If you’re just getting started, or even if you’ve been playing for a while, one of the most important things is your rhythm. There’s other important stuff too, like chord switching and accuracy, but when it comes to expressing yourself, RHYTHM IS THE KEY.

To help my students develop their rhythm early on, I show them this strumming pattern, and two variations that’ll give them immediate access to a musical concept called “dynamics” – dynamics help you express yourself better and make a much bigger difference than you’d think.

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Simply by adjusting a couple things, things that a beginner could totally do, I’m able to express 3 different feels using the exact same components. These are the kind of things that make you sound MUSICAL.

First, we play the pattern with a steady “straight-ahead” feel, like you’d find in funk guitar.

Then we add “root strums” to create a half-time feel. This is used in many, many styles, everything from soft rock ballads to radiohead.

Finally, we accent beats 2 and 4 to create a country-style “train” beat. This is actually used in WAY MORE than just country music (reggae, rock, etc).

I hope you enjoy the lesson and I’ll see you soon with another simple strummer!
-James