chords Archives - Page 4 of 11

Basic Strumming Patterns for Beginners Part I

There are two things you need when you want to learn to play songs on the guitar: chords and strumming patterns.

A chord is a set of notes played on the guitar that will give you a particular sound and color. Many popular songs consist of only three or four chords.

A strumming pattern is a preset pattern of down and up strokes played with your fingers or a pick against the strings. The strumming pattern will determine the rhythm for your music.

You can strum with either your fingers or with a pick.

Strumming with your fingers
There are several ways to strum with your fingers. Here is one that is commonly used: Place your thumb against your index finger and hold them like that. This gives you a decent support. Strum down with the nail of your index finger against all the strings and strum up with the nail of your thumb.

Strumming with a pick
Hold the pick between your thumb and index finger. Place the pick on the top side of your index finger and clamp your thumb down on top of it. Hold the pick firmly.

The essentials
There are a lot of variations for strumming patterns and different ones for each time signature (4/4, 3/4, 2/4 time). In these strumming episodes I will show you the few essential and common strumming patterns that will get you started and ready to play tons of songs.

Don’t forget to take your time for each strumming pattern and practice daily.

Enjoy!

In Part II I will show you five more indispensable strumming patterns to get you equipped with the appropriate tools to conquer the world.

Have a great workout!

Beautiful Chord Embellishments & Tricks

By Klaus Crow 7 Comments

Playing chords and strumming patterns makes up part of the guitar rhythm for a song. Adding colorful embellishments to your chords will make your rhythm playing more interesting to listen to. It can give the song just sparkle it needs.

Although it’s really cool to experiment with embellishments, try to use them when it’s appropriate. Use embellishments here and there to lift your music.

In the two videos below I explain how to use and apply embellishments using a basic strumming pattern, open chords C, D, E, F, G, A, Am, Em, Dm, adding sus2 sus4, add4, 6sus4, sus2sus4, dom7 and hammer-on tricks to chords and progressions.

Let’s spice up your rhythm playing.

Enjoy!

Beautiful Chord Embellishments & Tricks Part I

Beautiful Chord Embellishments & Tricks Part II

5 Easy Jazz Chord Exercises

By Klaus Crow 3 Comments

Guest post by Matt Warnock (jazz guitarist and educator)

Learning how to play jazz guitar chords can seem like a tough hill to climb. There always seems to be new chords that you need to learn, and each of these chords has myriad variations and fingerings to work out on the guitar. But, while there are a lot of options when learning jazz guitar chords, you don’t have to learn every shape before you can begin making music.

By starting with a few easy jazz chord shapes, one popular jazz rhythm, and five classic jazz progressions, you’ll build your confidence with jazz chords in no time. This lesson will help you do just that, build your confidence, have fun learning jazz chords, and expand your jazz chord knowledge all at the same time.

Easy Jazz Chord Shapes

To begin your study of these easy jazz chord exercises, you’ll need to get a few chord shapes under your fingers. Each of these chords uses three notes, only the most essential notes, to make them easy to finger on the guitar.

Take a few minutes to become familiar with these chords, and then move on to the next section where you’ll add rhythm and harmonic movement to these shapes. If you aren’t 100% comfortable with any of these shapes, not to worry, as you’ll be working them throughout this lesson, so you’ll become more comfortable with each shape over time.

5 Essential Ways to Use a Capo on Guitar and How

By Klaus Crow 5 Comments

Once in a while you will bump into a great song. With excitement and anticipation you run to your guitar to learn the song, but then you discover the chords of the song are too hard and too difficult for you to play. Especially for the beginner guitar player this can be a thorn in the side.

Flat and sharp chords are often nasty chords that you would like to avoid in the beginning. But even intermediate and advanced guitar players like to chill now and then and skip those damn bar chords. Another reason they sometimes prefer open easy chords is because of the sound and the shape of the chords that is more suited for a particular arrangement.

The capo will really come in handy in a lot of situations. It’s a beautiful tool that will open a lot of doors and ways to get creative with guitar playing.

Here are the five most common and essential ways guitar players like to use a capo and how to do it:Continue Reading

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