How to Play Acoustic Guitar
When it comes to playing music on the guitar, regardless of what kind of music you’re playing, rhythm is the key to making that song work. The way that you strum the guitar sets the rhythm of the song you’re playing. Strumming is one of the many aspects of playing acoustic guitar that goes largely unnoticed. It goes unnoticed, more than likely, because it seems so uncomplicated. Basic strumming, which goes in an up and down motion, is indeed very simple. But even that takes a little bit of practice if you want to do it with good timing and smooth transitions. When most people begin learning guitar, they tend to focus on figuring out how to play the right notes and chords.
This is indeed an important part of learning guitar, but getting a good strum technique down shouldn’t be left on the back burner. After you figure out a few basic chords, you need to devote some time to learning new strum patterns and techniques. Anyway, why should you do this? Well, the rhythm of your strumming is the rhythm of the song you’re playing – which is the backbone of the music. Just having a handle on the three chords G, C, and D will give you the basics, and with the use of a simple up and down strum pattern, you’ll have a nice little rhythm down.
If you use a different strum pattern with the same chords, that will give the song a different kind of rhythm, and a different feel. That goes to show that you can use the same chords, but still have an end result that sounds entirely different.
There are so many different strum patters out there that you can incorporate into your guitar playing. You can even use different strum patterns for different pieces of the same song just to give it a little pizazz. New strum patterns can give you a totally fresh outlook on the world of guitar playing. The basic strum pattern that all guitarists start out with is a consistent down up, down up pattern. This pattern sounds easy enough, but if you want your timing to be good then you still have to practice with it. You should speak the beat out loud to yourself, or even just say it in your head, while you play – “1 and 2 and 3 and 4″ and so on. One is a down stroke, with the “and” is an up stroke, and so forth.
You want your strokes to be consistent, and even. When it comes to music, timing is everything, so you want to make sure that all the parts of your guitar playing come together harmoniously. The next pattern I would try learning to use is a pattern of down strokes only. You can use the same “1 and 2 and…” counting system, but strum only on the down stroke. You’ll still be bringing your fingers and hand up on the “and” parts, but you won’t be touching the guitar strings. These two strumming patterns are the foundation of a variety of other strum patterns.
There are so many strumming techniques out there to learn – and good guitar lessons will show you these other methods. Practicing your strumming is an art in and of itself, and you should work on your strumming every day. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn.
Posted in Learn Guitar
