We have to check out the beats in the bar so we know how long to strum what chords.

Video Lesson

It's all down from here

A bar is a great place to have a beer. It is also a musical term that we use to divide time in music. For now all bars will contain 4 beats (this can change later but playing 4 beats in a bar is by far the most common). The down beat is the count 1 2 3 4. For now that is all we are looking at. And all I want you to do is to be able to strum down 4 times, while you count along. Easy :)

Rhythm for many people is the trickiest to learn so we are going to start simple and get a solid foundation. This is very easy and I hope that none of you have too much of a problem with this one, the hard part is just keeping the timing as consistent as possible.

It really helps to count along as you play so you always know where the bar starts. When we start playing songs, you will find that we nearly always change chord at the strat of a bar, so it is very important that you "know where 1 is".

We'll be getting a lot harder later, but what you should be doing here is trying to get this very siomple idea deep in your mind so that you just do it naturally and don't have to think about it. Just use all down strums and keep it consistent.

Try and keep the strumming at an even volume too - not some loud and some quiet.

There are other time signatures (bar that have a different number of beats in them), but we'll be saving them for a lot later,this whole course pretty much stays in 4:4.

 

I know this is super easy right, but give it time to sink in and become instinctive, so you don't have to think about it. Do it over and over and try and keep the rhythm as consistent as you can.

Not it's time to apply them in the next lesson: BC-117 • Easy Songs for Stage 1

 

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