Description
In this week’s guitar lesson, I’ll walk you through 4 levels to playing a pretty rhythm strum pattern that includes a very simple melody line. Plus chord substitutions.
Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson
Part 2 - For Premium Members
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Slow Walkthrough
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Video Tablature Breakdown
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Strumming rhythm and getting a bit of melody in there sounds so nice. It makes this simple progression much more interesting. This kind of lesson is often overlooked. Thanks Brian!🙂
Yeah Brian, you would think strumming would be so simple and maybe it is for some but this is an awesome help for me. It also helps tremendously explaining what types of alternate chords you can throw in. Great help.
Thanks Brian!
Great lesson. Thanks Brian
Thanks, it looks like you read my mind by putting a timer at the beginning of the walkthrough and the soundslice. I like to play with your backing track to practice, but I always miss the beginning because it takes me a few seconds to take my hands off my computer mouse and on my guitar after clicking play.
Great Stuff! Sure… if you have more similar… I/we would love to learn from them.
These big picture items are great.
Thank you.
Really like learning these rhythm methods. This allows me to get a lot of sound out of simple movements and utilize the CAGED chords also. It also helps me play my James Taylor songs with or without the capo. I can see how these rhythm ideas can help to write songs while fooling around with the various sounds they produce. I would like you to do more of these rhythm ideas and please throw in some walking or connecting bass lines like we hear in some James Taylor’s songs like Carolina In My Mind. Thanks for the additional minor and diminished chords as well. They add a lot of color. Another very useful lesson as always.
Good point, enhanced my understanding of chord selection. Would love to see more about this technique. Thank you.
This was really good, yet again. And, I can even play most of this stuff for a change (:
Real nice insights on subbing for the 5 chord
Thanks
loved it, more please
Another great lesson Brian! Thanx.
Hey Brian! I learned very basic guitar in youth group in my church back in the early 1980’s. After learning the basic chords and some self created strumming patterns, I got in a rut.
I just picked up the guitar a couple of months ago after about a 15 year “sabatical”. Basic lessons like this are a big deal as they are finally expanding my knowledge past what I was trying to figure out just by listening to music. You’re helping me to decode the guitar! 🙂
I have learned more from you in the past couple of months than the entire time from youth to my 60s and it is making the guitar exciting for me once again! I’m practicing about 2 hours per day and enjoying every minute of it!
Thank you for the good work you do teaching the guitar!
I think having more rhythm lessons will help and it’s something that I haven’t seen you go over much.
Some other ideas in case: more advanced harmonies as micro lessons (because they get intimidating if they are a full composition), gipsy jazz and jazzier sounds in general.
Finding, practicing, and getting familiar with these positional relationships is powerful knowledge. You don’t have to think about the theory, which makes it more intuitive/instinctive to improvise.
Wonderful Micro lesson. Great stuff!
Hi Brian,
This is the perfect lesson for me, and I’m sure for many, many others as well. It’s exactly what so many of us want to be able to do. It looks and sounds so elegant yet simple, and with your guidance, it’s achievable.
Thank you,
Georg
Like the level thing. Sometimes maybe a just accomplish one or two but thats ok for now.
Acoustic lesson are my favourite! Thanks Brian.
This lesson is fantastic! Such a basic, and needed skill and you demonstrate perfectly how to improve it!! Love the focus on acoustic lately!
Hi Brian
Great lesson here.
Quite simple to understand but not so easy to do.
It helps me a lot.
By the way it gives a beautyful and very cool kind of slow accoustic ballad feeling.
I hope that one day I can play it just as regular and smooth as you do.
Thank you very much.
Have a good week
I think lessons like this are gold.
Please do some more Brian. Rythm playing is so important but underestimated.
And you teach it so well…it is a pleasure ti follow.
Brian thanks.
Another great lesson. I like this kind of micro lessons, because you can focus on just one thing. Although I have used it a lot of times, I didn’t realized that I was playing the fourth (C-shape) of that chord (G-shape) on the strings 2, 3 and 4. So no thinking of naming a chord just putting the fingers in the right shape (lightbulb moment when you talked about the fourth of the four chord)
Wil
I love this! It’s all to easy to forget the importance of rhythm when concentrating on melody or individual notes. The layers are great – much better than jumping in at the deep end and getting stuck. Sounds great as well…as always.
