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== Strumming Notation ==

See [[Ref:_Reading_Chord_Charts,_Scale_Maps,_and_Strumming_Notation#Strumming_Notation|strumming notation reference]].

== Technique ==

Even the most famous shred players tend to alter their technique when strumming chords. If plucking single strings is like writing with a pen, strumming is more like painting with a paintbrush. There's typically elbow ''and'' wrist movement, with each stroke having a bit more "momentum". The back-and-forth motion should be continuous and consistent, even if you are not actually strumming on some of those strokes. Your right arm should be like a pendulum of a grandfather clock, perfectly keeping time. '''It should not be waiting on the left hand to fret notes.''' It's more important to stay in-time and play on the beats than to perfectly fret every note, but obviously if your left hand is way off, it's still going to sound bad. If you can't make the chord shapes fast enough to keep time, you'll need to either slow down or work more on your left hand chord shapes.

== Mutes and Rests ==

For any beat, we can strum a chord, sustain a chord strummed on a prior beat, play a muted strum, or rest. <u>Rests</u> become quite important to get a good rhythmic feel to strumming chords - they are simply moments of silence between our playing, but their contrast can be just as powerful as an accented chord. Our [[Basic Technique|normal muting technique]] of flattening our left-hand fingers across the strings, as well as resting the right-hand palm against the strings near the bridge works best; but in the heat of the moment while making chord shapes, you may not have time to flatten the left-hand fingers. Particularly in the case of barre chords, it's often easier to simply reduce the pressure on the barre and other fingers so that the strings no longer touch the frets but still rest against the fingers so they are muted. Together with the right-hand this should be sufficient to mute the strings.

== Simple Strumming Patterns ==

=== Straight On-Beat ===

1 2 3 4 |1 2 3 4 |

== Playing Off-beat ==

1 2 3 4 |1 2 3 4 |

q e q q q| e q e e q |

== Accenting Backbeat or Raggae Feel ==

Here's a rock-type way to strum an accented backbeat. You can add even more emphasis to the backbeat by [Palm Muting|palm muting]] the 2-note power chords on the A and E strings - while this doesn't make the strummed full chord any louder, it creates more contrasts, creating a perception of loudness.

== Half Step Slides ==

Sometimes an interesting way to accent a chord is by sliding up or down into it from a half-step below or above. This is most commonly found in jazz and funk, as well as blues and thus older rock.

== Tuplets/Triplets ==

<u>Tuplets</u> are rhythmic structures that subdivide a beat into a number of equally long sub-beats that isn't a multiple of 2. They consist of a beam marker that connects the notes, with a number or ratio of numbers written above.

== Swing Feel ==

A <u>swing feel</u> breaks down each beat into an unequal pair of durations, with the first duration long and 2nd short. This creates a feeling similar to using an upbeat to emphasize the downbeat, but for every beat rather than for a measure. A more basic explanation is that you are delaying the second of every pair of notes, usually on eighth notes. It's usually marked in sheet music or tab with "swing feel", then the closest interpretation:

== Sweeps and Arpeggios ==

A unique way to embellish a certain chord is to strum it slowly, arpeggiating it. The strum is still much faster than using individual pick strokes for each note - you play the strum just slow enough so that you can hear each note separate from the others but keep your hand's momentum steady like a normal strum.

== Legato Embellishments ==

A good way to make rhythm playing more interesting is by throwing in some legato embellishments. The more seamless of these involves moving from the 2nd or 4th to the 3rd, via hammer-on or pull-off, respectively. However, it can also work virtually any lead-in note(s), supplied the transition is quick enough.

== Comping ==

<u>Comping</u> is a technique or style used to play accompaniment for another instrument's solo. On guitar, it typically means playing chords in a certain rhythmic pattern or feel. In addition to rhythm, it may also involve dynamics, altered chords, and chord voicings. The term is most associated with Jazz, where solos are typically improvised. Good comping technique must be able to understand and adapt to the soloist's style, strengthening it rather than overshadowing or interfering with it.

== Vamping ==

<u>Vamping</u> is playing a repeating musical idea. It can involve a single chord or a sequence of multiple chords; yet unlike a typical chord progression, a vamp is more harmonically abstract or sparse. It may involve chromatic or other atonal movements, as well as avoiding any strong cadences. Chords may be voiced with a small number of notes and played staccato. The focus is more on the rhythm than harmony, as typical in Funk.

== Puttin the Stank on Power Chords ==

One thing mentioned earlier was accents. Up until now we've touched on all the other techniques but haven't gotten too much into accents. Power chord strumming relies on some dynamic right hand playing to really bring the chords to life. Using a crunch distortion, each accented strum pushes the distortion and gets a crisp, bright breakup, while other strums are percussive but darker and warmer.