The Beat and 4th Strumming

The first strumming patterns we will learn will have us firstly strumming once every bar and then once every beat. To do this well, we have to understand what bars and beats are. The video above covers this, the pattern itself and also my top tips for strumming with good technique!

What are bars and beats?

The beat is what you nod your head or tap your foot to when you hear a song you like. It is a pulse in music that everything lines up to. 99% of the time, a song will use a count of 4 beats, which we call a bar. Whatever strumming we do for 1 bar, we tend to repeat this throughout an entire song. So when you look at a song, only 1 bar of strumming may be shown, which you learn to repeat while playing whatever chord is written. How fast you count this 1, 2, 3, 4 is called the tempo, aka speed or bpm (beats per minute).

This is a great place to start when learning any new song as it gives you chance to learn the chord changes. Plus- many real songs actually start like this! Count 1, 2, 3, 4 at a slow, even pace (out loud if needs be) and strum an E chord every time you say beat 1.

The strumming for any song is only shown as a 1 bar pattern. This is generally repeated for an entire song.