Guitar Strumming Tips

Ok, I can strum several different patterns and even mix and match them within songs and vary tempo and soft and loud, I play with the backing tracks and listen to and use the other instruments for timing. BUT if I even try to move my foot I may as well burn the guitar and go get a set of spoons!
How the heck do you train the feet to stay in rhythm?

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Don’t stress man. If you’re internal rhythm is solid, and on the money, then tapping your foot, or whatever else is incidental.
I’ve never really been a foot tapper.

Cheers, Shane

Craig @Towerguy
Tapping you feet is just one of those things with most people just happens after a while. I couldn’t play, sing and tap my foot at the same time until one day I just noticed I was, without thinking about it.
Michael

Thanks for the link. Even in the video as I understand he seems to only refer to the first beat as the downbeat, and not all beats right?

I looked this up and it is called the downbeat because, traditionally, a conductor’s baton/hand moves downward on this beat. In a measure of 4/4 time only the first beat is considered the downbeat. The other beats within the measure are simply referred to as beats.

But I still need some clarification on this.

@Richard_close2u Any updates on this from Justin? Thanks.

I haven’t asked Justin for comment in truth. I hesitate to do it now, knowing that he has he has come back to work following parental leave and a family holiday to a huge backlog of work.
As mentioned, THE downbeat, if there is an insistence that each bar of music has only one such, is the first beat and is when a conductor would move the baton in the downwards motion.
Then there are other names - on beat, off beat, back beat etc. There are some widely accepted conventions.

Do I have to learn all strum patterns from the video? What strum patterns should I learn?

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That’s great, thanks

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I cannot find your blank pdf with 1+2+3+4+ printed many times on it. Can you tell me where it is? Thanks.

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Hi Paul @pspan, welcome to the community! If you’re inclined to do so, visit over here and tell us a bit about yourself.

If you scroll down below the video, where the “Learn More” tab is, there should be a tab called Resources. There you’ll find a document called Strumming Circles. I think that’s the .pdf Justin refers to. :smiling_face:

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A post was split to a new topic: Question re: the JG Rhythm Reading book

when i am practicing i don’t skip the note that i need to skip so i hum like this 1 & 2 & & 4 & is it correct or i will have problems further in learning

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Hi Shabbaj, welcome to the community. I don’t see any problem as long as you remember the 3 is in the count. Perhaps you think 3 silently, so that you have the proper number of beats.

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Do these principles for learning and practicing strum patterns for 4/4 time also apply to 3/4 or 6/8 time? Or perhaps there’s another forthcoming lesson on this at some point?

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Yes. Strumming should feel relaxed and your posture or technique shouldn’t be any different.

As for down/upstrums: 3/4 and 6/8 also have downbeats and upbeats, just like 4/4 timing. As a rule of thumb:

  • in 3/4 timing, the downstrums go on beats 1, 2, 3; the upstrums go on every ‘and’
  • in 6/8 timing, the downstrums go on beats 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 - with an accentuated strum on beats 1 and 4; the upstrums go on every ‘and’
    Just
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I assume, as well, one can create and practice for 3/4 and 6/8 times different patterns for playing and skipping the strum on the down and up beats?

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Absolutely :smiling_face_with_sunglasses::ok_hand:

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Thank you. :slight_smile:

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