
Practice eighth note strums by taking a series of simple chords or a song you know and playing through it with down and up strums.
Aim to develop a steady rhythm with evenly spaced strokes.
Make Some Space Once you've got the hang of strumming eighth notes down and up you can make your guitar strum patterns more interesting by introducing some space into them.
Keep your hand moving down and up in the steady eighth note rhythm, but instead of strumming the strings on each stroke pass by them without striking them on some strokes.
Here are some examples for you to try.
The beats shown in brackets are not played, simply pass the strings with your pick and let them ring from the previous strum, don't try to stop them.
Remember to keep your hand moving down and up evenly on each eighth note beat even when you don't strum the strings.
One (and) two and (three) and four (and) One and two (and) (three) and four and One and (two) and (three) and four (and) When you are comfortable with these examples make up some more patterns of your own.
Skip Some Strings To take your strumming a little further you can start to play with different strings on different strokes.
You don't have to strum all the strings all the time.
When you strum only a few strings at a time your sound will have more variety and interest for the listener.
Your main focus should be on striking either the bass strings - the fourth, fifth and sixth - or the treble strings - the thinnest three.
A good way to play these is to strike a bass string or two on the one and/or three, and to strike mostly treble strings on the other strokes.
Play the rhythm patterns above again and this time try to emphasize different strings on different beats.
Dedicate some of your practice time to learn new guitar strums and work on making them more interesting by using space or by strumming only a few strings at a time.
You will discover that with only a few simple techniques you can make big improvements to the sound of your guitar strums.
You probably started with simple down strums as you learned your first chords and songs.
This lesson shows you three simple steps you can follow to build your strumming skills on simple songs.
Eighth Note Strums The first thing to master after the basic down strums are eighth note guitar strums.
To understand eighth notes you must know that musical bars are most commonly divided into four beats.
Each of these beats is called a quarter note.
When you strum down four times on your basic open chords you are playing quarter notes.
Eighth notes are what you get when you divide the quarter notes in half.
The simplest way to play them is to strum down and up.
You count eighth notes by saying "one and two and three and four and" as you strum down on the one, two, three and four, and up on each "and".
Practice eighth note strums by taking a series of simple chords or a song you know and playing through it with down and up strums.
Aim to develop a steady rhythm with evenly spaced strokes.
Make Some Space Once you've got the hang of strumming eighth notes down and up you can make your guitar strum patterns more interesting by introducing some space into them.
Keep your hand moving down and up in the steady eighth note rhythm, but instead of strumming the strings on each stroke pass by them without striking them on some strokes.
Here are some examples for you to try.
The beats shown in brackets are not played, simply pass the strings with your pick and let them ring from the previous strum, don't try to stop them.
Remember to keep your hand moving down and up evenly on each eighth note beat even when you don't strum the strings.
One (and) two and (three) and four (and) One and two (and) (three) and four and One and (two) and (three) and four (and) When you are comfortable with these examples make up some more patterns of your own.
Skip Some Strings To take your strumming a little further you can start to play with different strings on different strokes.
You don't have to strum all the strings all the time.
When you strum only a few strings at a time your sound will have more variety and interest for the listener.
Your main focus should be on striking either the bass strings - the fourth, fifth and sixth - or the treble strings - the thinnest three.
A good way to play these is to strike a bass string or two on the one and/or three, and to strike mostly treble strings on the other strokes.
Play the rhythm patterns above again and this time try to emphasize different strings on different beats.
Dedicate some of your practice time to learn new guitar strums and work on making them more interesting by using space or by strumming only a few strings at a time.
You will discover that with only a few simple techniques you can make big improvements to the sound of your guitar strums.
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