Jump to: navigation, search

Applying Rhythm to Chords

Whenever you're talking about strumming chords, you have to necessarily think of the guitar as a percussive instrument just as much as a harmonic one. Even a great progression can become boring without a driving, interesting rhythm. We have lots of tools at our disposal to create one. The guitar's sharp attack but lasting sustain make for quite a contrast, but can still be contrasted further with rests. Strummed mutes and palm mutes further enhance the percussive nature of the instrument and increase our palette. This is all in addition to a wide dynamic range accessible by pick strength, as well as the different tone of downstrokes vs. upstrokes. We can also slide into chords, or pick subsets of the different notes on different beats. We can divide the beat in new ways, as well as practice different rhythmic grooves and even try syncopation.

PreReqs

Strumming Notation

See 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.

Typically, the right hand should be strumming with downstrokes on all the beats and strumming upstrokes between the beats. For example, in 4/4 time, the downstrokes are the quarter notes on the beats, while the upstrokes are the eighth notes in between them. 

1   n   2   n   3   n   4   n
d   u   d   u   d   u   d   u

For any chords that sustain longer than a half of a beat and extend into the next stroke, your right hand should still be making the strumming motions as though you are trying to strum the chords; however, you are strumming over the strings without making contact. This seems a bit ridiculous, but it really helps keep your right hand locked in-time and makes it much easier to play off-time strumming without getting lost. 

1       2   n   3      (4)  n
d  (u)  d   u   d  (u) (d)  u
()'s indicate not to hit strings

For any chords that divide the beat into quarters instead of halves, you will have to essentially double your right hand speed temporarily. 

1   n   2 u n u 3   n   4   n
d   u   d u d u d   u   d   u

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. Rests 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 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. And you want to keep your right hand moving in time for good strumming technique.

So how do we mute? It's often sufficient 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. This is also fairly easy to perform. If it doesn't fully mute the strings (open strings or harmonics), try to flatten any unused left hand fingers. If there are still issues with ringing strings, you may have to resort to using the right hand, breaking away from your strumming technique momentarily.

Muted strums are very percussive, moreso than any other variety. Be sure not to confuse a muted strum, with a mute (rest). A muted strum uses a left hand mute while strumming with the right hand. Like with rests, we often forgo flattening all the left-hand fingers and simply lighten the pressure of our barre. Muted strums' percussive nature allows them to have clarity while strumming quickly. They are also easier to play than chords.

If barring on a strong harmonic placement, such as on the 5th, 7th, or 12th frets, you may need to shift position slightly when muting to avoid getting a natural harmonic instead of a strong muted strum. 

   F#      x x x x         x x x x E      r      F#     r      B  - Strumming Notation
   e   e   s s s s e   e   s s s s q      q      q      q      w  - Note Durations
   1   n   2 u n u 3   n   4 u n u 1      2      3      4      1  - Beat
   d   d   d u d u d   d   d u d u d             d             d  - Down/Upstrokes
E--2---2---x-x-x-x-2---2---x-x-x-x|0-----(x)-----2-----(x)----|2--
B--2---2---x-x-x-x-2---2---x-x-x-x|0-----(x)-----2-----(x)----|4--
G--3---3---x-x-x-x-3---3---x-x-x-x|1-----(x)-----3-----(x)----|4--
D--4---4---x-x-x-x-4---4---x-x-x-x|2-----(x)-----4-----(x)----|4--
A--4---4---x-x-x-x-4---4---x-x-x-x|2-----(x)-----4-----(x)----|2--
E--2---2---x-x-x-x-2---2---x-x-x-x|0-----(x)-----2-----(x)----|---
           muted           muted        rest/         rest/         
           strums          strums       mute          mute
Top

Simple Strumming Patterns

Straight On-Beat

1   2   3   4  |1   2   3   4  |
q   q   q   q   q   q   q   q
/   /   /   /   /   /   /   /

Accented Downbeat

1   2   3   4  |1   2   3   4  |
q   e e e e e e|q   e e e e e e|
/   / / / / / / /   / / / / / /

3/4 Time - Accented Downbeat

1   2   3  |1   2   3  |
q   e e e e|q   e e e e|
/   / / / / /   / / / /

Accents Over Mutes

1   2   3   4  |1   2   3   4  |
q   q   e e e e|q   q   e e e e|
/   /   x x x x /   /   x x x x
Top

Playing Off-beat

Playing off-beat is a form of syncopation, producing an unexpected, complex-sounding rhythm. It can be quite tricky to learn at first, as it breaks from the more typical approach of using predominantly downstrokes (on the beat). You still maintain the pendulum-like momentum to the right hand, strumming down on the beats and up between them, but not necessarily hitting the strings. This means we will have plenty of "phantom" downstrokes but played upstrokes.

