Standard guitar strumming diagram. Learning to play the “six” fight. Famous Gaming Techniques

It's hard to enjoy playing guitar when it's all just basics, scales and exercises. With learning proper strumming on the guitar, you'll be playing songs in no time, adding a little joy to your practice. By learning some basic patterns and becoming familiar with the guitar, you'll be able to play any song you want. See Step 1 for more instructions.

Steps

Part 1

Getting to know the guitar

Hold your guitar correctly. Keep the guitar balanced on your hip, close to your body. To learn how to strum the guitar properly, you must keep the elbow of your striking hand toward the string at the base of the guitar so that you can use your wrist to strum. Let the neck of the guitar rest on the crook of your string pressing hand in a "V" shape created by your thumb and index finger.

  • If you have to use your hands to hold the guitar, it's very difficult to strike properly. Let the weight of the guitar rest on your lap, anchor it with your elbow, and make sure you can move your striking hand without moving the guitar.

Hold the pick correctly. With your palm facing your body, bend all your fingers toward your palm. Place the pick on the first knuckle of your index finger so that it points directly toward your chest. Hold the pick securely thumb, leaving only a few centimeters protruding from the fingers. Play around a bit to get a good, comfortable grip on the pick.

  • Additionally, you can play the fight without a pick using thumb. Johnny Cash never used a pick. This choice depends on whether you can get a clear enough sound with your fingers. Practice using a pick and discard it if you find it too troublesome and find the sound of your fingers on the strings better.
  • Not using a pick can be somewhat painful for your striking fingers. Growing calluses is always a good thing though.
  • Understand the height of the strings (at English language this is called guitar action). The distance of the strings to the fingerboard determines the force required to confidently press the string to the nut. Practice playing chords correctly and getting a clear sound on all strings at once.

    • The action will be rattly if you hit "dead strings" that you haven't fully pressed down. It can be quite difficult to learn strumming if you don't play the chords correctly. If your strumming sounds dry or rattly, stop and play the chord correctly.

    Part 2

    The right fight

    Strike the strings between the sound hole and the bridge. Practice hitting the strings in different places to get a feel for the sound you create. A strike directly above the sound hole will create a low and hollow sound, while a strike closer to the saddle will give you a crisper, tighter sound.

    Practice hitting all the strings equally. Try strumming a G major chord for a while in simple first position, striking down. Play quarter notes, one stroke per quarter note, trying your best to hit all the strings. Stay in tempo, counting four beats per measure.

    • Starting with the low E string, strike all strings, trying to get them to sound at the same volume. It can be difficult at first to get it to sound like a "chord" so that all the strings sound more or less the same. For beginners, the first and sixth strings usually sound louder.
  • Try an up kick. When you feel comfortable doing it in rhythm, try strumming the guitar from light string to thick string. This is called moving up. This can be a little more difficult, but you want to get all the strings to sound the same, making the chord "sound" like one big sound, rather than strumming the strings individually and slowly.

    Use your wrist. Good fight located in the wrist. You will be able to easily identify a beginner by swinging your arm from the elbow. Learn to keep your elbow close to the instrument while playing with your wrist.

    • Many beginning guitarists find it difficult to hold the pick while learning to strum. Common problems include holding the pick too close to the base and allowing the pick to hang down. Make sure you hold it properly, allowing it to protrude just slightly from your fingers.

    Part 3

    Learning basic rhythmic patterns

    Learn the alternating up and down rhythm. The most basic rhythmic pattern of combat is to alternate downward and upward strikes: (v^v^v^v^) Down up, down up, down up, down up. Keep the tempo, but try to play a down-and-up beat in each measure, dividing the quarter notes into eighth notes.

    • Instead of one stroke per quarter, you will play two strokes per quarter. These are eighth notes. The tempo should be consistent, so stomp your foot at the same speed, but hit the strings twice every quarter note.
  • Change the chords. Once you are comfortable with your down-up rhythm on one chord, change it. Switch from a G major chord to a C major chord every measure, then every two quarters, practicing changing chords over time.

