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Basic Strumming Patterns for Beginners Part I

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

Top 30 Easy Guitar Solos

By Klaus Crow 20 Comments

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Do you know any easy guitar solos?

It’s one of the most asked questions I get from guitar players who are just starting out playing solo guitar. And I get that.

The most solos you hear in songs are not exactly beginner solos. They are often intermediate or advanced guitar solos.

For the beginner lead guitar player it almost feels like every solo is out of reach and that can be discouraging. How do other guitar players go about this?

Well almost every guitar player starts off with an easy guitar solo. Those who don’t are up for a major challenge and often left disappointed. You’ve got to work your way up one solo at a time.

My first solo was Wonderful tonight by Eric Clapton. Beautiful, short and fairly easy.

Once you practiced a couple of solos and you get the hang of the basic techniques like pull-offs, hammer-ons, slides and bend-ups it get’s easier and more fun. Then you also want to work on scales, dexterity and speed which you will achieve with regular practice and specific exercises.

But first thing first, let’s start off with choosing one easy guitar solo and have loads of fun with.

You can click the song title and listen to the song and solo on Youtube or click Tab to find the tablature for the song.

Note: As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases via amazon links.

Enjoy!

1 – Wonderful tonight – Eric Clapton Tabs

2 – High and dry – Radiohead Tabs

3 – Smells like teen spirit – Nirvana Tabs

4 – Let it be – The Beatles Tabs – More TABS on Amazon

5 – Californication – RHCP Tabs
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Building Scales Using The Whole Half Step Formula

By Klaus Crow 17 Comments

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guitar laugh Knowing how to build a scale is essential for understanding music theory, learning how the guitar works, to able to communicate with other musicians and to grow towards becoming an accomplished guitar player.

Every piece of musical knowledge adds to your musicianship and makes you become a better guitar player. Applied knowledge is power.

The whole-half Step formula is the perfect way to build and recognize the pattern of any scale. The scales you need for soloing, chord construction, chord progressions, arpeggios and a dozen of other things. It gives you insight in the whole matter.

So let’s see how this baby works.

The whole-half step formula is similar to the scale formulas only it uses whole and half steps to explain the construction of a scale.

A half step = one fret. A whole step = two frets. So going one fret up or down the neck is a half step. Going up or down two frets equals a whole step.

Let’s take the major scale as an example:

Major scale = Whole step – Whole step – Half step – Whole step – Whole step – Whole step – Half step
or simplified: W-W-H-W-W-W-H (W = Whole, H = Half)
You can also notate the fret intervals: 2-2-1-2-2-2-1 (W = 2, H = 1)Continue Reading

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