STRUMMING GRIDS
3 easy ways to sharpen your rhythm skills
When it comes to strumming and picking patterns, the sky's the limit - you can get super creative with it! But if you're new to it all, you may have seen the "down, down, up, up, down, up" explanation of rhythm, which is a great starting point. However, it can be confusing if you're not familiar with the strumming grid. You might not know when to play a downstroke or an upstroke, and it might not sound quite right.
To help you out, I've got some grids for you to follow, and you can play around with different rhythms. The first one is just all downstrokes, so you count "one, two, three, four."
The second grid has down and upstrokes, so you strum or pick "down, up, down, up, down, up" and count "one and, two and, three and, four and."
Using these grids can help you figure out where the downs and ups are being played, especially if you're looking at a more complex rhythm.
You can also use these grids for 16th notes too. This is the grid that most accomplished guitar players use and sit in: You count "one E & uh, two E & uh, three E & uh, four E & uh." You play "down, up, down, up" for each beat.
Once you get the hang of these grids, you'll know where every quarter, 8th and 16th note is in a particular measure, and you'll be able to play more accurately without having to dive too much into music theory. It's really just a matter of getting the rhythm down and working on it until it feels natural. Here are some examples to get started,
I have a few more. If you want em, you can download the PDF for free Here
No email is needed.
Oh by the way! Here is a great book on strumming patterns you may want to check out on amazon too. Here's my aff link
Let me know if this helps, if you have questions, or if you would like for me to cover something in particular
Play on!
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