Acoustic Rhythm: Thumping? Drumming?

Lately I’ve been playing more acoustic guitar, and as a result, I’ve started experimenting with some new rhythm techniques. In today’s lesson we’re talking about adding a “thump” in between the strumming. To be honest, I don’t really know what to call this technique, drumming on your guitar? Percussive rhythm? Who knows, and who cares, really, I guess.

The bottom line is it sounds cool, and it’s fun to play when you get it down. The real issue here (that I’ve discovered in my own experience) is that if you try to dive straight into a complex strum pattern, it can be very frustrating and feel like slow going.

The trick is to strip it down to the barest of essentials, and slow it down as far as necessary, and then build up, one technique at a time. I’ve used this exact technique in my own playing over and over to successfully learn new techniques in a very short amount of time – far less time than I thought it would take!

In this lesson we’ll start with a really simple strum on the quarter notes, playing that thump on the “and” count in between the quarters. Then we’ll add in a little chord movement, and finally we’ll add in an upstroke to add the final touch on this strum pattern.

If this kind of acoustic rhythm playing interests you, you might enjoy my Dynamic Rhythm Guitar course – it’s loaded with this kind of stuff and far more besides.


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