The big difference between normal strumming and rock strumming is that in rock we use nearly all down strums. At least for the basic "chugging" that is very common in rock music. Of course sometimes you wil use up strums but downs have a real heavy solid sound.

Remember our old friend, the 8th notes. The normal pattern would be alternate between down and ups (first bar) but in rock you use all down strums like the second bar.

It should sound like this:

There is a fast and slow version on the mp3.

 

But it is not always just 8th notes...

You can also use some rhythmic variation, but you will still use all downstrums. A good example is the rhythms from Song 2 by Blur; like this:

 

And the future is...

The other very common technique in rock guitar is the palm mute, which blends with this rock rhythm and we will cover this in the next lesson BC-019 • Palm Muting.

 

Video Lesson (coming soon)

 

 

Justins own CD-ROM Download for learning Power Chords

To compliment these lessons I think you will like a product I made for the Charanga company which has a number of songs that I wrote and produced you can play along with. It teaches you all the rock rhythm techniques and rhythms learnt in these lessons and the songs progress from very easy to totally rockin'. It is downloadable and you can even record your own guitar and listen back to yourself playing along with the tracks! It is a great way to learn, great fun and by the end you will really be cooking! It really is cool, there are loads of pictures and as you look at the music a neck shows you where to put your fingers on the animated fingerboard. If you buy it - enter JustinSandercoe as a promotional code and you will get 33% discount too. Check it all out here: Music Coach Rock Powerchords

 

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