Play Acoustic Guitar 4: Rhythm Approaches

Ignite Your Acoustic Guitar Rhythm Chops with this Acoustic Learning Path Core Course

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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Play Acoustic Guitar 4: Rhythm Approaches

About this course

Welcome to Play Acoustic Guitar 4: Rhythm Approaches for intermediate to late Intermediate students of Acoustic guitar.

This Acoustic Learning Path core course is presented by 3 top TrueFire educators: Vicki Genfan, Massimo Varini, and Ravi.

The Rhythm Approaches curriculum is comprised of select Acoustic guitar lessons from the educators’ existing TrueFire course libraries.

Guitarists spend 90% of their time on the bandstand playing rhythm guitar behind vocals and other musician’s solos, which is why it’s the most important aspect of your playing. Having command of a wide range of chord voicings and rhythm approaches is what distinguishes great players from the mediocre, and it’s also the number one reason that other musicians will want you in their band or invite you back to the jam. The video guitar lessons in this core course will equip you with the skills that you need to take your rhythm guitar playing to the next level.

Play Acoustic Guitar 4: Rhythm Approaches is organized into 3 sections. In the first section, Vicki Genfan presents 13 rhythm guitar techniques and harmonic approaches for transforming any chord progression into compelling and engaging ear magic. Vicki also presents 10 versatile strumming patterns you must know in Section 2. Ravi takes over in Section 3 with enlightening demonstrations of 5 progressions that you will encounter over and over again in popular music. In Section 4, Massimo Varini introduces you to key approaches and examples for constructing rhythm parts for verse, pre-chorus and bridge sections of a song.

When you’ve completed the lessons here in Rhythm Approaches, you’ll find more lessons focused on Acoustic rhythm guitar in Rhythm Principles, also a Play Acoustic Guitar 4 core course.

The educators demonstrate all of the key examples over jam tracks (where and when applicable) to simulate a real-world application, in a musical context. All of the key examples are also tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes.

You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons. Plus, you’ll have all of the available jam tracks to work with on your own.

Take as much time as you need to work through each video guitar lesson before moving on to the next lesson. If you want to dig deeper or wider into any of the topics covered in this core course, check out the recommended supplementary courses in your learning path where you’ll find more examples, techniques and insight from top TrueFire educators.

Grab your guitar and let’s get started!

What you'll learn

  • Learn to build solid musical foundations
  • Develop 13 rhythm transformation techniques
  • Improve rhythmic precision
  • Develop rhythmic versatility
  • develop versatile rhythm guitar skills
Release date: 09/14/2016 • 3h 44m runtime
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Sample lessons
13 Rhythm Guitar Techniques
13 Rhythm Guitar Techniques
Over a I V vi IV Progression
Strumming Patterns
Strumming Patterns
Technique #6
Folk Hip
Folk Hip
Pattern 8
Udu Hip
Udu Hip
Pattern 21

What's included

55 lessons • 45 charts • 22 Jam Tracks

Play Acoustic Guitar 4: Rhythm Approaches
Welcome to Play Acoustic Guitar 4: Rhythm Approaches for intermediate to late Intermediate students of acoustic guitar.

This Acoustic Learning Path core course is presented by 3 top TrueFire educators: Vicki Genfan, Massimo Varini, and Ravi.

The Rhythm Approaches curriculum is comprised of select Acoustic guitar lessons from the educators' existing TrueFire course libraries.

Guitarists spend 90% of their time on the bandstand playing rhythm guitar behind vocals and other musician's solos, which is why it's the most important aspect of your playing. Having command of a wide range of chord voicings and rhythm approaches is what distinguishes great players from the mediocre, and it's also the number one reason that other musicians will want you in their band or invite you back to the jam. The video guitar lessons in this core course will equip you with the skills that you need to take your rhythm guitar playing to the next level.

Play Acoustic Guitar 4: Rhythm Approaches is organized into 3 sections. In the first section, Vicki Genfan presents 13 rhythm guitar techniques and harmonic approaches for transforming any chord progression into compelling and engaging ear magic. Vicki also presents 10 versatile strumming patterns you must know in Section 2. Ravi takes over in Section 3 with enlightening demonstrations of 5 progressions that you will encounter over and over again in popular music. In Section 4, Massimo Varini introduces you to key approaches and examples for constructing rhythm parts for verse, pre-chorus and bridge sections of a song.

