Strumming Patterns - Lesson three
Exercise Eleven
This exercise is almost identical to exercise ten, however it introduces the concept of letting a note ring through the main beat (i.e. you don't strum that beat) in this case that is beat three. So you get a down strum on the quarter note of beat one, another on the eighth note of beat two, an upstrum on the eighth note on the and of beat two, but this note rings through beat three and then another upstrum on the and of beat three, followed by two more eighth notes, down on beat four and up on the and of beat four. Note:- most people I know have a 'default' strum if they're not given any direction or aren't playing a given rhythm. In 4/4 time this is mine.
Ok on to Exercise Twelve Now, with this exercise, whilst it looks like we're going back to the beginning, note the time signature at the beginning of the exercise. 3/4 instead of 4/4. This means that you count from one to three instead of from one to four. Think of a waltz and you'll get this timing straight away. Also, from a notation perspective. There isn't a note value of three beats, a whole note lasts four beats and a half note lasts two. So how do we get around that. Well the dot after a note extends it by half it's value. In this case it's a half note (two beats) so extending it by half of two is one, add one and two together and you get three beats. Simples. So for this exercise you strum (downwards) on beat one and let it ring through beats two and three and then strum again on beat one of the next bar and so on. Exercise Thirteen continues in 3/4 time.
This time it's simply one down strum on each beat. One, two and three. Just ensure as usual that your timing is consistent and smooth and your chords ring out loud and clear.
Now for Exercise Fourteen If you've worked through all the 4/4 time exercises this one should be very easy for you. Again all down strums with a half note on beat one, this rings through beat two and a quarter note on beat three. Finally for this set of exercises you get to Exercise Fifteen
This one effectively swaps the last exercise around so that you get a quarter note on beat one followed by a half note on beat two that rings through beat three. More 3/4 patterns on the next page.
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