Strumming in 4/4
If you haven’t played the guitar but you’re planning to now, then you should know that one of the very first techniques that you have to learn is the 4/4 strumming. This means that for every measure there are four beats. Among all guitar playing methods, this is the easiest. Hence, majority of guitar professionals would recommend this to their apprentices.
There are two kinds of strokes if you’re going to talk about strumming the guitar. These are the upward and the downward stroke. In a downward stroke, the movement of the hand picking should be from the top to bottom.
The fingers will also have to play a very big role in playing the guitar. Each of them, except the thumb, is numbered accordingly 1 for the index finger; 2, middle finger; 3, ring finger; and 4, little finger. You have to somehow memorize these as you will probably see these numbers in tab sheets. Hence, you will not be finding a difficult time determining where to place your fingers on the freboard. Also, don’t forget to not press too hard on the strings of the guitar with your fingers, or else, you may be playing two strings simultaneously or create muffled notes.
When it comes to the 4/4 signature, you have to verify it first by looking at the measurements located near the clef sign. The time signature is divided into two parts. The upper number informs you of the number of beats in the single measure while the bottom will tell you the type of note that will have one beat.
There are also many different kinds of chords that you can practice with, with regards to the 4/4 time signature. However, the most popular is the D-A-G-A. There are two reasons for this. One, they are extremely easy to remember, owing to the fact that they do sound like an acronym. Moreover, positions of fingers are convenient, so these notes are also easy to play.
When you’re playing the 4/4 signature, you should learn to play the chords one after the other. This means that you should learn to count from 1 to 4 for every chord before you proceed to the next one, repeating the same count. This movement of your strokes will also be downward, upward, downward, and then upward.
Oftentimes, with the 4/4 signature, the left hand seldom moves. It doesn’t mean, however, that you’re doing things wrong. It’s just that it takes some getting used to before you can play the guitar together with the left hand. |
