Guitar Basics: Strumming for Beginners

1. Introduction: If you find yourself struggling to play along with your favorite songs, or you just keep playing the same strumming patterns over and over, then this class is for you. Hello, thank you so much for joining me. My name is Jason Rivera, and I'm going to be taking you through this guitar strumming essentials class. Learning how to strum and getting comfortable and confident with strumming is one of the most important skills as a guitarist. Mastering strumming will help you in your own evolution of developing your own style. In this class, we're going to cover the essential strumming patterns to transform your guitar playing. In this course, I'll be covering how to play down strums, how to play alternate strumming. How to strum whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and 16th notes. How to play syncopated strumming. To play eighth No triplet drumming and lots of tips, tricks, and resources along the way. You can join me with your acoustic or your electric guitar. The class will give you plenty of opportunity to watch me demonstrate the techniques that we're covering, and you'll also have plenty of opportunities to play along with me. And I encourage you to pause, rewind and rewatch the video lessons as many times as you do too. I'm also going to provide you with downloadable resources for this class. I've been playing and writing music since I was a small kid. I've been teaching music to students, including private guitar lessons since 2012. I'm also an award winning composer for films, trailers, and e learning courses, and I've played in bands and toured the US since I was a teenager. My goal with this class is to teach you the beginner guitar player how to play the foundational strumming patterns so that you can move forward, learn some of your favorite songs and express yourself more freely on the guitar. Hope is to make this process fun and easy for you. I want you to start working on your strumming right away, and I want you to take some of the patterns that we learn in this class and apply them to play your favorite songs. Thank you so much for watching this Intro. I'm looking forward to covering these techniques with you. So grab your guitar, and I'll see you in our first lesson. 2. Class Project: Okay, the class project. This is a chance for you to check in on how strumming is going for you. And hopefully this project will be fun to take part in. Once you've started to watch the video lessons in this course, I'd like you to take one of the strumming patterns from this class and a song you love or a song you've written and combine them. So you'll play a song that you choose and a strumming pattern of your choice from this class. I strongly suggest figuring out how many beats are in each bar of the song you're going to play. Make sure that you're clear on which strumming pattern from this class that you're going to choose. If you're learning someone else's song, you can go online and utilize some resources. Ultimate guitar is great for finding tabs and chords for songs. You can find the tabs or chords for almost any song on there. Then record yourself playing the song that you choose. It can be a video or an audio only recording, and you can just record a section of the song or a song in its entirety.'s really up to you. To record video of yourself playing, you could just use the camera on your smartphone or tablet. To record audio, you can use an app such as voice memos on your Smartphone, or you can try recording yourself with music software, such as garage band, Logic Pro, or base, if you're comfortable with recording music that way. But even if you just use a simple app on your phone like voice memos, please record yourself playing. Recording yourself playing and then listening back as a great tool to hear yourself objectively. Then you can listen back to your recording and figure out and make notes of any things that you may need to work on during your practice sessions. Please don't be intimidated by this project. This is meant to be a fun project where you learn some strumming, and then you immediately apply it so that you can integrate it into your guitar playing. So hopefully, after watching several video lessons in this class, you'll feel confident enough to take part in this class project. So that's the intro to our class project. I hope that you're excited about it, and I'll see you in the next lesson. 3. Getting Started: In this class, we're going to set some foundational elements into place, and then we're going to expand the possibilities of what we can do with our guitar. We're going to get right into strumming in this class. That means I won't be covering basic things like posture and tuning, how to fret notes, how to read tabs, or how to play basic chords. If you need to learn about those things, or you need a refresher, please check out some of my other courses where I cover those topics in depth This class is going to hone in on strumming. For each drumming pattern, I'll teach you how to play the pattern, and then I'll give you the chance to play along with me. My advice is to take your time, be patient with yourself and to trust my process. It may take a little bit of time and effort for these drumming patterns to click in for you. But if you stick with my process, I promise that it will click into place for you. So grab your acoustic or your electric guitar and a guitar pick. Make sure your guitar is tuned up, and I'll see you in the next video lesson. 