Guitar Tricks Online Guitar Lessons

Using The Strumming Pattern

 

Now it's time to try out our new strumming pattern with some more chords and see how it works.

Let's try an example where we go E minor for 2 bars, then we'll go to C major for 2 bars. Then we'll keep it simple and just repeat that one more time. And then we'll end on a big E minor chord that we let ring.

When you try this with the rhythm you'll notice that it's tricky to jump straight from one chord to the next in between strums and that's where our trick from the last chapter comes in handy, where we strum the open strum on the last strum right before changing chords.

This open string trick may feel like extra effort right now, but it really does make it easier once you get used to it. And this is not a beginner cheat I've come up with for you. I do this myself all the time and so do most other people who use open chords on guitar.

Anders Mouridsen
Instructor Anders Mouridsen
Tutorial:
Strumming Patterns
Styles:
Any Style
Difficulty:
print notation download lesson open guitar tuner
Using The Strumming Pattern song notation

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Questions & Answers

1 month ago
In last question I meant to say do I strum all 6 strings when playing an open string chord ?
Mike Olekshy 3 weeks ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! It depends. In this example, the G chord uses all 6 strings, so you'll want to strum all 6 strings. However, the C chord only uses the top 5 strings. You have two choices here - you can strum the top 5 strings only OR you can strum all 6 strings, but make sure to mute the low E string. You could wrap your thumb around the top of the neck and lightly touch the low string, and it will be muted. Or, you could use a little bit of your ring finger that is holding down the 3rd fret of the A string (of the C chord) to lightly touch the low string and mute it. Hope this helps!

1 month ago
While switching between chords, my guitar position is getting little disturbed. So placing fingers on the right strings and fret is getting challenging. Any suggestions?
Mike Olekshy 1 month ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! Make sure you are holding the guitar steady with the strumming arm cradling the guitar body to your body. Do your best to hold the guitar steady as you make the chord changes. It's okay to take a beat and re-steady the guitar before putting your fingers on the next chord. Go slowly with the process, and as your fingers loosen up and get used to the chord shapes, this process should start becoming more automatic. Hope this helps!

2 months ago
I have a major problem with the majority of the essential chords for beginners, my fingers to not want to stay positioned on the strings/frets for the majority of chords. With this exercise, the e minor chord is perfect, now trying the c major is impossible. It's impossible for me to follow through on this specific lesson as I can't even position my fingers for the c major. For the majority of chords that I cannot do, I use my right fingers to position my left fingers on the strings/frets where they belong, I hold the fingers for 60 seconds (doing isometrics) but as soon as I let go my fingers go off track laying on strings below. And trying to get my fingers to stretch/skip over frets looks like a mission impossible. Is there any practice, sessions to try and work with my fingers? At this point with the severe issue with my ability for finger positioning, I feel this is a major issue holding me back.
Mike Olekshy 2 months ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! Indeed these chords are very challenging at first. I encourage you to continue to do whatever it takes to try and get your fingers to stay in these shapes. Perhaps simplify the C chord to the top 3 strings, so that you only have to use one finger (1st fret of the 2nd string) and strum the top 3 strings only. Continue to work on the chords as consistently as you can. You can always move on to the next lesson, and then revisit this one later. Keep at it!!! It will get easier and easier!

11 months ago
I'm really struggling to switch to the open C chord fast enough even with the open string strum (my fingers don't reliably stretch enough without placing them one at a time) - any recommendations? Should I be able to do it before I move on? Thanks!
Mike Olekshy 11 months ago

Hello - thanks for your question! You can go ahead and move on, but I would recommend continuing to work on the exercise from this lesson in your practice sessions. Just 3-5 mins per session, playing through the exercise nice and slow with lots of repetition will yield solid progress. Once you feel comfortable with the chord change at your slow practice speed, try increasing the tempo slightly, then keep practicing with lots of repetition at the new tempo for awhile. Repeat! Let me know how it goes!

11 months ago
How much time should I practice for per session normally and go to the next?
Mike Olekshy 11 months ago

Hello - thanks for your question. Only proceed to the next lesson when you understand all the concepts from the current lesson and can comfortably play the examples. It is always a good idea once you've moved on from the lesson to revisit the previous lessons from time to time to make sure you are still retaining the techniques and skills.

1 year ago
Is the open chord an quick extra strum squeezed in between the final quarter note and the first half note? Or does it replace the final quarter note of the bar?
Josh Workman 1 year ago

You can replace the last quarter note with open strings, to make it easier to change chords in time.