Off-beat rhythms typically don't feature only playing off the beat, but start on the beat and venture off. Thus, we have to get used to the feeling of alternating between on-beat and off-beat strumming. 

1   2   3   4  |1   2   3   4  |
q   e q   q   q|  e q   e e q  |
/   / /   /   /   / /   / / /
d   d u   u   u   u d   d u d

Where this gets really tricky is when there are a greater variety of chord durations, such as dotted quarters, sixteenth notes, or even tuplets. And when combined with rests, muted strums, and quick chord changes, it begins to become overwhelming. It's best to practice this and other patterns on a single chord, getting more and more comfortable with the concept before trying to work it into real-world applications.

Top

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 contrast, creating a perception of loudness. 

  1     2     3     4
E-------------3----------
B-------------3----------
G-------------4----------
D-------------5----------
A-5-----5-----5-----5----
E-3-----3-----3-----3----

Here's the same rhythm but double-time: 

  1     2     3     4
E-------------3--3-------
B-------------3--3-------
G-------------4--4-------
D-------------5--5-------
A-5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5-
E-3--3--3--3--3--3--3--3-

Rather than emphasizing the downbeat, a Raggae feel often plays a rest, muted strum, or root note of the chord on the downbeat/backbeat, waiting for the even beats to strum the entire chord. Additionally, it uses an upstroke on the strum, often emphasizing the higher notes of the chord, getting a thin, percussive sound. Within the beat, there's often a swing feel, repeating the beginning of the beat, like an echo. 

  1     2     3     4
E-------3---3-------3---3-
B-------5---5-------5---5-
G-------5---5-------5---5-
D-x--(x)------------------
A-x--(x)------3---3-------
E-------------------------
Top

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. 

   1 n 2 n 3 n 1 n 2 n 3 n 1
e--4\3-x-x-3---3-3---3-3---3---
b--4\3-x-x-3-r-3-3---3-3---4---
g--4\3-x-x-3-e-3-3---3-3---5---
d--6\5-x-x-5-s-5-5---5-5---5---
a--6\5-x-x-5-t-5-5---5-5---3---
e--4\3-x-x-3---3-3---3-3-------

Common placement for the slide is on the first beat, delaying the impact of the true chord. A blues or similar shuffle may use it for the first beat of every measure. It is ideal for places like establishing a key at the beginning of a song or during a modulation, but it does not work for strong cadences like the V - I or V - i.

Tuplets/Triplets

Tuplets are rhythmic structures that subdivide a beat into a number of equally long sub-beats that isn't a multiple of 2. For example, in */4 time, sub-dividing into 2 can be done using 8th notes, into 4 uses 16th notes, and into 8 uses 32nd notes. If you wanted to sub-divide the beat into 3rds, 5ths, 6ths, or 7ths, you'd have to use a tuplet. They are written in tab with a line spanning above the notes, with a number or ratio written in the middle. In classical notation, the notes are beamed together with the ratio or a single number written above the beam.

Triplets

The most common tuplet is a subdivision of a beat into 3 sub-beats, called a triplet. It almost sounds like a momentary 33% speed up or slow down in the tempo - you've probably heard them in plenty of popular music without realizing it. Here's an example: 

  1      |2   n   |3  tr lt|3 u n u|4
  q      |e   e   |e  e  e |s s s s|q
         |        |---3--- |       |
  C      |/   /   |/  /  / |/ / / /|/

The "---3---" above the strums indicates the triplet - here we have a quarter note on the first beat, 2 notes for the 2nd beat, 3 on the 3rd, and 4 on the 4th. We count this as "1 2 and 3 trip-let 4 uh and uh". I included the note names: q - quarter, e - eighth, s - sixteenth.

Conceptual Deep Look at Tuplets

Tuplets can get incredibly complex, used in polyrhythm, an advanced topic we cover later on. While its kind of pointless to try to expand on tuplets beyond the common triplets and 6:4 tuplets (2 chained triplets) at this point, I want to expose the full nature of the concept rather than leaving you curious.

Notes in 4/4
Number
of sub-beats 		Note Type Tuplet Marking
1 Quarter
2 Eighth
3 Eighth 3:2
4 Sixteenth
5 Sixteenth 5:4
6 Sixteenth 6:4
7 Sixteenth 7:4
8 Thirty Second
9 Thirty Second 9:8
10 Thirty Second 10:8
11 Thirty Second 11:8
12 Thirty Second 12:8

The ratio indicates the length of time the note should consume, compared to its non-tuplet duration. For instance, 2 eighth notes are equal to 1 quarter note. A ratio of 3:2 over a group of 3 eighth notes indicates that these 3 eighth notes should consume the same time as 2 normal eighth notes would. Thus, you get 3 equal length notes that sum to the same amount of time as a quarter note, which is 1 beat in 4/4 time.

