Beginners Strumming Course

Contents

1. Introduction – Strumming Pattern Family Tree 2. How to Hold A Guitar 3. Strumming Tips 4. Pattern 1 – On the Beat 5. Pattern 2 – 8ths all downs 6. Pattern 3 – 8ths down and ups 7. Pattern 4 – Off Beat strumming 8. Pattern 5 – Adding accents 9. Pattern 6 – Missing up strums 10. Pattern 7 – Triplet ‘folk’ style strumming 11. All downs with an up! 12. Miss a D on 3! 13. Blues Shuffle 14. ‘Daft Punk’ strumming 15. Johnny Cash Strumming 16. b Dylan style Folk Strumming 17. End – Where to go from here

18. Bonus 1 – 16th Strumming 19. Bonus 2 – Rock Style Strumming 20. Bonus 3 – Double time! 21. Bonus 4 – Percussive Hits 22. Bonus 5 – Bo Diddley Strumming

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PURCHASE- HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!

MOST COMMON IN SONGS!

Lesson 1- ‘Family Tree’ concept The top box is strumming pattern 1. This is always best to play every song or chord sequence you try with this first, so you know where the beat falls.

For many songs you can then chose an 8th strumming pattern depending on its tempo.

**IMPORTANT STRUMMING CONCEPT** Songs have more than one strumming pattern that will ‘work’. To play songs ‘as the record’ or ‘100% accurate’ you will need to learn to go from one strumming pattern to another. You will also need to learn where to keep the strumming simpler so you can perform a song well.

Bare this in mind and your strumming journey will be SO MUCH EASIER!

8th strumming ‘all downs‘ (70bpm to 100bpm)

Silence Is Easy (Song from Level 1) Chasing Cars (Song from Level 2)

Common People (Song from Level 2)

8th strumming ‘downs and ups‘ (100bpm to 150bpm +)

You Never Can Tell (Song from Level 1) Have A Nice Day (Song from Level 2) Johnny Be Good (Song from Level 2)

4th Strumming ‘On the Beat’

Faster tempos Slower tempos

Lesson 2 - How to hold a guitar Key Points

1- Sit in an appropriate chair 2- Balance the guitar on the thigh at the same side as your dominant hand

(right handed? Right knee!) 3- Hold the neck between your thumb and forefinger.

Lesson 4 – Strumming on the beat What are bars and beats? Beat- the regular pulse throughout Bar- 4 beats, to a count of 1, 2, 3, 4 Tempo (aka bpm)- the speed of this count

Strumming Pattern Intro - Spreads

Count 1, 2, 3, 4 at a slow, even pace (out loud if needs be)

and strum an E chord every time you say beat 1.

This is where we strum once per bar on beat 1. The chord should ring out for the rest of the bar. This is a great place to start when learning any new song as it gives you chance to learn the chord changes. Plus- many real songs actually start like this!

Strumming Pattern 1 - 4th Strumming (On the Beat) After 'Spreads', 4 down strums on each beat should be seen as the default strumming pattern when first learning any new song. Keep the pace and volume even 4 down strums on the beat can be written like this.

Chord sequence 1 (From Andy’s beginner’s course) The goal is to play this strumming with the chord sequence below; a bar of E and a bar of A! Song example; For What Its Worth by Buffalo Springfield

The ‘D’ and the arrows represent down

strums

The ’1 2 3 4′ is the beat, and the symbols

mean a 1 beat strum.