Good Guitarist’s Guide To:

Strumming
& Rhythm Guitar
 Good guitarist’s guide to:
strumming & Rhythm guitar
A note to the student...

This eBook is for those who wish to learn how to strum songs on a
guitar. It is not your conventional method book - it is meant to show you
everything a book can show you.

Music exists in the air as sound and printed materials cannot fully
demonstrate this. Rather than bother your eyes with walls of text, we
have decided to explain certain concepts visually and aurally, taking
advantage of the digital age while still retaining the useful aspects of
printed material. We feel that this cross-media educational method is
the future of music education.

This eBook contains all the information you'll need to play favorite
songs. If you want to be guided through ALL the basics, I have a premium
guitar course available. You can find out more here!

Interested In Lead? Check out Good Guitarist’s Guide To: riffs & lead guitar

Copyright c 2016-2019 by Good Guitarist ([email protected]).

All rights reserved. Made in Canada.
Cover photo provided by Irina Kosoric (@irinatakesphotos).
All materials used in this book are the original work of the authors.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written
permission of the authors, except in the case of certain
noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

-i-
 table of contents
The Most Common Chord Shapes . . . . . . . 1

Troubleshooting Chord Shapes . . . . . . . . . . 5

Strumming and Rhythm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Putting It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Enhance your eBook experience!

Go to goodguitarist.com/chords-and-strumming
for play-along tracks, animated diagrams, videos and more!

- ii -
 The most common chord shapes
Learning these 12 chord shapes will give you the most reward for your efforts -
allowing you to strum through hundreds of thousands of songs! It’s best to learn
a few at a time and practice switching between them (there’s more on that later).
Also, don’t be afraid to zoom in and see exactly where the fingers are placed!

Here is the name of the chord -

This is a traditional chord diagram this one is called “E Major”

E
(See pages 8 - 10 for more info)
This is what the chord diagram
looks like on a guitar

2 31

This is what the chord looks This is what it looks

like from your perspective like from the front
1
 A D
X XX

123 1 32

G G (played a bit differently)

21 34 32 4

This “voicing” for G is an excellent choice for

songs that switch regularly between G and C

2
 C Am
X X

32 1 231

Em Dm
XX

12 231

The “m” stands for “minor” - on paper we write

“Em” but when speaking we say “E minor”

3
 B7 “little” F
X XX

2 13 4 32 1 1

F barre* Both these F chords have a barre

in them, but the “little F” is far
easier to play since it only barres
2 strings.

It’s worth it, learning the “F barre”

134 211 chord, as it has a deeper, richer sound.

Don’t worry if you can’t get it yet -

it can be tough. Your grip strength
will improve as you practice switching
between chords - try your best!

*A barre chord involves pressing

multiple strings with one finger

4
Get To grips with these chord shapes
Sometimes a little finesse can save you from a lot of struggle. Many beginning
guitarists experience trouble with getting chord shapes to sound good, and
almost every time it’s one of the following 4 problems.

Finger Placement
The further your fingers are from the
fret, the more pressure it takes to hold
the string down. Make sure you press
down as close to the fret as possible,
while avoiding contact with the fret.

Finger Pressure
Sometimes it’s as simple as not pressing hard enough. Press down firmly and
evenly, making sure you are providing extra pressure only to the fingers that
need it. Don’t hurt yourself - if it’s still not working take a break. Consistent
daily practice will build strength and as you develop callouses, you will find it
much easier to apply pressure to the strings.

Thumb Placement
Your thumb should be pushing back
against your fingers to give them the
support they need. If your thumb is off
to the side, extra strain is put on your
wrist.

Arched Fingers
Arching your fingers helps to carry ten-
sion away from your fingers and wrist,
up to larger muscles in your arm and
shoulder. It also keeps your fingers
pointy so they don’t accidentally touch
adjacent strings.

5
 Strumming and rhythm
The idea is simple, you hold down chords with one hand, and then hit the
strings in a rhythmic way using your other hand. To make these repeated
rhythms, we use a combination of two motions:

Downstrokes AND Upstrokes

Explanations often fall short of capturing the idea of strumming a rhythm,

so let’s jump right in and learn by example.