Often the group of notes is all the same type and consumes the entire beat. For instance (in 4/4), you'll see a 3:2 tuplet of 3 eighth notes, or a 6:4 tuplet of sixteenth notes, or a 12:8 tuplet of thirty second notes. In these cases, you often only see the numerator of the ratio marked. We assume the denominator is however many of that note normally make up a single beat. In 4/4, 2 eighth notes, 4 sixteenth notes, and 8 thirty second notes all equal 1 beat.

It's more rare, but there are cases where the ratio must be specified because the rhythm would otherwise be ambiguous. For example, you may have a single eighth note marked with a 6:5 tuplet, then 3 quarter notes marked with a 8:7 tuplet, then 1 quarter note marked with a 24:23 tuplet. Believe it or not, this actually adds up to a perfect 4 beats of time. I'll prove it.

  • 5 8th notes = 2.5 beats. The 6:5 eighth note = 1/6 of 2.5 beats = 15/36ths of one beat
  • 7 quarter notes = 7 beats. The 3 8:7 quarter notes = 3/8 of 7 beats = 21/8ths of one beat, or 2 and 5/8 beats.
  • Adding the first two bullet points above gives us 15/36ths + 21/8ths = 120/288ths + 756/288 = 876/288 = 438/144 = 219/72 = 73/24
  • to get 4 full beats, we need (4 * 24)/24 = 96/24ths. We already have 73/24ths, leaving us needing 23/24ths.
  • We invert this to get our tuplet for the last quarter note - 24:23. It equals 1/24 of 23 beats, or 23/24ths of 1 beat.
  • 73/24ths + 23/24ths = 96/24ths = 4/1 = 4 beats. So our crazy 5 note combination actually adds up to 1 measure of time in 4/4.

Most of the time, such crazy math isn't necessary or really even useful. It's usually clear what the composer or transcriber wanted you to play when you look at the notation. Simple triplets can be a bit difficult to understand and even more difficult to execute at first. But once you can consistently play triplets, a rabbit hole of rhythmic possibilities emerges. This takes us back to what we first learned in the Music Theory - Rhythm lesson. The whole concept of rhythm - using time signatures, tempos, beats, and measures - is designed to provide us a framework to organize musical ideas temporally. Writing and playing rhythms that deviate so wildly from the chosen framework is perhaps a bit counter-productive, unless the desired effect is to re-encompass the randomness and chaos that would ensue if we totally removed our rhythmic framework. Using random note durations (without tuplets) may not line up phrases with measures and down beats, but they would still line up with the beats, or at least divisions based upon a multiple of 2. Using random tuplets on the other hand would break down our entire concept of a rhythmic framework.

"My God, when is he going to get to it?"-Everybody

Strumming Tuplets

Now as far as strumming rhythm goes, triplets or other tuplets that contain an odd division of a beat (such as 3rds, 5ths, or 7ths) are going to throw us off a bit. We play them the same as above by speeding up and playing on each stroke. The problem is we end up reversing our up and down strokes, due to the odd division. If the pattern has two triplets, then we don't need to worry about it because they will cancel out. If not, we need to find some space to try to get back on beat. Or we just have to recognize that we've reversed down and up strokes and keep chugging along.

Using Space to get Back on Beat

1   n   2  tr lt 3        4   n
d   u   d  u  d  u (d)(u) d   u

Here we strum another triplet on the 3rd beat, but only pick the initial upstroke. Phantom strum the other two hits.

Two Triplets in the Same Measure

1   n   2  tr lt 3   n   4  tr lt
d   u   d  u  d  u   d   u  d  u

Here we switch so that we're using upstrokes on beats 3 and 4; however, the triplet on beat 4 will get us back to downstrokes on the beat in the next measure. We just keep alternate picking and let the two triplets cancel out.

Triplet with No Space

1   n   2  tr lt 3   n   4   n   
d   u   d  u  d  u   d(u)d   u

Here we only have one triplet in the measure but no space to get back on beat. We use 16th note strums on the 3.5 beat with a phantom upstroke strum to essentially play back to back downstrokes.

Top

Swing Feel

A swing feel 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: 

        --3--
e e  =  q   e  =  2/3 + 1/3

That means two eighth notes should be played as a triplet of 3 eighth notes, with the first two beamed, or sustained. That's the same as a triplet of one quarter note and one eighth note. So rather than the beat subdivided into equal halves, the first division consumes 2/3rds of the beat and the other the remaining 1/3rd.