4. Strumming Basics: In this video, we're going to cover the basics of strumming the guitar. If you have a pick, you can use one, but if you don't, you can also use your thumb to strum. To practice strumming, you can mute the strings so that you can focus on your strumming hand. To Mute the strings, you just lightly place your hands across the fret board. You don't need to press down too hard. It should sound like this. There are two basic motions for strum. You can strum down towards the floor, or you can strum up towards the ceiling. With those two basic movements in different combinations, we can create a huge variety of strumming patterns. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's make sure that we have these two main motions down first. So let's try strumming all down strums together. We're going to strum down on the beads. Please make sure that you count out loud with me. And mute your strings. Here we go. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three. Four, one, two, three, four. You want to keep your strumming hand nice and loose while you're doing this. If you notice here, even though you're downs strumming, in order to prepare for the next downstrom, your hand is moving up in between the beats. Now we're going to add some up strums to this pattern. We're going to use the same down, up motion as before, but we're going to catch the strings on the way up like this, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, Okay, let's try this together and I want you to count out loud with me. The counting that we're going to use for this pattern is one and two and three and four. So you're going to strum down on the number, for example, one, and then on the end, you're going to strum up. Okay? Let's try it together. One and two and three, and four, one and two and three, and four, one and two and three, and four n. Down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up. Okay. When you're doing this, you want to try to create a nice, steady and even rhythm here. Spend some time practicing these two patterns. They lay down the foundation that will allow you to play so many songs. So there's the basics of strumming. I'll see you in the next video where we're going to learn how to strum specific rhythmic values. 5. Strumming in Time: In this lesson, we're going to learn more about beats and playing in time. We're going to learn how to strum whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes. So let's dive right in. In most popular music styles, you'll always hear an underlying beat. In music, we can group beats into segments called measures or bars. Most times the beats are grouped together in units of three or four. For example, you'd count one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. That counting creates the underlying feel of the song. Let's practice counting groups of four beats together. I encourage you to count out loud with me. Sometimes it also helps you to tap your foot along with the beat to help you keep time. Count along with me. Here we go. One. Two, three, four. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. This exercise of counting beats out loud is really at the heart of being able to play guitar in time. Being able to count beats and feel the pulse of a song will allow you to be able to know how long you should stay on a chord, for example. Now we're going to learn how to count and play some of the most common and basic rhythms in music. Let's start with whole notes. A whole note is equal to four beats, and the whole note takes up all of the beats in a bar. To play whole notes, we strum down one time on the first beat of the music and then let the chord ring out while we count one, two, three, four. To practice whole notes, and from here on out, we're going to use a nice, easy chord, E major. We want to use a chord here instead of muting so that we can hear the chord ringing out for the full value of the whole note. So the whole note on E major sounds like this, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. Now let's try this together. Make sure that you count out loud with me, and you can also tap your foot to help you keep the time. So let's play some whole notes together. I'll count us in. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. Nice job. Now let's take a look at half notes. One half note is equal to two beats or half of the beats in the bar. So we'll strum down two times per bar. For example, one, two, three, four, one, two, four, one, two, four. So let's try this together now. We'll use the E major chord again, and we're going to strum two times per bar. One time on beat one, and then once on beat three. Don't forget to count out loud with me. I'll count you in. Here we go. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. One, two, 34. One, two, four. One, two, three, four. Great job. Now let's learn about quarter notes. A quarter note is equal to one beat. So in our exercise here, we'll be strumming down four times per bar. That sounds like this. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, 13, four, one, three, four, 14. Alright, let's try this together now. We'll use all down strums, and we're going to use our e major chord. So again, make sure that you count out loud with me. And just as a reminder, you can tap your foot to help you keep time. Here we go. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, three. So three Nice job. So there's everything you need to be able to play whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes in time. These rhythms are the foundation for being able to strum in time. I'll see you in the next video where we're going to learn how to play eighth notes. 6. 