Guitar Tricks Online Guitar Lessons

Increasing The Tempo

 
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Now let's try increasing the tempo. I'm going to guess a tempo that I think is going to be challenging and yet doable for you at this moment, but keep in mind that you should explore some more tempos on your own afterwards. If my tempo is too easy for you, you should try it faster. And if my tempo is too fast you should see how fast you can go before it starts to feel uncomfortable.

Let's just start with our E minor chord and loop that. Now we'll start to increase the tempo a little bit at a time.

In this tutorial we explored the most basic version of what's called a strumming pattern and the idea is that you could now use this pattern to go play a million different songs. Of course there are different types of rhythms and this won't always work, but it will work surprisingly often. And as your skills grow we'll keep building on this strumming pattern to make it more and more cool sounding and useful!

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

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Questions & Answers

4 weeks ago
Why are we taught to play EM with the middle and ring fingers? I feel like the transition from EM to C would be easier if we play EM with index and middle with a simple pivot from one chord to the next? I'm asking so that if further down the road it'll be more beneficial with the ring and middle? Thank you.
Mike Olekshy 3 weeks ago

Hey there - thanks so much for your question! Yes, we teach the Em with the middle and ring fingers for that reason - since the index finger must land on the 1st fret of the B string when switching to the C chord. So it is actually easier to make that change when you're holding the Em with the middle and ring fingers. That said - if you find anything easier with a different set of fingers - by all means go for it!! There are no strict rules for this stuff. Once you get to playing music - you'll figure out which fingers work best for the shapes and parts you're are playing in and out of the Em chord. Hope this helps!!

6 months ago
When I try to play this exercise I feel it’s too much for my head: I have to count from 1 to 4, switching to the right chords, know how to put my fingers, and count the measures to know when to switch. That keeps me making mistakes. How to deal with that?
Mike Olekshy 6 months ago

Hey there - thanks so much for your question! Indeed, there are several things to keep track of all at once. Some things that may help: 1) Use the speed buttons on the left side of the video frame to slow down the playalong with Anders. 2) Practice only the first 2 bars - that way, you don't have to think about switching chords, and you can focus on getting comfortable with strumming and counting at the same time. After 3 or 5 minutes, practice the last 2 bars on the Am chord without switching. You can do this instead of the entire exercise for a few days, then come back and try to play all 4 bars together, but slowly. Go slow and keep practicing consistently - try not to get frustrated - it's okay to make mistakes!! Just stick with it, and it will come! Hope this helps!!