While the quarter-eighth triplet is the most common feel, a swing feel is not necessarily (a) strict, and (b) defined as such. Depending on what part of the song is playing and the intended effect, the player may choose to increase or decrease the swing. It can be section, phrase, or even note-dependent. One may find other marked swing feels for the duration of a piece: 

e e  =  e. s  =  3/4 + 1/4

        --5--
e e  =  q. q  =  3/5 + 2/5
Top

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. 

   1            2            3 
E-------0-------0------------0--
B------0--------0------------0--
G-----1---------1------------1--
D----2----------2------------2--
A---2-----------2------------2--
E--0------------0------------0--

Alternate-picked arpeggios typically have less rhythmic variety on the individual notes. However, they have an ascending or descending nature that can form its own form of rhythm. 

E-----------------------------7--10--7--------------------------
B-----------------------7--8------------8--7--------------------
G-----------------4--7------------------------7--4--------------
D-----------4--5------------------------------------5--4--------
A-----2--5------------------------------------------------5--2--
E--3------------------------------------------------------------

E--------------------5--8--------7--10--------1--5--------------
B--------------5--6--------7--8---------1--3--------------------
G--------2--5---------------------------------------------------
D--2--3---------------------------------------------5--4--------
A---------------------------------------------------------5--2--
E---------------------------------------------------------------
Top

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. 

E--3-----3------3-----0-----
B--3-----0-h3---6-p5--0-h1--
G--0-----0------5-----0-----
D--0-----0------5-----0-h2--
A--0-h2--2------3-----0-h3--
E--3-----3------------------
Top

Comping

Comping 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.

A common rhythm used for comping comes from the Charleston, which features a rhythm of a dotted quarter note, an eighth note, and a half rest in 4/4 time. The rest can be sounded by slapping the right hands onto the strings, generating a percussive sound before muting them. 

 1  n  2  n  3  n  4  n
 /        / (x)

 1  n  2  n  3  n  4  n
 /    (x) /  x
Top

Vamping

Vamping 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. 

E--2-2-x-x-2-(x)---3-(x)-3---3-p2--
B--3-3-x-x-3-(x)---3-(x)-3---3--3--
G----------------------------------
D----------------------------------
A----------------------------------
E----------------------------------
Top

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.

When I say accent, I mean it - I want you to bash those guitar strings, getting some brief fret buzz during the attack of the sound. Remember those examples from this lesson? Revisit them but use accents instead of single notes vs. power chords - everything that you play should be a power chord, and the beats that use power chords should be accented. 

   1       2       3           4
   >               >           >    p p
E---------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------
G------------------------------5--------
D--5-------X-X-X-X-5-(X)-5-(X)-5----5-5-
A--5-------X-X-X-X-5-(X)-5-(X)-3----3-5-
E--3-------X-X-X-X-3-(X)-3-(X)----------
Top

Homework

  • Learn what makes a good strumming technique and practice strumming in time with the beat. First make sure all your downstrokes are lined up to the beats, then mix in upstrokes on the 8th notes between beats.
  • Practice sustaining chords for multiple beats, using "phantom strokes" to keep your hand/arm moving in time.
  • Practice the various rhythmic patterns towards the top of this page on various chord shapes and progressions we've learned.
  • Practice muting every other beat, so that you are resting.
  • Practice mixing in muted strums into progressions, noticing how percussive and momentary they are in comparison to chords. Try using them on transitions between chords, but don't let this become a crutch to allow your left-hand to make slow transitions.
  • Practice playing 16th-note strumming in short bursts. Be sure to use a metronome and count each stroke. Start slow and build speed but be sure you maintain good rhythm.
  • Practice triplets and other tuplets. Play through the examples of how to realign your downstrokes on the beats.
  • Practice the various swing feels but focus on the common quarter/eighth note triplet.
  • Practice sliding into chords (from both directions) as a way to embellish the downbeat or the backbeat.
  • Practice accenting backbeats and Raggae rhythms. Apply this to various progressions.
  • Practice everything on the Rhythm Exercises page.
  • Practice the vamping pattern above; try to come up with some of your own.
  • Practice the comping patterns above. Listen to some jazz and pay attention to the accompaniment instruments during solos to understand the complementary aspects of the style of playing.
  • Practice playing accents on certain chords, particularly when playing power chords.

Q & A

Related Lessons

Top
Retrieved from "http://foobazaar.com/wiki/index.php?title=Applying_Rhythm_to_Chords&oldid=7207"