hi how you doing justin here and today i
want to share with you a little lesson
that i often give in live workshops but
haven't done a video lesson for you and
a lot of students reported this was a
bit of a groundbreaking lesson for them
it's a it's kind of like a big picture
thing about how rhythm guitar works and
i think if you get to grips with this
idea can really expand your ability to
be able to work out strumming patterns
off songs and understand what's
happening with the mechanics of your arm
so let's start off by talking about a
bar of music and we're just going to be
starting real simple looking at four
four times so four four time has four
beats in the bar you would normally
count this one two three and four and
pretty much always you're gonna do a
down strum on the beat which is the
numbers that's often referred to as the
downbeat the one two three and the four
the downbeat or the beat and it will
take a down strum now if you just do
that i'm just going to use a c chord
here if i do that and i just go one two
three
4 and i use that all as downs in between
each down there's an up movement now we
would normally count this as an and
now if we count that as an and we end up
with a count that would be one and two
and three and four and
the numbers the one two three and the
four being a down strum and the ands
being an up strum that gives us eight
possible strums in the bar
okay this is really big deal okay so
we'd have one and two and three
and four and one and two and three and
four and now
any of you guys that are doing my
beginners course will probably already
have heard me rant about this before but
it's really important that you keep your
hand moving even if you're not strumming
all the time so if i was just strumming
once on the beginning of each bar i
would still make all of those hand
movements but just let the pick touch
the strings on beat one so i'd have like
one and two and three and four and one
and two and three and four and now this
kind of helps you keep time but it's
also a little bit about where you might
in add in some other strums as well and
in fact where we get all of our
strumming patterns from when i'm
teaching this lesson at one of my
workshops i normally write on the
whiteboard one and two and three and
four and then i invite participants to
circle some of those beats where we're
going to put the strums on it really can
be any one so long as you keep your hand
moving
one and two and three and four and you
can put the strum anywhere you like now
it's helpful at the beginning when you
first start doing this kind of idea that
you keep the strum on beat one it'll
just help you keep into the groove with
doing this sort of stuff so when you get
to making up your own patterns i would
recommend that you start by circling
beat one and then look at circling some
of the other ones
now i found a couple of the examples
that uh was used on one of the
blackboards of a picture from one of the
workshops so i thought i'd use that just
because it's kind of an interesting one
now the first one somebody said in the
audience okay i want you to circle all
of them except for beat three i think
they were trying to be clever but
actually it works perfectly well so
we're going to be strumming one and two
and three and four and hand will be
moving the same
but on the strum that would be on beat
three which would be a down we're going
to leave that one off so our hand will
still move down we just won't strum so
if we do that pattern so three and four
and one and two and three and four and
one and two and three and four and
[Music]
one and two and three and four and one
and two and three and four and now
i just did it really super slowly there
so you got the idea and this is what i'd
recommend when you're practicing it as
well then i just sped it up a little bit
and tried to make it feel a bit better
and that's the
probably the most important thing when
you're playing a strumming pattern is
making it feel good because if it
doesn't feel good for you it's not going
to feel good for the listener so you've
got to get first of all the actual basic
rhythm pattern sorted out and then you
want to try and make it feel good try
and really relax into it and make it sit
nicely it should feel comfortable old
pair of shoes kind of comfy while you're
playing it that's the the idea now uh
let's take a a slightly more
interesting one we've got here i've got
somebody said to circle beat one then
the and after one the and after two and
beat four
okay so
one and two
and three and four and okay so really
good way to kind of practice these
things is to say the ones where you're
going to strum and whisper the other
ones okay but remember that your hand is
going to move all the time and you're
only going to play on the ones that you
circled in this case one and two and
three
four
okay let's play it real slow first of
all
three
four
one and two and three
four
one and two and three
four
one and two and three
four
one and two and three
four okay sorry my microphone cables
decided to join me at the front there um
now let me play that one a little bit
faster and try and make it kind of feel
a bit more natural again so here we go
three four one and two and three four
[Applause]
actually that one feels really nice it's
not probably not the most common
strumming pattern but it feels really
good again let me do the same thing
again changing chords but uh
[Music]
[Applause]
now
here's another part of this little
journey if you realize that you can
actually strum on any of them
you kind of get a better feeling for
where this idea of variations comes from
now i did it straight away kind of
instinctively even though i was kind of
trying inverted commas to be able to
keep the strumming pattern the same and
just apply it to different chords i
naturally started to introduce a couple
of other strums and that's okay so long
as the hand keeps moving all the time
that is fine that is the key thing and
there are exceptions okay for more
advanced guitar players there are times
where you would deviate from this but
nearly all people nearly all the time
strum this way people that are not
schooled that have never learned to play
guitar they end up doing rhythm guitar
like this and if you watch people play
guitar you'll see that it's that way
nearly all the time sometimes it's a lot
faster the hand might be moving a lot
faster but it's the consistency that's
the real key thing here okay so there
was one pattern one and and and four
sorry one and and
four was that one that we just did let's
have a little chat now about
manipulating a pattern because this can
be kind of fun as well but probably the
most common strumming pattern of all
time i call it old faithful in a lot of
my books is down down up up down which
is one two and and four one two and and
four okay real real common you
definitely know this one one two and
three and four one two and three and
four
okay i'm sure you've heard that one
probably half of all songs of all time
have been written using this drumming
pattern right real super common but a
real fun thing if you understand the
idea that we've just got these eight
strums in the bar and we're circling or
choosing which ones we're gonna strum
you could manipulate that pattern around
a little bit and try something else so
maybe we could go
funnily enough if we went one and we
moved the strum on beat two to the and
after one one and and and four we've
almost got the pattern i was mucking
around with before that one would be one
and two and three and four one and two
and three and four one and two and three
and four etcetera maybe we could change
the and after two and move it on to beat
three so we'd have one two three and
