INTRO TO PLAYING RHYTHM

This is where it all starts for most guitarists. You’ll need to get the basics down first, before you can move on to being able to play even a simple song from start to finish.

Chord Diagrams

First lets take a look at the chord diagrams we will be using, to show which chord or chords to play and how to play them. A chord diagram is nothing more than a section of the guitar fretboard, presented to you in a vertical fashion. As if the guitar was standing vertically and you were looking at it head-on.

The vertical lines represent the strings. From left to right, the strings (in standard tuning) are low E (sixth string), A (fifth), D (fourth), G (third), B (second) and high E (first).

The thicker horizontal line at the top of the diagram represents the nut of the guitar. The next horizontal line is the first fret, the one after that the second fret, and so on etc.

The dots in the diagram mark where to place the fingers of your fretting hand (left hand). Some chord diagrams include numbers inside the dots to designate which finger to use. Others may have the fingering numbers at the bottom of the diagram. Your index finger is 1, middle finger is 2, the ring finger is 3 and 4 is your pinky (T means to play the note with your thumb).

Xs and Os are sometimes placed on top of the chord diagram. The X means that you mute the string or don’t play it. The O directs you to play that string open, meaning with no fingering on that string.

Basic Chord Diagram Showing Strings And Frets

Symbols Used At The Top Of A Diagram

Chord Diagrams Showing Fingerings At The Bottom

Chord Diagram Showing Fingerings Inside Dots

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Left / Right Hand Techniques and Strumming Patterns

The hardest part to playing a chord and having it sound correct, is proper placement of your left hand fingers. The rest will come from your right hand, but if your left hand is correct, you wont have to worry too much about your right hand. Since this is an intro to rhythm guitar, we will limit this discussion to the chords that beginners first learn, the “open chords”. The term “open” comes from the terminology of how to describe the way a guitar string is to be played. If you are playing a string while placing your finger on a fret, then you are said to be “fretting” that string or note. If the guitar string is played without any of your left hand fingers fretting a note, then that is called playing an open string. Lets take a look at one of the first chords people learn. The G major Chord.

In the following picture you can see that the knuckles on the 2nd finger (middle finger) are flat, or straightened out. This is NOT advisable because your 2nd finger will be touching the string below (5th string) the note it is fretting. This will result in that string (5th string) being muted or not heard when you strum the chord. This is only desirable when you want to mute a string when strumming a chord. But in this case the 5th string has a fretted note on it being played by the 1st finger, and we do want to hear this note in the chord.

This is the “key” to playing chords. You angle your fingers to play notes without touching the stings above for below the string that you are fretting. This way any fretted notes or open strings above or below your fingers that are fretting notes will be able to vibrate when strummed and thus be heard. As mentioned above, sometimes you will want to mute strings or notes when playing a chord, especially if those notes don’t belong to the chord you are playing. But in this case we are looking at the Gmajor chord played in open position and muting notes is not advisable here.

The following pictures illustrate the bend in the knuckles or “arch” that is needed by the 2nd finger in order to leave some space below for the 5th string to not be muted by touching it.

This picture illustrates the arch used by the 2nd finger and the space it provides for the string below to be able to vibrate when strummed and thus be heard.

Lets take a look at some simple simple strumming patterns. The following picture shows the symbol used to indicate a down stroke (or down strum). This picture shows that you would play a down strum for each beat of the measures. In other words eight down strums for the D chord, then eight down strums for the A chord.

To perform this technique you simply strike all (or some) of the strings with your pick in a downward motion. As shown in the following picture.

The following picture shows the symbol used to indicate an up stroke (or up strum). In this picture you can see that you will be alternating from a down strum to an up strum throughout the whole example.

To perform an up strum, you simply perform the opposite motion of a down strum. In other words, your pick will strike the string with an upward motion. As shown in the picture below.

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Metronome / Drum Machine

The importance of using a metronome or a drum machine when practicing guitar is paramount. And that goes for any type of guitar or instrument practice. Always use a time keeper. The benefits are immense and improve your ability to:

  • Play at a steady tempo

  • Keep in time

  • Strengthen your inner sense of rhythm

  • Stay on the beat

  • Increase your sensitivity to tempo changes

  • Improve coordination with other players

Now as we all know, sometimes musicians perform without a drummer. In theses cases tempo fluctuations are harder to detect by the audience and a musician can get away with a lot more without anyone noticing. But if you are performing with a drummer or backing tracks or any type of time keeper, you will need to be able to play in time, all the time. Any tempo fluctuations large enough for your audience to detect, and you will sound like you are playing out of time, and the audience will hear that as you making mistakes. This is not to say that a song can’t have tempo changes, but you will have to be able to follow those tempo changes.

Extremely small tempo fluctuations are not necessarily a bad thing if the tempo fluctuations are in fact extremely small. This is where you can play with the timing of your guitar playing a little to make something sound more “laid back” or you could rush the timing slightly to make the music sound “more tense”. Extremely small timing fluctuations are what makes a human musician sound “human”. It is in fact a good thing and is part of why no two musicians sound alike. If your timing was absolutely perfect all the time, you would sound like a robot. But, if you are a beginner, I suggest practicing as if you are trying to be a robot with your timing. The more perfect (like a robot) you try to be, the faster your timing and overall playing will improve. Don’t worry about the nuances just yet. That stuff will come with lots of practice and experience.

If you are a beginner START SLOW. Practice at slow tempos. It doesn’t matter how slow you need to set the tempo. Set the tempo so that you are performing your chord changes on the beat and in time. After you master changing chords at a slow tempo, you can bump up the tempo slightly and start to master your chord changes at that new tempo. But, never set the tempo too fast. You want to give yourself a challenge but at the same time you DO NOT want to be practicing mistakes. A lot of guitarist including myself will use different methods to practice getting faster and improving our timing.

Method 1.
First set the tempo to where you can play something comfortably. What does that mean? Id say that if you can play something for 3 minutes without making a mistake you are definitely in the comfortable zone.

Next, bump up the tempo slightly. What does slightly mean? Well, that will depend on you and the tempo you are practicing at. Generally speaking you will need to make a larger tempo increase at slower tempos just to feel the increase in tempo. Conversely you will need smaller tempo increases at faster tempos to feel a change in tempo.

When you are practicing at your new increased tempo you should be able to get through what you are practicing at least a few times before you make a mistake. When you make a mistake STOP. Then start over at the beginning and try to perform without making a mistake for a little longer each time. Continue this for a set amount of time, say 5 minutes. Then go back to your comfort zone tempo, say for another 5 minutes. Rotate back and forth between these two tempos at 5 minutes each, for your allowed practice time.

There are many methods of using a metronome to achieve speed or a better sense of timing. I go over these in our lessons.

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