When you've completed the lessons here in Rhythm Approaches, you'll find more lessons focused on Acoustic rhythm guitar in Rhythm Principles, also a Play Acoustic Guitar 4 core course.

The educators demonstrate all of the key examples over jam tracks (where and when applicable) to simulate a real-world application, in a musical context. All of the key examples are also tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes.

You'll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons. Plus, you'll have all of the available jam tracks to work with on your own.

Take as much time as you need to work through each video guitar lesson before moving on to the next lesson. If you want to dig deeper or wider into any of the topics covered in this core course, check out the recommended supplementary courses in your learning path where you'll find more examples, techniques and insight from top TrueFire educators.

Grab your guitar and let's get started!
Rhythm Techniques
In this section, Vicki Genfan steps you through 13 techniques and harmonic approaches for transforming common chord progressions into compelling rhythm parts. Genfan covers changing tempo, changing time signature, changing duration of chords, finger picking, strumming, plucking, harmonics, relative minor substitution, color tones, power chords, and other approaches that will spice up any of your rhythm parts.

TIP! When you start to work on rhythm parts, remember that the number one thing you should be concerned with is staying in time! This might sound obvious, but sometimes it is easy to get distracted by trying to get a cool move or technique down and we forget about keeping it in time!

So always work on a rhythm part slowly at first, using a metronome to make sure the whole thing is staying in time. If you find one part where you keep losing time, then stop and just work on that part until you get it solid. Remember, rhythm is built from the ground up - so make sure you lay the foundation of a groove before you start to worry about all the fancy stuff!
13 Rhythm Guitar Techniques
13 Rhythm Guitar Techniques - Over a I V vi IV Progression is a video guitar lesson presented by Vicki Genfan and is sourced from Acoustic Rhythm Survival Guide.

One of the initial motivations for creating this course came from watching the musical-comedy group, 'Axis of Awesome' perform their "4 Chord Song' routine it ended up going viral on YouTube. They showed us that hundreds, if not thousands of hit songs use the very same chord progression (In this case it was I-V-VIm-IV)!

If that's the case, then what distinguishes one song from the next?
What can we learn from this?

Certainly each song has its own melody and lyrics... but what are the other elements that give a song its unique 'ID'? Acoustic Rhythm Guitar Survival Guide answers these questions and more! You'll discover that you only have to know a handful of chord progressions in order to play and/or write thousands of songs!

Drawing from the 19 tools I've presented here, some which are my own special creations, and many which have been used by hit-makers across all styles of music, you'll have enough fuel to ignite your creative sparks into a raging fire.

To get started, we're going to use that same progression that Axis of Awesome used - the I-V-VIm-IV.For those of you new to chord vocabulary, the roman numerals refer to the number of the root of each chord, based in a particular key.

For instance, in the key of G, the I chord is a G Major chord. The V chord is D Major, as D is the 5th note in the G scale. The VIm refers to the chord starting on E or the 6th note of the G scale. The lower case ‘m' lets us know this is a minor chord. Finally, the IV refers to the C or 4th note in the G scale.

This is a Major chord. If you're new to music theory and want to learn more, it's worth finding a good teacher or check out the TrueFireTV curriculum to find the course that's right for your level.
Changing Time Signatures
Changing Time Signatures - Technique #1 is a video guitar lesson presented by Vicki Genfan and is sourced from Acoustic Rhythm Survival Guide.

Most music in the Western world is in 4/4 time. Our brains and bodies are very used to the feel of this and can easily move to pulses that are grouped in 2's and 4's.

One way to bring a 'fresh' feel to your song or accompaniment is to try playing in a different time signature. 3/4 or 6/8 are the next most common time signatures – and we tend to be pretty comfortable playing and listening to music in these time signatures as well (just because you're playing in a 3/4 time doesn't mean you're playing a Waltz).

TRY THIS: Take a song you know that's in 4/4 and play it in 3/4 or 6/8. Does it work? How does it feel? Do you have difficulty phrasing the lyrics and melody? What if you played only one section of the song in the new time signature? How does that sound and feel to you?

