Guitar Lesson For Kids - Strum Patterns

There are about as many strum patterns for the guitar as there are stars in the sky. But most of them start from a few basic ones. Let's take a look at some of these: D = Down strum U = Up strum (DU) = Play a D and a U in the same amount of time it takes to play a single D. Let me explain a little more here. To start off with, you should count out the beats. When you count, count evenly, say 1 heat per second to start with, . When you see (DU), I will show it to you this way: (DU).(DU)..(DU).. (DU) 1........2........3........4....... Pattern 1 - the most basic one: D... D... D... D... D.. D... D... D.. D... D.. D... D 1....2....3....4....1....2....3....4....1....2....3....4.... Pattern 2 - add some up strums: D...U....D.....U...D...U....D... U....D...U... D....U 1....2....3....4....1....2....3....4....1....2....3....4.... Pattern 3 - throw in some faster strums: D.......D....... D.....(DU)..... D........D........D....(DU) 1........2........3........4........1........2........3........4........ Pattern 4 - throw in some more faster strums: D... (DU)..... D.... (DU)..... D.... (DU)..... D... (DU) 1........2........3........4........1........2........3........4........ Strum pattern 5 - all faster strums Use DU for each count. 1........2........3........4........1........2........3........4........ There are more than these, but lots more patterns are born from these 5. When you practice these things, practice them slowly and evenly to get used to the patterns. Once you get used to them, you can start playing with them. How? Using accents. Accenting a strum simply means that you strum that beat (or part of a beat) just a little bit harder. You can even strum a full or part of a beat much harder. This works for up picks as well as down picks To start out with try accenting on beats number 1 and 3 IF they are down strums. After you master that, try making up some on your own, It's the accenting that makes all of these different types of strum patterns come to life. If you can, when you are listening to a recording of music that has a guitar player on it, start listening for the strum pattern and the accents. Then try to copy it if you can. Have fun with this. Remember, you're making music