Guitar Strumming Tips

Beginner Grade 1 Module 5: Basic Theory & Strumming Development
87

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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88

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

89

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

90

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.

91

@Richard_close2u Any updates on this from Justin? Thanks.

92

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.

93

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

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94

That’s great, thanks

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95

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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96

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:

2 Likes
97

Hi all

I wanted to ask a question regarding the strumming pattern book Justin wrote with the drummer. I practice it often, sitting on the tain, earbuds in metronome on, tapping my foot fingers and mouth :slight_smile:
I saw today, which I didn’t take too much notice of, is that the page is essentially 1 long rhythm with bars and beats, to get my head around it I have been doing 1 stave (staff?) at a time which I think (not in front of my book) is 4 bars long.

Is the goal when working on this besides understanding maybe to go through a whole page at a time practicing, ie: set time for 5 min, metronome to what ever bpm, then go through the whole page repeatedly until the time runs out? Seems like a good idea, but just wanted your opinoin.

BK