Thankyou Brian
Thank you Brian for another great lesson. As some of us, I started playing in late 70’s using books and (trying) to jam with friends who were pretty much at the same level as me. Dropped the guitar for a few decades (work and family pressures) and seriously back at it with your teaching for the last 4-5 years. Your lesson today is indeed simple and effective to help me correct/improve my rythm technique. It helps me to better frame it and be much more consistent in my playing. I’m viewing this lesson as helping me to kick old habits out with a much more precise / consistent set of instructions.
Would love to see more of these “old habits kicking out” lessons. Thank you !
Yeah ,another great ,nice and useful lesson
Thanks.
Joe
Great lesson. Yes Brian, I would love to see a few more of these sprinkled into the mix as I’m keen to try and play more acoustic songwriter style songs myself and may even be inspired to try my own composition so these simple – but level shifting – ideas are a great help.
Thanks Brain.
There’s a mistake at 8:35 Part 2. That should read ‘A min shape (Bbmin chord)’.
Rhythm ideas are always appreciated. Would love to hear more.
I find it funny that the 4 of the 4 chord takes you to a chord out of the original key, actually being the bVII (similiarly, adding a sus4 to the IV chord adds a note outside the original key).
I think the idea is that each chord is being treated as it’s own key to find triad embellishments around it. That seems to be the way it is in rock, treating each of the I, IV and V as it’s own mixolydian key.
Great lesson Brian. Thank you
Love the sound of the 4th chord 4th chord replacement. Also the 4th chord minor in place of the 5 chord. Great Lesson!
Yes, more of these. Especially embellishing chords.
Great rhythm lesson. Lots of cool sounding ideas. Thanks
Substituting the G minor and G diminished for the A7 (the V chord) in the key of D major will go into my toolbox. Thanks Brian.
Another great lesson, thank you Brian and, yes please more of the same.
looks like you have pleased a lot of people ,would love to see more like this for acoustic guitar
It was a good lesson Brian. Taking the basics and adding more complex layers is helpful to both beginners and more experienced players. Thanks!
Brian. This lesson was great especially since I’m really going in-depth with triad study. More lessons like this in ways to move through the triads would be helpful. Thanks
Every week there are more and more people playing better guitar on this planet! Thanks for being a part of this journey
This lesson is the formula for making music with the guitar – finding an interesting rythm and the notes to accompany it. Great lesson. Would like to see more like it
Always looking to get the most out of fundamental patterns. Work with 5of 5, of course, but the 4 of 4 is nice and the minor of 4 is nice.
Hi Brian,
Yes, I would like more of these type lessons. Not only are they are fun to play and sound great, I learn techniques (and in a way, some basic music theory) that can be applied to all styles I enjoy playing.
Thanks.
I find the rhythm lessons very helpful. There are many good ideas in this one.
Hits the right spot, focusing on this rhytm is a great thing for me to do this week, it looks easy and easily overlooked but its that touch that differentiates guitarists that sound good from noodlers. How would you also apply this to electric guitar, same way? Am going to enjoy working on this, this week!
very similar to the bluegrass rhythm i’ve been learning on level 2, but also incorporating alternate bass strings, but just on the whole 6 string shapes of G,C,D. Your approach here is more useful, I need to try and get to level 3 and 4 and bring in the alt bass strings too.
Great lesson. I love these ideas on making things more interesting and always wonder WHY does something work.
Simple but yes an eye opener,
More please
Very happy with this Brian,
One of those topics i knew about and promised to get around to practising, but never did.
Well, now i have.
Ties in nicely with your triad lessons.
Will,
Warrington. UK
Just finished watching Part 2. Wow, simple stuff that has a ton of payoff – very insightful. Going to revisit and re-think this all over several times.
Thanks
on your pick grip, do you expose one whole, long edge of the pick, and the tip?
Pure Gold Brian. Sounds beautiful. I’d love to see more like this if you can.