    • Take your time as you study it and try to grasp it. It may be a slow move, but it will be easier for you to play if you take the time to do it now. If you move on to the next step before you feel comfortable changing chords, you will end up frustrated and unhappy with your sound. Practice the chord changes and the songs will be easy to play.
  • Don't hit the fourth note down on the beat. There are almost no songs with a down-up rhythmic pattern, and it would be boring to play the same pattern over and over again. Skip one beat down (x don't play) and see how the rhythm changes: (v^v^v^x^).

    • Before learning more complex fighting rhythms, you must learn how to time the up or down strokes while maintaining the same up and down pattern in your hand. In other words, you will continue to move your wrist, but move the pick away from the strings.
  • Practice playing pop rock. A familiar beat that you will hear in a lot of live performances and practices is this: (v x v^x^v^)

    • Start actively listening to your favorite songs that feature acoustic guitar to get some idea of ​​the rhythmic patterns used. Now that you know the basics, you can start learning to vary your fighting patterns, skipping specific hits to achieve different effects in a song.
  • Practice muting the strings with striking hand. Another way to add some variation to your strumming pattern is to loosen the strings with the palm of your striking hand, maintaining the rhythm but getting a more percussive effect when you strike the chosen strings with the pick.

    • Neil Young has a distinctive, low-sounding tough fight, which he uses along with string muting, and acoustic pop star Jack Johnson also has a distinctive muted strumming style that is easy to learn and sounds more unusual than it actually is.
  • Put the chord and tempo first. The beginning guitarist softens the beat by focusing too much on the pattern and too little on tempo, chord clarity, and song flow. When you play, try to focus on the chords and then the rhythm. You'll sound like a pro in no time.

    One of the most common ways of producing sounds when playing the guitar is considered to be a guitar strum, in the language of specialists called a rhythmic pattern. This is just one of the ways of sound accompaniment.

    In ordinary language, guitar strumming is the production of sounds by striking the strings with the whole hand or only with certain fingers. This musical technique was first invented in Spain and was called “razgueado”. Subsequently, other types appeared, distinguished from each other by the frequency of strikes on the strings and the number of pauses.

    for newbies

    As a rule, guitar strumming seems very complicated for beginning performers, as it has many varieties and ways of producing sounds. Main ways to play:

    • If you play with your whole hand, the sound will be strong and loud, but it will be difficult to control the clarity of the sound.
    • You can hit with the tips of your nails, and your fingers should not protrude too far from the palm.
    • If you play by combining the big one, you get something like a pick.
    • You can also hit the strings with one fingernail, in which case the sound becomes cleaner, but quieter.

    To make learning easier, you can use various guitar strumming patterns.

    Schematic symbols

    V - downward strike.

    ^ - blow from bottom to top.

    i - strike with the index finger.

    B - bass (bass string depends on the chord).

    Muting the strings with your thumb.

    X - complete jamming with the palm.

    Depending on the combinations of the above symbols, different kinds guitar fight. Having mastered several basic fights, you can play a large number of army, pop and courtyard compositions.

    Simple fight

    This battle is also called four and allows you to play a large number of songs. The rhythmic pattern is V ^ V X ^, where down is played with the thumb and up with the index finger. You can practice this variant of combat using the example of Viktor Tsoi’s songs “Cuckoo” and “Pack of Cigarettes.”

    Variety fight

    Otherwise called “six”, it is also a fairly simple and common battle. The diagram looks like in the following way: V V ^ ^ V ^ - without jamming and V V X ^ ^ V X ^ - with jamming on the 2nd and 5th beats. An example of the “six” is the compositions “Gaza Strip” “Demobilization” and “Agatha Christie” - “Like in War”.

    The famous fight "eight"

    This guitar strumming for beginners allows the musician to improvise over himself and get individual performance options.

    Basic figure eight pattern: V _ V _ ^ V V ^ V ^.

    For an improvised performance, you can change the order of finger strikes, play with muting, and also place pauses of varying lengths between strikes.

    Thieves fight

    These types of guitar strumming also have several variations in execution.

    Schematic drawing: B V X B ^ V X

    Depending on the chord, the bass strings will be different. For example, the 5th and 6th strings used for bass correspond, and for Dm - the 5th and 4th.

    Country style

    Historically, country fighting appeared in the folklore of European settlers. Now this style is known throughout the world no less than other musical styles.

