Essentials Part 4

Harder Strumming Patterns

Until now we have only been doing a one bar rhythm pattern, and generally, we have stuck to the universal pattern, so you should know it very well at this point! Now, we will take things further by learning three harder patterns that are two bars long. Below you will find each strumming pattern as well as an audio file to help you get it just right.

Rhythm Pattern 1

Here is the first new pattern. This pattern is straight and played using a G major chord in our audio example. Be sure to try it for yourself before listening to the audio!

Rhythm Pattern 2

Here is the second new pattern. This pattern is straight and played using a G major chord in our audio example. Be sure to try it for yourself before listening to the audio!

Rhythm Pattern 3

Here is the third new pattern. This pattern is swung and played using a G major chord in our audio example. Be sure to try it for yourself before listening to the audio!

"Draw The Line"

This song will push your skills to the limit! It consists of the new strumming patterns, new chords, various different parts and even a cool riff. Please sit and enjoy the video all the way through so you're prepared for the next lesson. Try not to get too swept away by those amazing vocals and focus on the guitar part you'll be learning!

Intro Riff

The intro and verse riff is the first thing we'll tackle. The riff is essentially an E minor chord that you take off and then put back on. In terms of rhythm pattern it looks as simple as this:

"Draw The Line" Tab

Take a look at the full chord chart/tab of the song. You only need to look at the intro riff for the time being as that's all we've covered so far. Take advantage of the slow down and looper features to make sure you get this part correct.

Verse

Firstly remember that in the verse, anytime you see the E minor chord, you should be playing the riff we learnt in the last lesson. To get the rest of the verse we need to learn a new chord - Em7/B. It sounds scary, but the shape is actually quite simple! Below is the new chord shape alongside the other chords in the verse.

Rhythm On C & Em7/B Chords

When playing the C and Em7/B chords during the verse you change from the riff pattern to simply strumming every beat, as shown here:

Verse Chord Chart

As described in the video, the chord chart for each verse is exactly the same, as follows:

"Draw The Line" Tab

Take a look at the tab for the full chord chart/tab of the song. You can now go over verses one and two. Take advantage of the slow down and looper features to make sure you get these parts correct.

Chorus

In the chorus, we add more chords to really lift the sound to great effect! We also switch to the universal strumming pattern to help make the chorus sound more distinct and "bigger". The chords are F, C, Em7/B and Am. As a reminder, the chords can be found in the fretboard diagrams.

The Chord Chart

Here is the full chord chart for the song including every different section. You should hopefully be familiar with the verse by now, so focus on the chorus part.

Song Audio

Finally, take a listen to the complete audio tracks to play along with. These are all at full speed so make sure you have practised with the tab version before trying these. If you can play the entire song along with these tracks, congratulations - you've just learnt a difficult song with many different parts. Great job!