How to Play Rhythm Guitar and Avoid Being The New Numa Numa Guy
Ok, before we get going I have a confession to make…
When I first started playing guitar I had no rhythm at all…
Imagine that guy in that awful ‘Numa Numa’ video on YouTube - give him a guitar and ask him to strum 4/4 time.
Now you have a good picture of my lack of rhythmic finesse…
So how do I get over this very obvious handicap for any aspiring guitarist?
Here’s What Worked For Me…
So, just like you, I started off with the old 4 beats down in every bar- one - two - three - four - one - two - three - four….and so on…
Easy peasey I thought - before quickly moving onto the standard four beats up and down for every bar - this one was a little bit trickier but I could still manage it.
So I kept going - doing exactly what the books told me - adding variation to the strumming patterns above, trying similar patterns for ¾ times etc…
You know what…the way I was playing the songs never sounded quiet right - the strumming patterns I had learned sounded almost artificial - they just didn’t give the same sound that Bob Dylan or John Lennon made…WTF was I doing wrong?
And Then I Had a Revelation…
At a party one night a friend of mine got his hands on one of those ever present acoustic guitars.
Drunk as he was he started blasting out all the usual favourites that “party guitar” people play - you know the ones - stuff like Greenday (blah!), The Beatles and the intro to Stairway To Heaven (I’ve never seen any of these “party guitar” guys play the full song).
His rendition of ‘Hide Your Love Away’ was what woke me from my drunken stooper though - It’s funny how you spot some things better when you’re drunk.
Anyway the rhythm of his playing was what I wanted - It had that missing something…
I caught up with him a couple of days latter and quizzed him on tips on how to get rhythm playing the guitar…
What was I doing wrong?
His simple answer - I wasn’t listening. Great a pat answer - that’s all I needed…but you know what he was right.
I went home that night and I sat down and for the first time I really listened - literally beat by beat to ‘You’ve got to hide your love away’ - the first downbeat of the bar - followed by down and up beat - followed by another full down beat…
I listened to the way each strum sounded and then mimicked it on my guitar - one strum at a time - it took a while I’ll admit - but with each new song it took a little bit less time…
Eventually, like magic, I could hear the beat and feel how the guitar should be strummed just by listening.
Even when I hadn’t heard a song I could give a good guess as to what it sounded like by just playing the chords a few times…
Stay Cool
Dave