We’ll begin with the simplest strumming pattern of them all...

four downstrokes, on beats 1, 2, 3 and 4.

a) Count: “1 2 3 4”
b) Say: “down down down down”
c) Play!

6
 Here come the upstrokes! We’re going to add just one,
Pattern #1 and we’ll place it between beats 3 and 4.

a) Count: “1 2 3 and 4”
b) Say: “down down down up down”
c) Play!

This pattern is missing a downstroke on beat 3. It is very

Pattern #2 important that you still “feel” the beat happen.

a) Count: “1 2 and and 4 and”

b) Say: “down down up up down up”
c) Play!

Upstrokes are played on the off-beat. “1, 2, 3, 4” are the on-beats. It can be
difficult to feel an off-beat if it has no on-beat before it (like in Pattern #3,
where we play an upstroke after beat 3, but we are not playing anything on
beat 3).

Here’s a trick that’ll help with those off-beats: simply whisper “miss” during the
missing beat, and still make the downstroke motion with your strumming hand
- just avoid making contact with the strings.
 This final pattern involves a “root” strum. Instead of strumming
Pattern #3 all the strings, hit the lowest note of the chord when you see “R”.

R R

a) Count: “1 2 and 3 4 and”

b) Say: “root down up root down up”
c) Play!

This is the root... ... for these chords:

E Em G Fbarre
This is the root... ... for these chords:

A Am C B7
This is the root... ... for these chords:

D Dm “little” F
8
 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
On the most basic level, this is how we go from “absolute beginner” to
“someone who can strum a tune.” It’s what I do with all my 1-on-1 students
whose goal is to strum along to their favourite songs:
1) Pick an easy song that you'd like to learn, that uses just 2 or 3 chords
and a simple strumming pattern.
2) Practice the chord shapes individually - your goal right now is to
memorize the shapes. You also might want to get started on a
strumming pattern.
3) Practice switching between the shapes, 2 at a time. Once you’re good
with that, try it with the strumming pattern as well.
4) Look up the chord order for the song you chose in step 1. Practice it
with downstrokes only. Then try adding the strumming pattern.

Overwhelmed? Let me walk you through the process...

1) Pick an easy song

One of the biggest challenges for new guitarists is trying to find easy songs
that they recognize and enjoy. To help you with that, I’ve made a list of
simple strummers that use 2 or 3 chords.

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan (G, C, D)

Leaving On A Jet Plane – John Denver (G, C, D)
Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison (G, C, D, Em)
The Joker – Steve Miller Band (G, C, D)
We’re Going To Be Friends – White Stripes (G, C, D, A)
What I Got – Sublime (G, D)
Lively Up Yourself – Bob Marley (G, D)
Anyone Else But You – The Mouldy Peaches (G, C)
Everyday People – Sly And The Family Stone (G, C)
Jambalaya – Hank Williams (G, C)

For this example, I’m going to choose “Leaving On A Jet Plane” by John
Denver, which requires the following chord shapes: G, C and D.
 2) Practice the chord shapes individually

We’ve chosen a song that requires the G, C and D chords. Now we need to
figure out how to play them, and start memorizing the shapes.

The following 3 videos will guide you through this:

We should also get started on a

strumming pattern (In the tutorial for
"Leaving On A Jet Plane" we use this one.
The final exercise in this tutorial might
be a bit tricky since you haven’t worked
out your switches yet. Just try your best!

3) Practice switching between the shapes

We gotta practice switching, but before we do all 3, let’s focus on 2 at a time.

Now, go back to that strumming tutorial and try it again. The last exercise
should be a lot easier now that you’ve worked on your switching.
 4) Look up the chord order

The next thing I do with my 1-on-1 students is to work out the chord order
(also called “form”). Rather than jump right in and try to switch chords, count
out the beats and strum all at the same time, let’s just keep it simple and
focus on chord switches + counting.

This is EXACTLY how my tutorials go, so you don’t have to do too much
thinking here... just load up the tutorial and follow along. At this point, since
you’ve practiced the shapes and strumming, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure
out!

If you need this process broken down further, check out my premium
beginner's course. It's a foolproof method, guaranteed to get you strumming
along with a song within just a week or two.