In the last lesson we were working with our metronome, and in this lesson we actually want to develop that and start talking about strumming patterns. And the mechanics of strumming and what strumming really means to most guitar players.

So before we get into that let’s just kind of do a quick review about some of the terms, specifically half notes, whole notes, quarter notes, all that good stuff. So a whole note, remember is a note or strum that lasts for four counts, in other words it rings for four counts. That’s what this sounds like. Three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. So that’s the whole note. The half note is only two counts long, sounds like this, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. And the quarter note is just one click long, sounds like this, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.

So those are basic rhythm terms really. Now in order to get into strumming we have to learn about something called the eighth note. Basically the eighth note means that you strum twice for every click, it’s twice as fast as the quarter note, and the basic idea here is if a click occurs at a certain speed, you need to divide it into two equal halves. You have to play sort of, one and two and, nice and even like that. And in fact that word ‘and’ is what people use when they want to say out loud a word that sort of fits with that they’re strumming. So you say one and two and three, so on and so forth. Let’s listen to how this sounds, so this is eighth note strumming. One and two and three and four. And one and two and three and four. And one and two and three and four and.

Now I did that all with down-strumming. However, when most people strum they actually use down-strums and up-strums. And if you think about it, it’s really just more efficient, for every down-strum I got to come up anyway. So if I hit the string on the way up it’s kind of like half the work.  So I’m going to do the same exercise doing down-strums and up-strums and you’ll see that instead of the hand working so quickly, it’s a lot more relaxed. Here we go. Three and four. And one and two and three and four. And one and two and three and four and. So that’s really what most people are doing when they’re strumming, down-strums and up-strums.

Now in the beginning it seems like you might want to hit all the strings going down, hit them all coming up, kind of move your hand in like a flat plane. But in fact you actually want to sort of let the pick have an arc. And what that means is some strings get hit on the way down and maybe different strings on the way up. And that actually makes it sounds a little bit more natural. So when I do the next example what I’m going to be doing here is kind of hitting strings like six, five, four, three on the way down, and on the way up I’m going to hit strings, maybe like one, two, three, maybe I’ll get a four now and then. It’s not really a science; you just kind of want to go for something that sounds natural. So here’s how that sounds, three and four. And one. Okay.

So let’s do a little exercise here to work on getting used to working with the metronome, eighth note strumming, all this good stuff we’re talking about. First we’re going to learn a new chord. So let’s look at the G chord that I’ve been using here. Now the chord diagram shows that this is the four finger G chord. There’s a couple different varieties of G chords out there. This one has four fingers and we just call it G.

Now the new chord we’re going to learn is called C add two. And it’s a pretty easy switch from a G chord because all I’m going to do is take these top two fingers and move them down a string apiece. So instead of stringing six and five, it’s now five and four. So that’s the C add two.

I’m going to do one measure of the G, one measure of the C add two. So let’s start out doing all eighth note strumming. I’m going to be alternate strumming, down, up, down, up, and you know, I’m going to go for this natural sound. So here it is. Three and four and.

Now as with all chord switching if you have to do like a very quick motion in a very short amount of time sometimes that’s challenging, so one way that we can keep the metronome clicking away and work on this is to strum, instead of eight eighth note strums I’m only going to do four right off the bat. One and two and, and then on beat number three I’m just going to play a long half note. And that’s going to create space for me to move my fingers. The chord might not ring for that long time. I’m going to actually be lifting up my fingers and moving them, but the basic idea is one and two and three, four. One and two and three, four. And during the three, four, that’s when you do you’re switching. So that’s going to sound like this, two and three and four. And one and two and three, four. And one and two and three, switching. One and two and three, switching. One and two and three, four.

So that’s a good exercise where you can still work with a metronome even though it might be challenging you but to work on your chord switching at the same time because frankly, all guitar players have gone through the experience of working with the metronome and be like I hate this thing. It’s totally challenging because it’s just relentless, it keeps the beat going. But working with the metronome really hones your rhythmic sensibility and that’s something that’s going to make you a great guitar player.

So the recommendation that we have here is just to do maybe like five minutes a day with it. If it’s working for you and you’re happy with it go for it, but for most musicians working with a metronome adds another layer to an already challenging project we have here, which is learning to play the instrument. So just a little bit of the metronome will make a difference in the long run.

So again, we’ve got our G and our C add two chords, we got a new chord, and we have this new strumming technique. Eighth note strumming is a little bit tricky, you might find that the pick wants to get dislodged, that’s normal. You know some patience with it and just kind of experiment with subtle different ways of holding the pick and you might find that if it gets knocked out one way you make a change and now you’re okay.

So plenty of practice on this one and we’ll see you in the next lesson.