    Schematic drawing of country style: B V X ^ B ^ V X ^

    Bass strings are played with the thumb and depend on the placement of the chord.

    Spanish style

    This type of combat is a variation of the figure eight. These patterns of guitar fights are difficult to study, since they involve the playing technique of “rasgueado”. Varieties of rasgueado:

    • A descending rasgueado is carried out from the lower string to the upper string. To perform it, you need to run a “fan” of fingers along the strings, starting from the little finger.
    • The ascending play technique is performed in the opposite direction. The fingers gathered under the palm slide like a fan along the strings, starting from the top.
    • The ring rasgueado combines both of the above techniques.

    Famous Gaming Techniques

    Undoubtedly, beginning musicians need to master guitar strumming lessons perfectly before moving on to style techniques. For general information, here are some of the most popular styles:

    • The barre technique involves plucking some or all of the six strings with your index finger. Depending on the number of clamped strings, the barre is divided into large and small.
    • Slide is a style of play using a device of the same name, worn on the finger. In this case, the slide should continuously slide along the strings, giving an interesting sound.
    • The sweep style is common among modern virtuosos. His technique involves moving quickly from one fret to another, thereby creating a "blurred" sound.
    • Tapping is a playing technique by lightly striking the strings on the fingerboard with the right hand. Sometimes it is possible to use both hands.
    • Legato is a peculiar way of extracting sounds on the guitar neck, produced by the left hand. It can be mixed, ascending and descending.

    This is a long list of modern playing techniques and techniques that can be changed and improved, just like types of guitar combat.

    Four- the simplest guitar strumming. At the same time, they can play 90% of all songs.
    It's played like this:
    down – up – down with mute – up

    We play down with our thumb. Up with your index finger. Marked with an asterisk jamming.

    How to play jamming?

    You clench your palm into a fist and straighten it so that you hit the strings with your nails. At the same time as you strike with your nails, you need to place your thumb on all the strings. The nails make a click, and the thumb muffles the strings.
    Once you've learned jamming, play with it. fight four described above.
    Video: Fight four and jamming the strings

    For working out battle four play the band's song Kino-Pack of Cigarettes
    Chords Em Am C D.
    One beat for each chord.
    Do not hurry. Spend as much time on this strum and these chords as you need to play with confidence and not have to worry about where to stick your fingers. Some people need a week, others a couple of months, it doesn’t matter.

    Also practice the standard sequences with this fight:
    Am Dm E Am
    Dm G C Am
    Em C G D


    Six- the second easiest fight. And the most popular.
    They can also play 90% of all songs. In many songs fight six sounds more driving than fight four.
    In addition, thanks to the presence of pauses, this battle can be played much faster than a four-man battle.

    It's played like this:

    To better understand how to play it, play this structure:
    down-up-down-up-down-up-down-up
    Those. just down and up 4 times, each blow of the same duration.

    And then throw out 2 blows from it, the second and the fifth (these are up and down blows).
    But don’t just throw them away, but run them through with your hand without touching the strings. This is called idle hand.
    Those. the hand always moves up and down with the same frequency, sometimes it just doesn’t play, it moves idle.
    This principle is based not only fight six, but also many others.
    It's more clear in the diagram:

    • Black arrow - strike the strings
    • White arrow - idle (hand moves, but does not play)
    • Down arrow - play down, up arrow - up, respectively

    The second way to understand this fight:
    We break it into 2 parts and work on them separately:
    1) down-up idle-down-up
    2) down idle-up-down-up
    Now let's combine both parts.

    Practice battle six thoroughly using our already favorite sequences:
    Em Am C D
    Am Dm E Am
    Dm G C Am
    Em C G D
    Play the same fighting six song Cinema-When Your Girlfriend Is Sick
    Chords G Em C D
    In the chorus C D G Em
    One strum for each chord

    As we can see, in the lead and in the chorus the chords are the same, it’s just that in the chorus the sequence starts with the C chord

    Let's add jamming to battle six.
    How to play jamming is described above in the four-man battle.
    As we already know, six taking into account pauses it is played like this:
    down – down – up – up – down – up

    Jam on the second and fifth strike (downward strikes)
    It will turn out like this:
    down – down with mute – up – up – down with mute – up

    Jamming is marked with asterisks.
    The muffled impacts will occur after the same amount of time, i.e. they will keep the rhythm.
    Yes, in fact, it is easily noticeable if you count the number of shares from one asterisk to another.
    It is equal to four.

