Beginning Guitar – How to Play Guitar – Episode 13
In this episode I go over a new type of strumming pattern. This one adds bass notes to the chords and gives you some more polished, professional sounds than the more basic patterns we’ve done in earlier episodes.
Hold down a G chord with your left hand. Bass note is on the 6th string.
|----3--3--3--|
|----0--0--0--|
|----0--0--0--|
|----0--0--0--|
|-------------|
|-3-----------|
Hold a G chord for the first measure and a C chord for the second measure. Bass note for a C chord is on the 5th string.
|----3--3--3--|----0--0--0--|
|----0--0--0--|----1--1--1--|
|----0--0--0--|----0--0--0--|
|----0--0--0--|----2--2--2--|
|-------------|-3-----------|
|-3-----------|-------------|
Bass, chord, bass, chord pattern
|----3-----3--|----0-----0--|
|----0-----0--|----1-----1--|
|----0-----0--|----0-----0--|
|----0-----0--|----2-----2--|
|-------------|-3-----3-----|
|-3-----3-----|-------------|
The “cowboy” rhythm pattern
|----3--3--|
|----0--0--|
|----0--0--|
|----0--0--|
|----------|
|-3--------|
Bass, chord, alternate bass, chord pattern. The alternate bass for a G chord is on the 4th string.
|----3-----3--|
|----0-----0--|
|----0-----0--|
|----0--0--0--|
|-------------|
|-3-----------|
How to do alternate bass with a cowboy rhythm
|----3--3--|----3--3--|
|----0--0--|----0--0--|
|----0--0--|----0--0--|
|----0--0--|-0--0--0--|
|----------|----------|
|-3--------|----------|
Adding a quick upstroke on the “and” between the 2nd and 3rd beat
|----3-3----3-3-|
|----0-3----0-3-|
|----0------0---|
|----0---0--0---|
|---------------|
|-3-------------|
Adding a quick upstroke to the cowboy pattern
|----3--3-3-|----3--3-3-|
|----0--0-0-|----0--0-0-|
|----0--0---|----0--0---|
|----0--0---|-0--0--0---|
|-----------|-----------|
|-3---------|-----------|
The alternate bass note for a D chord is on the 5th string
|----2-----2--|
|----3-----3--|
|----2-----2--|
|-0-----------|
|-------0-----|
|-------------|
D chord cowboy pattern with alternating bass
|----2--2--|----2--2--|
|----3--3--|----3--3--|
|----2--2--|----2--2--|
|-0--------|----------|
|----------|-0--------|
|----------|----------|
The alternate bass for a C chord is on the 6th string, 3rd fret. You need to move your third finger to do this.
|----0-----0----|
|----1-----1----|
|----0-----0----|
|----2-----2----|
|-3-------------|
|-------3-------|
This is the acoustic guitar that I recommend to my students. I own the Wine Red version. Another great guitar for the money. I use it for gigging, teaching and playing around the house.
