Part 2: Give the notes time · Lesson 017 / 117
Give your strumming hand a steady motion
Connect down/up movement to the subdivision.
For this exercise, move down on each number and up on each “and.” That creates a continuous down/up motion across eighth-note subdivisions. It is a practice method, not a rule for every strum in every song.
At first, lightly touch the strings on every pass. Then deliberately miss some passes while the hand keeps moving. The missing attacks become space in the rhythm; they do not need to stop the arm's timing.
Keep one comfortable chord throughout. Focus on a relaxed, small movement rather than a large swing. An upstroke may naturally catch fewer strings than a downstroke. Today the important thing is the relationship between your movement and the count.
A written down/up pattern only tells part of the story. You must also know where those movements occur in the bar. We will always connect a strumming suggestion to numbered beats and subdivisions.
Hear it
Strum
Audio fileFour-beat count-in · 60 BPM · Warm sampled electric guitar. Listen once before playing along.
A concrete example
Count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. First sound all eight passes. Next sound only the numbers, allowing silent upstrokes between them.
Try it, slowly
- Move down/up without contacting the strings.
- Sound all eight passes on one easy chord.
- Sound only numbered beats while maintaining the same silent upstroke motion.
Check one idea
When you omit the upstroke sound after beat 2, should you remove that half-beat of time?
Show the explanation
No. The subdivision remains. The hand can travel silently through it so beat 3 still arrives on time.
A good place to stop
You can omit an attack without changing the motion or the length of the bar.
Return to the example after a short break. A clear explanation matters more than speed.