    So, have you finally become the proud owner of a six-string guitar? Congratulations! There are long, amazing evenings of exploring music ahead, as well as continuous performing and creative pleasure! All that's left to do is start playing! Perhaps you even managed to get your head around the diagrams in the tutorials and master the basic chords, after which you moved on to training your fingers in order to correctly press the learned chords on the guitar neck. But very soon you will suddenly realize that even a very agile change of chords does not form a song by itself - something is still missing... But what? Of course - guitar fighting!

    What is it about? Let's figure it out. Strike is one of the main techniques of guitar accompaniment, in which your right hand casually, but quite sharply strikes individual strings or all of them at once, which leads to sound production. This technique has big number options that differ from each other. Some of them are quite simple, and you will learn them quickly; others, in contrast, have a high degree of complexity, and in order to master the appropriate technique, you will have to work hard.

    From the outside, sometimes everything seems surprisingly simple: the performer’s hand moves up and down, striking the strings and making them sound. But when a novice guitarist begins his first attempts to independently play music on the guitar, he often encounters a number of problems. For example, concentrating on the fight, he forgets about the timely change of chords. Or, with good control over the chords, it goes astray and hits the strings out of place.

    Despite the fact that the right and left hand guitarists perform different functions - their actions must be coordinated. Don't start training with a difficult fight. As the Russian folk proverb says: “Simplicity is the key to success.” Some beginners learn very quickly - as they say, they grasp everything on the fly. Other beginners will need to go through a learning curve of weeks or even months. But in the end, if you really want to learn to play the guitar with all your heart, you will definitely master this science.

    Practice shows that even those who are deaf can learn to play the guitar (and, by the way, quite well!). Yes, such people are unlikely to be able to perfectly tune a guitar or pick out any melody by ear, but nothing will stop them from achieving good playing technique, rest assured. All you need is desire.

    Now let's get back to the question of guitar strumming. Do not try to immediately, literally at a glance, study some intricate battle. Move from simple to complex gradually - gain experience slowly. Beginners are generally recommended to start with the simplest “down - up”. Play this exercise an even number of times on each chord. It will be great if you keep score at the same time. The hand slides down the strings - count “one”! Returns, touching the strings, upward - the score does not change. The hand goes down again - count “two”! Returns upward - the score does not change.

    Not so difficult, right? Soon you will want to make your battle more beautiful. Please. To do this, try not to touch the strings when returning your hand up (when the count does not change). You will only have to move your hand a short distance from the strings, without losing your usual count.

    Well. The foundations have been laid. Desire and diligence - and soon you will definitely achieve tangible progress in playing the six-string guitar! Your goal is to synchronize the actions of both hands as much as possible when playing the instrument. However, in this review, dedicated to guitar combat, action right hand we are interested in first of all.

    Four (4)


    The easiest and most common guitar strumming, with the help of which probably about 50% of all existing songs are performed. It is also called "thieves" fight. It is played according to the following scheme: thumb down - index up - with a plug thumb down - index up.

    Six (6)


    We will get such a fight by slightly modifying the four (4) and accelerating its pace. Game pattern: 2 strokes down - 2 strokes up - 1 stroke down - 1 stroke up. You can add a plug on the second and fifth beats. Such a fight is also called “variety”; it objectively wins in beauty compared to the four (4).

    Eight (8) - Spanish


    A fight with a more interesting rhythmic pattern. By the way, this option is also known as “Spanish”. Game pattern: 2 hits down, 1 up - 2 hits down, 1 up - 1 hit down, 1 up. With the same scheme, you can use a plug.

    And others, no less popular:


    Also in different sources you can find such fighting options as “reggae”, “troika”, “rumba”, “Chechen”, “country”, as well as fights named after a specific performer (Vysotsky, Rosenbaum, etc. .). But in essence, all of these are just variations of the battles already known to us. On the portal "Gitaransk.ru" you can familiarize yourself in more detail with the types of guitar strumming using the diagrams and videos provided. I wish you success!