8th Note Strumming: In this video lesson, we're going to look at how to strum eighth notes, and we'll strum eighth notes with all down strums, as well as alternate strumming. Let's take a look at how eighth notes are related to whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes. This chart is called a rhythm tree. Let's take a look at how these rhythms all relate to each other. One whole note is equal to two half notes. Each half note is half the duration of a whole note. Two half notes are also equal to four quarter notes. Each quarter note is a quarter of the duration of a whole note. And if you look at the bottom of the rhythm tree, we have eight eighth notes. Each eighth note is one eighth to duration of a whole note. Two eighth notes are equal to one quarter note. Let's focus on quarter notes and how they relate to eighth notes. So we already learned how to play quarter note strums, but let's refresh ourselves on that using all down strums on the E major chord. Here we go. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, one, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, Make sure that you count out loud while practicing this. Now, if we want to play eighth notes, we'll add the word and, like I mentioned in a previous lesson. So we're going to add the word to our counting, and we count one and two and three and four. Okay? So let's grab the e major cord, and we're going to start this by playing quarter notes with down strumming. But we're going to be counting eighth notes using the word, o? Grab that e major cord, and I'll count us in one and two and three and four. One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four. Okay, let's get that going again, and we're going to keep down strumming, but we're going to start playing eighth note rhythms, okay? So, try to keep counting eighth notes out loud while you do this. And we're going to keep using all downtroms, right? So I'm going to play 4 bars of quarter notes. And then I'm going to play 4 bars of eighth notes, a? And again, you're going to keep counting eighth notes the entire time. Here we go. One and two, and three, and four and two, three and three p three and four. Here come the air us. Two, three, one, two, 2212. Hopefully, you can see that to play eighth notes, I was downs strumming on each beat, so the one, two, three, and four. But I was also downs strumming each time that I said the word and. At fast tempo, eighth notes can be quite a bit challenging, but there are some styles of music, for example, punk or even some metal, where fast eighth note down strums are part of the rhythmic language. But in a lot of styles of music, you can also play eighth notes using alternate strumming, so down and strums together. Sometimes when you're looking at tabs, you'll see specific notations that tell you when to use a downtrom and when to use an strum. Those symbols look like this. A downstrom symbol looks a little bit like a staple, and an strum symbol looks like a V. Here's an example of how these symbols could be used in tab. Let's grab our E major chord again and play downs quarter notes to start while we count eighth notes out loud, so one and two and three and four. Here we go. One and two and three and four, and one, two and three and four and down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, one, two, three and four. Okay, so let's keep that going, but add in the uptrgs on the word, right? 42, three, four, Dundun one. Four. Nice job. Congratulations. You just learned how to play eighth notes with all down strums and alternate strumming. Your action step for this lesson is to use eighth note strumming to play along with some of your favorite tunes. I'll see you in the next video where we're going to learn about syncopated strumming. 7. Syncopated Strumming: In this lesson, we're going to learn about syncopated strumming. We'll cover what syncopation is and how to integrate it into our strumming patterns. We want to learn how to play syncopated strumming because it gives our playing more flavor, and it makes us more interesting to listen to. Syncopation is when we change up where the regular accents in the bar would normally be. Normally in a bar of four, the regular accents would be on beats one, two, three, and four. Like when we play quarter notes on the guitar. O31f Those are where the accents would normally be on the strong beats of the bar. To syncopate a rhythm, you would stress the weak beats of the bar. For example, one, two, three, four, three. Alright, let's walk through how we can add syncopation to our strumming. So we're going to find that e major chord, and we're going to use eighth notes and alternate strumming. So down, up, down, up, down, up, down up. One, and, two, and three, and four and one, two, four, two, three, four, Take note here that the down strums are happening on the strong beats. One, two, three, four. And the up strums are happening on the weak beats. The end of each beat. One and two and 42, three, four. To syncopate our down up pattern. We're going to emphasize the up strums on the weak beats. Here's what the syncopated pattern looks like. So I'm playing one and two and, holding the end of two into beat three and playing the end of three and four. The strumming here is going to be alternate strumming. You want to keep your strumming hand going and skip the strings on the downbeat of three. So here's the pattern. Down up Down, up, up, down, down, up, down, up, down, down, down, up, up, down, down, down, up, down. So we're hitting every down beat here except for beat three, and that's what gives us the syncopation. Alright, let's play through this two bar pattern together four times. I'll count us in. One and two, and three, and four and one, two, three. Four, one, two, and 41, two, and three, and 412, three, four. Syncopation makes our playing sound much more interesting. It's a technique that's used in a lot of music. And now that you're aware of it and you start listening to songs, you're going to notice it. Keep practicing this drumming pattern until you've internalized it. I'll see you in the next lesson where we're going to learn 16th note strumming. 