Strumming with varied timing

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Hi all,

I was a mostly self taught player decades ago, just used to muck around and play different things. Then didn’t play for many years.

Coming back to guitar lately and thought I’d learn through a more structured course. I’m really digging Justin’s course, only working through grade 1 so far, taking my time, but it’s really good. Some bits I’m already not bad at, my previous experience helps, other bits are new or I’m learning the theory or better ways to do things.

I was focused on learning a tab picking song for a while, now moving on to some chord based songs. Some of them I’m strumming in a rhythmic way which aligns with I’m seeing in the course.

But some others, I’ve noticed I strum in a way where my timing is not even across the whole bar. This is on purpose but not something I’m thinking about, it just feels good and sounds good (IMO) and is something I must have picked up years ago.

E.g. instead of 1&2&3&4& where they all take the same amount of time, I might do a “1.&.2&3&” where the 1 and first & are slower with pauses at the end, so the “1.&.” bit takes maybe as long as the “2&3&” bit.

Or, some of them my strumming is all over the place but in an intentional way - so it sounds good and feels like it’s more about the vibe of the song than a consistent pattern, if that makes sense.

I think it sounds good, feels fun to play, and I’m just playing for me. So not a super big problem or anything.

But I’m wondering - does this approach have a name - maybe some technique we’ll get to later? Is it something advanced players are like “oh yeah that’s X we do that in some songs”.

Cheers

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It would be great if you uploaded a video/audio of you playing, so we can hear it. What you are describing sounds a bit like shuffle strumming, or some variation of it. You can check this video on that.

https://youtu.be/aMygcs5teLM?si=Tvs8WBPbV2zqflLT

In general, you want your strumming / picking first to be accurate and following properly rhythm (quarter, eight notes, etc). Once you fully play in time you can allow different variation (delay or playing before) intentionally to make it more interesting. This is advanced concept and usually will fall apart unless you can properly feel where and how to make those irregulars.

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Yes shuffle was the first thing that came to my mind.

If it sounds good it is good. So there’s nothing wrong with it. However you will find slowing your hand speed and then going faster is not the ideal habit to get into. Most songs require you to keep the hand moving up and down in a constant motion.

That describes about 90% of members in this forum. Welcome to the community.

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Thanks both! Much appreciated.

I got a little recording of what I’m talking about here. It was helpful to see the waveform actually - I think it’s not as irregular as I thought. It seems like one down up strum, followed by two at twice the speed. Felt like I was doing something more outlandish. I’m still not very good at identifying strumming patterns, or following strumming patterns - that’s all completely new to me!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hh-3rmPNJfY

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