So, let's begin. When a beginner, an aspiring guitarist, picks up an instrument and tries to immediately play something like that, then, as a rule, wonderful music does not come out. This is not surprising, because the guitar requires diligent and, most importantly, productive practice. All said and done, let’s put aside the “strumming” and take the first step into the world of guitar music.
“Are we really going to learn notes!” - you exclaim. "No and no again. We'll get straight to the tastiest part: learning the simplest guitar chords and learning varieties of guitar strumming».
For now, we will not focus on studying chord progressions, but will press the simplest combination of notes on the fretboard - Em (on the second fret we press the 4th and 5th strings to the fretboard). Let's hit the strings - great, there's already sound. Our goal now is to get acquainted with different types of guitar strumming. We will start, as usual, by studying the basics.
Guitar fight- this is a type of accompaniment (accompaniment) that consists of striking the strings with the fingers of the right hand or with a pick.
In this definition there is the phrase “strumming the strings”, which is the key to learning various guitar strums.
Strike the strings There are several types:
- Strike down the strings with your index finger. Denoted as ""
- Strike up the strings. Denoted as "↓"
- Thumb strike. Denoted by "p"
- Muting the strings with the thumb of the right hand. Denoted by “*”“+”
- Rising rasgueado. Performed in the direction from the 6th string to the 1st. To perform this technique, gather your fingers under your hand. except for the big one, and then spread the “fan” by running each finger along the strings. There should be a continuous stream of sound.
- Descending rasgueado. Performed from the 1st to the 6th string. The essence of this technique is that the open “fan” slides in the direction from the first string to the sixth, starting with the little finger and ending with the index finger. As in the first form, you should get a continuous stream of sound.
- Ring rasgueado. This is a combination of two techniques: ascending and descending rasgueado. Waterfall of sound!
Come on Amigo, play!
Well, we relaxed a little, feeling a little like Spaniards. Perhaps your neighbor has already started dancing the tarantella...
Let's get back to learning basic guitar strums.
Simple guitar strum
Its diagram looks like this
Or it’s easier to say, strike the strings down and up, alternately. To get acquainted with the fight, we begin to perform it first with one finger of the right hand - the index finger. Next, you need to connect the thumb of your right hand to the execution, that is, the downward stroke is carried out by the thumb “P”, and the upward stroke is carried out by the index finger “i”. This scheme is more suitable for training the right hand.
Simple guitar strum No. 2
His diagram looks like this
This is the most popular fight for many yard songs. Great for noisy companies. “On a deserted street, together, you and I are going somewhere... mmm, eighth-grader..” Nostalgic memories. By the way, V. Tsoi’s song “Eighth-Grader” is played with this particular fight.
Fight six
The most common type of combat for accompanying songs. His scheme is as follows
That is, six strokes on the strings. It’s better to split the study of combat into two parts: first we hone ↓, and then ↓↓.
Fight six with jamming
Battle scheme 
The whole difficulty of this fight lies in the correct and clear muffling of the strings with the thumb when striking down.
Fight eight
Here is his diagram
When fighting, you should use your thumb (p) and index finger. Play this fight without jamming first. Once you learn how to play this fight, you will end up with something like a dance...
Thieves fight
Battle scheme
Using your right thumb, strike the bass string (indicated by the letter “b”) of the chord, usually the 6-5-4 string, and then strike down with your index finger and quickly mute the sound with your palm.
Difficult fight
With our thumb we strike the bass string of the chord, then pause, with our index finger we strike up the high strings, strike the strings downwards with muting and up again. A beat similar to this is played, for example, in Alexander Rosenbaum’s song – Black Tulip.
In fact, there are a lot of variations of down and up strokes, jamming, pauses and, therefore, guitar fights are the same. And if we remember that we also have rasgueado with its “fan” and the work of the thumb in the style of a mediator technique, then the scope for exploration opens up boundless.
Good luck to you and all the best!
After purchasing acoustics or classics, a novice guitarist thinks about new types of playing.
Having mastered your first chords and strumming, you can move on to studying the technique of strumming. There are many varieties of it. Read what battle patterns are and how to play it.
