Guitar Lesson -- Simple Rhythm Tricks Ii
As mentioned in part 1 of this series, there are several basic tricks that are used a lot in rhythm guitar
. Here is another one. It involves alternating a root bass note with the 5th of the chord. As you might guess, this technique is called the "alternating bass note" technique.
You will hear this technique a lot on acoustic music and occasionally also on electric. But even if you are playing an electric guitar, an added benefit of studying this is that you will develop better pick control. Keep in mind also that although you may not hear this technique much on an electric guitar as it is depicted here in a strict sense, you will hear off-shoots and variations of this a lot. Every "cool" technique has simple beginnings. The point is that it's worth learning.
Again, we will use 8 basic chords to illustrate this:
A [ 0 0 2 2 2 0 ]
C [ 3 3 2 0 1 0 ]
D [ x 0 0 2 3 2 ]
E [ 0 2 2 1 0 0 ]
G [ 3 2 0 0 0 3 ]
Am [ 0 0 2 2 1 0 ]
Dm [ x 0 0 2 3 1 ]
Em [ 0 2 2 0 0 0 ]
Note on the C chord we added an extra note. Use your 4th finger on the 5th string, and your 3rd finger on the 6th string.
On these examples, except for the G chord, you will see 2 different ways to play this style (R-chord-5th-chord). For example on the A chord, the alternate bass (the 5th of the chord) is lower that the root the first time, but is higher than the root the 2nd time.
When you practice these things, it's important that you finger the entire chord and keep it down throughout each exercise. Also as each chord (except for the G chord) has 2 different styles, practice each style separately first then try putting the 2 styles together. There is no "rule" here. Once you learn the styles, you can mix and match as you please.
The A chord:
E-----------0------------0-------------0-------------0---------------
B-----------2------------2-------------2-------------2---------------
G-----------2------------2------------2--------------2---------------
D-----------2------------2------------2-------2----------------------
A-----0-------------------------0-------------------------------------
E------------------0--------------------------------------------------
The C chord:
E-----------0------------0------------0------------0-----------------
B-----------1------------1------------1------------1-----------------
G-----------0------------0------------0-----0------------------------
D-----------2------------2------------2------------------------------
A-----3-------------------------3-------------------------------------
E------------------3--------------------------------------------------
The D chord:
E-----------2-------------2-----------2------------2---------------------
B-----------3------------3-----------3-------------3---------------------
G----------2-------------2-----------2------2----------------------------
D----0-------------------------0---------------------------------------
A------------------0--------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------------------
The E chord:
E------------0------------0-------------0------------0--------------
B------------0------------0------------0-------------1--------------
G------------1-----------1-------------1-------------1--------------
D------------2------------2------------2-------------2--------------
A------------2------2------------------2-------2--------------------
E-----0-------------------------0------------------------------------
The G chord:
E--------------3-------------3---------------3-------------3-------
B--------------0-------------0---------------0-------------0-------
G-------------0--------------0--------------0--------------0-------
D-------------0-------0---------------------0-------0--------------
A---------------------------------------------------------------------
E------3-----------------------------3-------------------------------
The Am chord:
E-----------0--------------0--------------0--------------0-----------
B-----------1--------------1--------------1--------------1-----------
G-----------2--------------2--------------2--------------2-----------
D-----------2--------------2--------------2-------2------------------
A----0-----------------------------0----------------------------------
E-------------------0-------------------------------------------------
The Dm chord:
E-----------1---------------1-------------1-------------1----------
B-----------3--------------3--------------3-------------3----------
G-----------2--------------2--------------2-----2------2----------
D----0-----------------------------0--------------------------------
A-------------------0------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Em chord:
E------------0--------------0---------------0-------------0-----------
B------------0-------------0---------------0--------------0-----------
G------------0-------------0---------------0--------------0-----------
D------------2-------------2---------------2--------------2-----------
A------------2------2----------------------2-------2------------------
E----0------------------------------0----------------------------------
Now lets put a little wrinkle in the pattern. The above patterns were all down picks and strums. What we want to do here is to play the first chord after the bass note as a down strum -- but then play another chord as a an up strum. The amount of time that it takes to play these 2 chords should be the same as that played for the bass note (quarter note followed by 2 eighth notes).
The A chord (D DU D DU)
E----------0---0-------------0----0--------------------------------
B----------2---2-------------2----2--------------------------------
G----------2---2-------------2----2--------------------------------
D----------2---2-------------2----2--------------------------------
A---0----------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------0---------------------------------------------
After you have all of this down, play these styles against these chord progressions:
- A-D-E-A - D-G-A-D - G-C-D-G - E-A-E - Am-Dm-E-Am - Am-D-E-Em - C-Am-Dm-G-C - C-Dm-G-C - Em-A-Em
Start slowly and evenly at first concentrating on accuracy, then gradually increase your tempo. The idea here is to be able to play these at fast speeds as well as at slower speeds.
by: James Emery Vigh
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