four one two three and four one two
three and four one two three and four
okay that one works as well maybe we go
back to our faithful and we move the one
on beat four to the and after four so we
end up with one two and and and one
two and and one two
and one two
and one
a little bit funny at that speed again
[Music]
okay it's just
there's so much stuff that you can do
here where you can either take patterns
that you already know and manipulate
them slightly you can start from refresh
and just write down literally your one
and two and three and four and circle a
few random ones um
i did mention before that i'd recommend
at the beginning starting off by
circling beat one just because it helps
with the solidity and understanding
where the groove is and where you are in
the bar but it's totally cool to miss
out in fact a lot of the really hip
patterns don't have a strum on beat one
just to give you an example if we circle
the and after one beat two the and after
two and then the and after three and
beat four so one and two and three and
four
one and two and three and four we end up
with this
one and two and three and four one and
two and three and four notice one and
two and three and four miss up down up
up down one and two and three and four
one and two and three and four a little
bit faster one and two and three and
four
[Music]
okay again so many variations and so
much fun to be had here
now what you'll probably find if you
muck around with this a little bit more
on your own and just literally write
down on a piece of paper one and two and
three and four and circle some try it
out see which ones feel good see which
ones don't because you're going to find
some just feel a bit lumpy
it might be that it would work in a
certain circumstance that you're not
familiar with or whatever but just try
them because you're going to find
you'll learn a lot about what works well
for you what sounds of what strumming
patterns you like
do remember i'm just going to remind you
again the making it feel good thing okay
so don't just play it once and kind of
while you're not familiar with it
because it's likely when it's very new
to feel a bit lumpy and a bit kind of
unco anyway so you need to practice a
little bit and really try and relax into
it and see what feels good for you now
with a little bit of practice you're
going to start recognizing strumming
patterns more as well because you've
experimented with it a bit when you hear
a strumming pattern on a song and you
know i get emails all the time what's
the strumming pattern for this one
what's the strumming pattern for that
one if you get good at doing this you'll
just hear it you especially if you can
keep your hair moving and go one and two
and three and four and one and two and
three and four and one and try and count
with your hand movement one and two and
three and four and and just kind of
imagine strumming along you know without
playing the guitar moving your hand
along with the track so that you're in
time with it and then try and register
where the strumming is happening where
you're hearing the strumming on the
track in relation to your hand
okay you got it this is a this is a
really big deal because once you get
used to this idea it's it's kind of set
that's it that's all there is there's
well that's all there is
that's exaggerating okay this is one of
those things that you really have to
play with more than think about so make
sure you give this plenty of playing and
less thinking you need a little bit of
thinking time to write down the patterns
to consolidate the idea in your mind so
that you understand what's going on but
it's the playing of it that will help
you the most okay spending some time
just practicing keeping the hand moving
and doing random strumming can also help
so imagining you've got this one and two
and three and four and one and two and
three and four and one and two and three
and four and one and two and three four
and one and two and three and four and
one and two and three and four and
two it doesn't i'm not really going for
a set pattern there i'm just making sure
i keep my count solid keep my foot
tapping on the beat keeping my arm easy
and moving exactly in time as well
remember that the foot your foot should
be tapping on the beat the one two three
and the four same as your hand moving
down one and two and three and four and
should foot be tapping in that down
strum at the same time so your foot is
likely your foot or your leg is going to
be lifting at the same time as your hand
okay so those things should stay
together making sure you count on the
beat one two three four or one and two
and three and four and you can count all
of them if you like i tend to only count
the ands when i'm playing them that's my
personal preference but a lot of guys
seem to prefer counting all of the one
and two and three and four end as well
and that's totally fine it's up to you
it's your decision how you're going to
use this stuff the thing that i can tell
you for sure is that if you practice
this enough get really good at it your
strumming and your rhythm guitar playing
will skyrocket you won't struggle to
hear strumming patterns you won't
struggle to play them you'll find a lot
easier to play with another guitar
player because you you just be aware of
what's possible with the strumming if
they're doing one pattern you can either
join them with it straight away because
you recognize it or you can try and find
a complementary pattern you know it's
this stuff is really really powerful so
i've given you the tools here in this
lesson now it's your job to go and work
with the tools and put the hard work in
the practice shouldn't feel like hard
work really it's guitar playing it's fun
we should appreciate the time that we
get to spend guitar and not think of it
as hard work but this kind of strumming
pattern repetition can feel a little bit
boring i guess at times and especially
you want it to be automated so you want
to practice the the strumming patterns
that you love the most a lot you need to
practice them over and over and over
again best way to do that is just to
practice
here without a cord
and get a pattern going and then see if
you can talk over it see if you can
discuss what's going on for the weekly
meals or think about what you're doing
at school or work or whatever it is you
know can you do that can you really
think about i just made a mistake though
i think but can you really play think
and play at the same time think about
other stuff right that's a pretty big
deal but it's one of the things if
you're going to sing and play at the
same time
you can't expect to be able to think
about the chord changes and strumming
and singing in tune and all of that sort
of stuff if you can't even hold a rhythm
together
okay so that's a that in itself is a
really great exercise but you want to do
that only with the patterns that you
really like okay so go through a whole
bunch of different patterns pick the
ones that really resonate with you and
then work on them trying to get
completely automated under your fingers
so look i'm sure you've got some
questions please leave them in the
comments below let me know what other
stuff problems that you've got with the
rhythm guitar and i'll see if i can't
help you out as usual there'll be plenty
of more notes over on the website as
well including a pdf chart that you can
print out and then circle your numbers
as well so head over to the website
there'll be a link in the description if
you're on the website already you'll
find the pdf download in the column
under the lesson list there so i really
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yourselves bye-bye