Basic Rhythm Guitar One of the most essential skills to master early on is how to strum properly. The good news is that it is a fairly simple technique we use to strum the guitar. Keeping the strumming hand in a steady pendulum-like down/up motion is the most important thing. Down,up,down,up,down,up.......steady, steady, steady. Seems simple enough right! Lets use the chord E Major for all of our strumming examples.
For all of these strumming examples we will use only Quarter notes,  worth 1 beat,and Eight notes,  worth half a beat.Two eight notes equals theduration of one quarter note .
This example is 4 quarter notes, each played with a down stroke. We count 1 2 3 4. Tap your foot down on each beat as you play your down stroke.
Ex. 7
Slowly at first then faster once you master
This next example divides beat 3 into two eight notes. We count this 1 2 3 and 4. Make sure the "and" is directly in between beats 3 and 4. We play the "and" with an upstroke. Try your very hard not to "rush" the upstroke. Try to time it directly between beats 3 and 4.
Ex. 8 Slowly at first then faster once you master
Now dividing beats 2 and 4 into eight notes. The count is 1 2 and 3 4 and.
Ex.
9 Slowly at first then faster once you master And now dividing beats 3 and 4 into eight notes. The count is 1 2 3 and 4 and.
Ex.
10 Slowly at first then faster once you master
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Make sure your chord sounds like this
