Counting and keeping time
Guitar · First notes · Level 1 · 10 min
On the guitar, rhythm matters more than notes: a wrong note may go unnoticed, a lost beat is heard at once. Get into the habit of counting out loud and playing with a metronome.
Foot and hand
Tap your foot on every beat. For eighth notes, the strumming hand goes down on the beat (“1”) and up between beats (“and”). Even when it doesn't touch the strings, it keeps this pendulum motion: that is the secret of steady strumming.
M:4/4 L:1/8 Q:1/4=72 K:C clef=treble-8 "C"[CEGce]2 [CEGce]2 [CEGce]2 [CEGce]2 | [CEGce] [CEGce] [CEGce] [CEGce] [CEGce]2 [CEGce]2 | "G"[G,B,DGBg]2 [G,B,DGBg] [G,B,DGBg] [G,B,DGBg]2 [G,B,DGBg] [G,B,DGBg] | "C"[CEGce]8 |]
Rests
A rest lasts as long as the matching note. On the guitar you have to make it: lay your strumming palm on the strings, or release the fretting pressure without lifting your fingers.
Method: play a passage at a tempo where it is perfect, raise it by 4 beats per minute, repeat. If it falls apart, go back down by 8.
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