Easy Acoustic Blues Strum Pattern [guitar Strumming Lessons]
Hey, in this video I�m gonna show you an easy acoustic blues strum pattern so you play
songs with that authentic blues shuffle sound, let�s do this.
I�m Tomas Michaud from Real Guitar Success where I help you learn guitar and release
that musician inside you.
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Everyone can relate to the blues.
One of the things that makes the blues - the blues is the feel, the rhythm pattern.
Today, you�ll gonna learn an easy rhythm pattern that works really good on acoustic
guitar.
Often it calls the blues shuffle.
Let me start off by showing you what it sounds like.
I�m using an E chord by the way and for this example I�ll be using the E chord.
If you wanna play along make and E chord and strum.
This is called a shuffle feel.
Its different than straight up and down.
What I�m doing is kinda putting more emphasis on the down and shorter on the up.
One way to think about this is in triplets- Ta- ta ta ta ta ta ta.
I often have students clap up the strum pattern or the feel before they even try strumming.
So it sounds like this Ta- ta ta ta ta ta ta.
Another good thing to practice just to get that feel is just put your hands over the
strings so that you can just make a sound ta- ta ta ta ta ta ta.
On the guitar, we always make the down strum longer and the up strum shorter to make a
shuffle feel.
For now, lets just go ahead and try to get that shuffle feel with the chord.
I�m making an E chord again.
Go ahead and play along if you can.
We will go nice and slow.
So its ta- ta ta ta ta ta ta.
You can think 123 123.
I prefer to get it by feel ta- ta ta ta ta ta ta.
So now let�s turn this into a full fledge strum.
We�re gonna have a little technique called MUTE.
The mute is the technique where you hit the string and palm at the same time so your just
letting a little bit of sound to escape before you choke if off.
So listen what it sounds like.
You actually hear the E chord just a little bit before I choke it off but barely.
Its okay if you think you don�t hear nothing rather than - something like that.
So practice that with me a little bit.
Were gonna hit down and choke with the palm in your hand.
Again.
One more time.
So if this is new for you, practice it a little bit each day.
You�ll see you just get better and better at it.
Don�t worry if you don�t get it all that you want and it just doesn�t come up perfect.
One little trick I wanna tell you.
When I�m muting the strings, I�m often also lifting a little bit of pressure of my
left hand, kinda help it out.
To do it together, make a more distinct mute.
Not necessary but keep that in mind as you start getting the palming try releasing your
left hand a little bit on the strings to kind a mute it on both sides so to speak.
So with that said, here�s the basic strum.
Were gonna do half a strum and all we gonna do is repeat that twice to make one full strum
so its down, up and then that mute.
And your pick should be down and up so that�s half strum, two beats.
1 and 2 and try that much with me with a pick, ready go.
Down up mute up.
How did you do?
Did it come out okay?
Try it again.
Come on.
Ready go.
Down up mute up.
Now were gonna do it twice in a row and that makes one full strum. 1 and mute this time
mute up 3 and 4 and try one more time.
Okay one more time.
Here we go 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and mute.
Yeah!
That was better, okay.
So the basic strum is you practice it little by little and pick it up.
You�ll see it actually gets easier when play a little faster but you get the right
movement first.
Your aiming for this.
So if youre not there yet, come back to the video after you practice along and try playing
along with me a little bit to see if you kinda copy my emotions.
Once you get comfortable with the strum pattern, not perfect I said just comfortable, you wanna
apply it to a 12 bar blues chord pattern.
I made a whole separate video for that and I put a link up in a corner of a card so that
you can get to that easily.
In fact, if you wanna learn more about playing blues go to my playlist - Acoustic Blues Guitar.
Thanks for joining me.
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let me know in the comments if this video help you out or if you have any questions
on how to move forward with your guitar playing journey.
Get something you wanna learn, ask and I maybe able to make a video out of it.