8. 16th Note Strumming: In this video, we're going to learn about 16th notes strumming. We'll cover how to count 16th notes and then how to implement them into our strumming patterns. In an earlier lesson, we looked at the rhythm tree. We started with whole notes at the top and eighth notes at the bottom. We saw how we can take whole notes and divide them into half notes, and then quarter notes, and then eighth notes. Well, we can subdivide even further into what we call 16th notes. So let me grab the e c and play some eighth notes. One and two and three and 413. Or. Two, three, four, one, two, three and four. Now let me subdivide those eighth notes into 16th notes. To play 16th notes, I'm going to use alternate strumming. So down up, and we're going to use different counting for 16th notes. We're going to count one E and two E and three E and four E, and so in 1 bar, if I'm strumming 16th notes the entire time, I've played 16 strums. Okay, I want you to try this with me. So grab your e major cord, and let's play 1 bar of 16th notes using alternate strumming. Here we go. One, two, three, four. One, two, and three and four. Now, let's add in another chord. A major. We'll use alternate strumming again. Here we go. One e and two e and three e and four E. And and T and 34 All right. Now, let's practice going from E major to A major. We're going to go at a very slow tempo, okay? We're going to start on E one, E and two, P, and three E, and four, E and the two, three, four, switch to A. D two, three, four, switch to E, two t. Four, back to A. And and three and four. Okay, now let's practice this same chord progression, but we're going to pick up the tempo. We'll start on E, and we'll play through the entire chord progression two times. Here we go. One, E and two, and three, and four E. And one and Back to to eight. Y. Nice job. Make sure that you practice alternate strum 16th notes as much as you possibly can. I promise you it's gonna come in very handy for playing a lot of songs. I'll see you in the next lesson where we're gonna learn eighth note triplet. 9. 8th Note Triplet Strumming: In this lesson, we're going to learn about eighth note triplet strumming. Don't be intimidated by the name of this strum. I have no doubt that you've heard this before in songs, and it's easy to play once you get the feel for it. Eighth note triplets are three strums in the space of one beat. So if we count one, two, three, four. To add in the eighth note triplet strums, we strum down three times for each count. I'm going to use muting in this example. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Now I'm going to grab the E major chord and play the eighth no triplet strumming. One, two, three, four. One, four, two, three, four, 24. To make sure you're getting the proper feel for this strumming pattern, I want you to practice counting triplets with me. So let's mute all the strings again, by gently touching the strings with our left hand. Now, for the counting, we're going to count one trip, two trip, three, trip, four trip, one trip, two trip, three, trip, lit, four trip, lit. Let's try putting all this together using an all down st pattern. One, two, three, four. One trip, two trip, three trip, four trip. One trip, two trip, three trip, four trip. One trip, two trip, three trip, four trip. One trip. Two trip, three trip, four trip. Nice. Now, instead of muting the strings, let's grab that e major cord and try this pattern. One, two, three, four. T two, 214, f222 3243, four. One. Four. Awesome job. Now, let's try to play the eighth node triplet strumming pattern using two chords. We'll use E major and A major. We'll play 1 bar of E, and then 1 bar of A. And we'll play these two measures four times, and we'll use all down strums. So grab that E major chord, and I will count us in. One, two, three, four. Trip three t four four 22, 224 f2t4. Nice job. Make sure that you practice eighth no triplet drumming and try to play it using different s that you already know how to play. I'll see you in the next lesson where we're going to wrap this class up. 10. Final Thoughts: Alright, so that wraps up our strumming essentials course. Thank you so much for joining me in this class. I hope that you have fun with this class and that you have a really solid footing for strumming. Some final notes about learning these strumming patterns. Be patient with yourself while you're learning these techniques. It takes time to build up the muscle memory, but also the intuitive feeling for how to stru. Make sure that you experiment and take all of the strumming patterns that I taught you in this class and try playing them along with different chords and even different songs. Also, try to pick up your guitar every day. This is going to help you with developing a more natural feel for strumming. And regular practice and playing will help to develop your muscle memory. When it comes to how to use this class, you can always come back to any particular lesson and review it as many times as you need to until the material really starts to sink in for you and definitely take advantage of all the opportunities that you have here to jam along with me in the video lessons. Just do your best and don't forget to have fun. And don't forget to download the supplemental materials that I've created for this class. I hope you really enjoy this course. I have other classes on guitar, calle, and songwriting. And if you enjoy this class, I recommend that you go and check out my other courses as well. Music is a beautiful subject, and the more we learn about playing guitar and creating music, the more we could express our own creativity and have fun. Thank you so much for joining me. Have fun, and I hope to see you in another class soon.