Imagine the picture: a young guy stands at the window of his beloved girl and doesn’t know what to do next. In order for the instrument to sound, you need to master the fighting technique.
This game is simple and won't take much time to learn. Familiarize yourself with the main varieties.
Important! Guitar strumming is a certain alternation of strong and weak beats. A piece of music is created using a simple rhythm.
All a beginning musician needs to be able to do is strike the strings. Before learning any combat, you should get the hang of it. You can play with your whole hand or with just one finger.
Try a few simple exercises to get started:
- Make a fist with your hand, but do not close your fingers. This is the correct starting hand position.
Move from the sixth string to the first, move your hand, straightening your fingers. You can press any chord in your left hand. Don't be afraid, the strings will remain intact from your blow.
- With your left hand, press any of the guitar chords. Using the thumb of your right hand, run along the strings from the sixth to the first.
Try to play with the side of the nail, the phalanx should be straight.
- With a movement that seems to be inviting you to come to you, play the stroke in the opposite direction: from the first string to the sixth. Try not to catch your nails.
- Instead of using your entire hand, use only your index finger. With the same inviting movement, move along the strings from the sixth to the first.
Important! In some chords it is better to avoid strumming all strings. For example, when playing D minor, it is better not to touch the fifth or sixth string.
After training exercises, you can begin to master new rhythms. The simplest types of combat are described in the table.
A novice musician in the process of playing music can come up with his own interesting rhythm:
| Type of battle | Description |
| Six (6) | Two moves down, two up, down and up. The simplest type that can be mastered after just a few minutes of training. Can be used in three quarter sizes |
| Eight (8) | It consists of eight strikes, as the name of the technique suggests. This type of battle is suitable for four-quarter pieces. Can be used for boss nova style, highlighting every third hit during the game |
| Four (4) | Consists of four beats, during which you should linger on the third sound. Fits simple two quarter sizes |
| Tsoi fight | Named after the famous lead singer of the Kino group. It is played quickly, with specific accents typical of Tsoi’s works. |
| Thieves | A dance rhythm in which the beats alternate with the playing of the bass string |
| Spanish | At the same time, you need to play not with simple blows, but in the rasgueado technique - spreading your fingers like a fan, alternately playing with each at a fast pace |
| Reggae | Option with alternating strikes on the string or soundboard. Sometimes there are options when jamming is done with the left hand |
| Gypsy | Similar in speed and style to Spanish. At the same time, the bass has its own melody |
| Vysotsky's fight | A classic of the genre, which is similar to the thieves variety. But the variant differs in the complexity of the game |
| Country | Folk is typical of American pop music. This is an alternation of playing the bass with the thumb and striking all the strings. |
| Chechen | The peculiarity of the battle is placing emphasis on weak beats |
You can master the principle of the game in a few minutes, but it is quite difficult to place the right accents.
Play in several stages: memorize the rhythmic pattern, place accents and highlight the indicated beat louder. After this, you can begin to study jamming.
How to play a fight with jamming correctly
A mute is the closing of a chord on a guitar. In this way, you can create an emphasis on the beat or give the work a special character.
This technique is used for thug combat, Spanish or American.
Important! Start playing with jamming when the type of combat is completely memorized.
There are two main ways to play jamming: with your right or left hand. In the first option, after hitting up or down, turn your hand and use the edge of your palm to stop the sound of the strings.
The second option is to place your index finger on the strings on the fret you are playing the chord on.
A great way to jam is when playing barre. Simply release the chord, leaving your fingers on the strings but not pressing.
If you need to mute only part of the strings, then it is convenient to do this with the thumb of your right hand on bass, and with your index finger on highs.
Simple songs by chords
Try to apply your knowledge in practice. Simple songs will help you master combat to perfection.
“A Pack of Cigarettes” - select the fight for two quarters, for the song Spleen - for four. Good luck with your music studies.
"A pack of cigarettes"
Intro: Am C D Em
E|——7-5——3———-5————7-5——-3———5——-
H|———-5——5———-6——-7——5——-5———6——
G|-4-5———5——5-7——-5-4————5——-5-7——5-4-
Em Am C D Em
I sit and look into someone else's sky from someone else's window
And I don’t see a single familiar star.
