Hi, how are you doing? Justin here.
Welcome to IM-115, which is a first look at rhythm guitar
as part of this intermediate foundation series.
Now, what we're gonna be looking at today
is an introduction to 16th note strumming.
As part of the beginner's course
we mainly looked at 8th note strumming patterns.
Now, 8th note strumming patterns have kind of 8 avaliable strums in a bar.
So, you don't have to strum all of them of course.
You could choose which ones you played out of those 8.
But there were kind of 8 options, if you like.
We always strummed down on the beat,
which was the 1, 2, 3 and 4,
and we had in between each one of those an up strum.
So we kinda had
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
They were all options.
And we could choose
1, 2, 3, and, 4
or 1, and, 2, and, 3, and, 4
Whatever, it didn't matter.
That was how our hand was moving.
We just had
1, and, 2, and, 3, and, 4, and
And it suits a lot of styles, that 8th note strumming
and it sounds really good
that's an important part of playing guitar.
It's not like an beginnery kind of thing, you know.
It's an essential skill that every one uses.
But there's another slightly more interesting type of strumming
which is a 16th note strumming.
Now, the first interesting thing about 16th note strumming
that you can look at
and it's nice introduction to it
is instead of playing 8th notes with a down and an up
you strum them all as down.
So instead of having, if we have here a beat
1, and, 2, and, 3, and, 4, and
down, up, down, up, down, up, down
we go
1, and, 2, and, 3, and, 4, and
down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down
So it's essentially the same rhythm.
We're still just looking at 8th notes
1, and, 2, and, 3, and, 4, and
But instead of going
down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up
we go
down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down
And it's got a slightly different kind of feeling too
as soon as you start using all downstrokes.
Always think you kind of pushing it forward
or it allowes you to seat on the beats slightly differently.
And you can feel a little more energetic, you know.
So, if I just do it again now
and if you just listen
so here is the first one
. . .
here is all downs
. . .
Still strumming the same
still
sorry, still tapping the foot the same
. . .
still only taping the foot on the 1, 2, 3 and 4
1, and, 2, and 3, and, 4, and
It's really important that you've got that foot tapping
still just on the 1, 2, 3 and 4
Now of course some of you probably already realized,
that if I'm doing all of those downstrokes
then there's an up strumming between every one of those.
I'm just not playing it at the moment.
So eventually what you end up with
instead of having a beat
like 1, 2, 3 and 4 being divided by 2
with a down and an up
we end up being able to divide it by 4.
So down, up, down, up.
1, e, and, a, 2, e, and, a 3, e, and, a, 4, e, and, a
there is our 'ands' (plays)
1, and, 2, and, 3,
that's all downstrokes
then we're adding the ups as well
1, e, and, a, 2, e, and, a, 3, e, and, a, 4, e, and, a
Now we've got a new counting system for this.
We still keep the 1 and the 'and', or the number and the 'and',
but we also add now an 'e', and an 'a' for the upstrokes.
So the count that we end up having is
1, e, and, a, 2, e, and, a, 3, e, and, a, 4, e, and, a
That's a very good thing to practice.
It might seem funny to be doing that,
but is a good thing to actually just practice speaking and saying
1, e, and, a, 2, e, and, a, 3, e, and, a, 4, e, and, a
It will help you later,
when the patterns start to get a bit more complex.
If you can vocalise it, it does make it easier.
So that's a first little thing to practice.
Is practice just saying:
1, e, and, a, 2, e, and, a, 3, e, and, a, 4, e, and, a
Get it so rolls of the tongue
and you'll feel comfortable with it.
Now, what's really important here is that
and it's a mistake that a lot of people make when they start doing 16th note strumming
is that they've built up a connection
between a down strum and a foot tap
which when you're doing 8th note strumming is great,
that's a really important thing to be doing,
but when you start going moving into 16th note strumming
you need to be remembered that you're just tapping your foot on the beat
on the 1, 2, 3 and 4 not on the down strum
Because this
Remember when I were doing a down strum on the 'and' as well?
So, we end up here with
I'm going to call over exaggerate the foot tap now
and I'm going to knock my head about
I know it's gonna look a bit silly but hopefully you'll get the idea.
So, what you want to be doing now
just really slowly
is making sure that you tap your foot on the beat
an you've got the 4 strums
so down, up, down, up in each beat.
So you have here
1, e, and, a, 2, e, and, a, 3, e, and, a, 4, e, and, a
Just make sure that you tap your foot
on the number
1, e, and, a, 2, e, and, a, 3, e, and, a, 4, e, and, a
. . .
Really give it a good solid tap with your foot.
That really makes sure that you're feeling where that beat is.
Now something that can help you doing that as well
if you're struggling with the foot thing:
leave the foot for a little while
and just try and accent the beat.
So make the one that is on 1, 2, 3 or 4 louder with your strum
and the other or make the other ones quieter
it's often a good little trick to think of it,
or both:
make your accent louder on the 1, 2, 3 and 4
and make the other ones quite softly strummed, you know.
We've experimented a bit with dynamics already
and this is kind of puting it into use.
So, in that case forget about the foot and just have
1, e, and, a, 2, e, and, a, 3, e, and, a, 4, e, and, a
. . .
Learning to do this accent is really important.
Later on we're going to move that accent around a little bit
It won't always be on the beat
but you need to be able to do it on the beat of course first.
So that would be your next step, you know
after trying having to go it doing with the foot
as well and/or you want to start doing this with the accent patterns.
So just
accenting the the first of every group of 4.
. . .
Maybe add your foot in as well.
. . .
Try to keep it as even as you can.
. . .
And once you feel kinda comfortable with that, start with a friend.
Say hello to your friend, Mr. Metronome!
Now, probably what I'd recommend is about 60 BPM
And I'm gonna show you how to get through with your metronome.
There we go, it's on at 60.
And what you can start of with, just strum on the beat.
This is an easy way to get into working with a metronome.
Just with the downstroke.
Then add the 'ands'.
Just all downs.
1, and, 2, and, 3, and, 4, and
And when you feel comfortable with doing that
add in the upstrokes.
. . .
And with the accent of course.
. . .
And, hopefully, your foot as well.
And your foot should be clicking
exactly along with the metronome.
. . .
Now, lot of people struggle with this,
especially getting the foot to just tap on the beat.
It's not difficult.
As with most of the things on the guitar,
if you can't do it, the trick is to do it slower.
So even if you end up going like:
. . .
Tap!
. . .
Tap!
You know, like really, really slowly
or even slower if you want.
It's not about the speed,
it's about getting the coordination.
Once you're doing it right, it's quite easy to speed up.
It's doing it right, that's the most important bit.
Doesn't matter the speed.
Just make sure you get it right, practice it really nice and slow.
Once you've got it with your foot, and the strum, and you can do an accent
then put it to a metronome.
And that is enough practise for now.
That's what we're kind of trying to get you into.
This is introducion to 16th note patterns,
so in the next few weeks, we can start adding interesting
like interesting accents
and/or leaving out some notes
adding in some extra things
It get's really good fun.
16th note strumming is pretty cool, I'm thinking.
Most of the popy/rock stuff that you're gonna get
is done with this 16th note style.
It even applies to picking and lead guitar later on,
but let's not get ahead of us, I would say.
So, that's your practise now is going through practising your 8th note strumming
merging it into 16th note strumming with all downstrums
and then adding in the proper 16ths with the downs and the ups
with the metronome.
That's your work.
Have fun with that and I'll see you for another lesson sometimes real soon.
Take care of yourself, bye bye!