This technique can be a little hard to get your head around but I have seen this make a huge difference to many people's playing.

Video Lesson

 

Force yourself to make the change in time...

The idea of this exercise is simple. Force yourself to make the chord changes faster by not allowing yourself to stop strumming. The benefit is immediate, because if you keep the strumming going solid then it sounds cooler and more like a "proper song".

Start by playing a chord sequence that you are familiar with, strumming nice and simple, 4 strums to the bar.

If there is any pause between the chords, try and keep strumming in time, even if you are hitting the open strings, just don't stop strumming your even 4 down strums per barre pattern.

What you will find is that the fretting hand will not want to let the side down, and it will get faster. I know it sounds a bit strange, but it works really well.

Don't worry if you fluff the chord up a little, just keep strumming... force your fingers to make the changes. If a finger goes down on a wrong string, just keep playing, and move it while you continue to strum.

A good tip is to use the metronome and strum along with that, it will force you to keep in time, because many people slow down for difficult bits and strim faster in the easy bits, and that just sounds terrible.

The exercise is important because you need to be able to keep a consistent rhythm before you add in more complex strumming patterns.

Now lets develop your rhythm guitar a bit! BC-146 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 2

 

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