I walked along all the roads, both here and there,
I turned around and couldn’t see the tracks.
Chorus:
Em Am C D Em
But if there is a pack of cigarettes in your pocket,
So everything is not so bad today.
And a plane ticket with a silver wing,
Which, taking off, leaves only a shadow on the ground.
And no one wanted to be guilty without wine,
And no one wanted to rake in the heat with their hands,
And without music in the world, death is not beautiful,
And I don’t want to be lost without music.
Chorus.
Spleen “No Exit”
Introduction:
Em C G D Em
How many years have passed, the wires are still buzzing about the same thing,
C G
The planes are still waiting for the same thing.
C G D
Em
C G
Melts under machine gun fire.
C G D
At least someone has to melt...
Chorus:
Em
Dawn is coming soon
C
No exit,
G D
Turn the key and fly
Em
Need to enter
C
In someone's notebook
G D
Blood, like in the subway:
C D
"No exit".
Em
No exit!
We parted somewhere, I don’t remember in which cities,
It was like being hungover.
Trains go through my songs,
Disappearing into a dark tunnel.
If only we woke up in the same bed...
Chorus:
How many years will pass, the wires will still buzz about the same thing,
Planes can expect the same thing.
The girl with eyes made of the bluest ice
Melts under machine gun fire.
If only we could wake up in the same bed...
Chorus.
Useful video
Guitar fight is one of the most important techniques for playing this instrument. A lot of songs are played with this technique. Therefore, for beginners, it is imperative to master strumming on the guitar.
Now let's start figuring out how to play the guitar. As you can tell from the name, the essence of this method of playing is striking the strings. You can strike the strings with your right hand (or your left if you are left-handed) or with a pick. I would like to note that most rock music performers play with a pick. And in general, professional musicians do not use such a term as "guitar fight". This is called a rhythmic pattern, which in turn are different. Whether you play with a pick or not is your choice, but the principle of the game is the same.
How to strum the guitar
Before you start practicing, you need to understand that the most important thing in playing with a guitar is the clarity of execution. So let's start small. Hold the guitar correctly and place your hands correctly. If you don’t know exactly how to do this, then you can read about it.
So, to begin with, from the starting position of your right hand, you should try to hit the strings with your fingers from top to bottom, as if bending and straightening your fingers. To perform this exercise more accurately, try hitting the strings with a count.
- - designation of strokes on the strings from top to bottom
The next stage in learning how to play the guitar should be mastering hitting the strings from bottom to top. Here we simply follow the above tips from the bottom up, as if picking up the strings. Again, we count while doing the exercise.
- ↓ - designation of strikes on the strings from bottom to top
Well, now we play the exercises down and up several times, counting. This will be the simplest battle scheme.
Another important point is the muting of the strings. When you hit the strings and they sound, you need to quickly put your hand down on the strings to completely muffle them. Try hitting the strings up and down and drowning them out.
- x - string muting
Now I will give several diagrams of strumming on a guitar with and without muted strings. For clarity and better understanding, I give the duration of the notes that correspond to each blow. If you have forgotten musical notation, you can refresh your memory here. You choose the pace yourself. Of course, you need to start at a slow pace.
Guitar strumming pattern No. 1
Arrows are strikes on the strings. Above, respectively, the duration of the notes
Guitar strumming pattern No. 2
Guitar strumming pattern No. 3
Crosses indicate string muting.
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.
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 guitarHold 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. Grab the pick securely with your thumb, leaving only a few inches protruding from your fingers. Play around a bit to get a good, comfortable grip on the pick.
- Additionally, you can play the fight without a pick by using your 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 (in English this is called the action of the guitar). 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 fightStrike 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. A good fight is in the wrist. You will be able to easily identify a beginner by the swing of his 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 droop. Make sure you hold it properly, allowing it to protrude just slightly from your fingers.
Part 3
Learning basic rhythmic patternsLearn 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 your 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 heavy strumming style that he uses along with muted strings, 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.
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