Odd Meters: To really shake things up, let's look at what's referred to as 'ODD METERS' for a moment. We'll look at 5/4 and 7/4. These time signatures can seem daunting to us, but I'll show you a way that I've found that makes feeling these time signatures, and hence, playing them, really easy.

Since we're already comfortable feeling groupings of 2 and 3 notes we're going to use syllables to represent each note and take away the need to count with numbers.

- For groupings of 2 we'll use the syllables, 'TA-KI'.
- If we're counting to 4, then we'll say, 'TA-KI-TA-KI'.
- For groupings of 3 we'll use the syllables, 'GA-MA-LA'.

So – let's put that together and count a measure of 5/4.

We have two options... we can divide it into a group of 2 and then 3: Ta-ki-Ga-ma-la

OR we can divide it into a group of 3 and then 2: Ga-Ma-La-Ta-Ki.

The final step here is to give a slight accent to the first syllable of each group, ie; GA-ma-la-TA-ki OR TA-ki-GA-ma-la

NOW – Take each variation and just with words, repeat over and over so you begin to get the feel and flow of this pattern. Remember, that's all it is – a pattern. A pattern of 2 and 3, and these are patterns that our brain and body are already familiar with!

1 GA-ma-la-TA-ki GA-ma-la-TA-ki GA-ma-la-TA-ki GA-ma-la-TA-ki
2 TA-ki-GA-ma-la TA-ki-GA-ma-la TA-ki-GA-ma-la TA-ki-GA-ma-la

To apply this to a strumming pattern on the guitar, try playing the low bass note on the accented syllables and strumming on the quieter syllables. You can alternate the bass notes. Say the syllables out loud while you play.

Now, here's how we'd do it with 7/4:

GA-ma-la-TA-ki-TA-ki

ORTA-ki-TA-ki-GA-ma-la

Changing Tempo
Changing Tempo - Technique #2 is a video guitar lesson presented by Vicki Genfan and is sourced from Acoustic Rhythm Survival Guide.

Tempo refers to 'speed' or how fast or slow you play something. Changing the tempo of your chord progression – or song- will have a profound effect on how the music is perceived. We respond very intensely to tempo and at certain times we may prefer to hear something slow or fast because it gives us a certain kind of energy.

The best way to experience this is to go through your own music collection and pick out two songs – one that's really slow in tempo, the other super fast. Play each one and notice how you feel.

One of my favorite ways to 'trip myself up' with my own tunes is to play them at a completely different tempo... and watch what happens to my lyrical interpretation. It completely changes. Fun!

TRY THIS: There are two things I'd like you to do; first, play something you're familiar with at its 'original' tempo. Then either speed it up or slow it down and again, notice how it makes you feel.

Next – try changing tempo 'mid-song'. For examples of this check out the Beatles 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'. Not only do they change tempo between verse and chorus, but also the verses are in 3/4 time and the chorus is in 4/4. It's a great example of how you can really add a new element to a song midstream. Also, check out Arcade Fire's 'Wake Up' for a great tempo change that happens about 4 minutes into the song, but takes it out on a whole different 'vibe' than it starts.

Last, but not least, check out my arrangement of Norwegian Wood and listen to the instrumental section and how it changes tempo and time signature, but comes back in the end to the original feel. The tempo change starts around 2:26.
Duration of Chords
Duration of Chords - Technique #3 is a video guitar lesson presented by Vicki Genfan and is sourced from Acoustic Rhythm Survival Guide.

Now this technique may be more useful at first glance for the songwriter... however, I think you should also consider experimenting with it in the context of a cover tune you may want to rearrange. By simply playing each chord for a longer or shorter period of time we change the whole 'cadence' or 'feel' of the song or section.

Try it with either a song of your own, or a favorite cover tune – keep the progression the same, melody the same – but now you'll find that you'll be stretching the melody out longer, when you're holding the chords out for longer time periods, or packing it in more quickly... both will have a dramatic effect on the song.

When using this tool in songwriting mode, you might try holding the chords for a longer duration when you've got more lyrics that you want to sing, and then moving to a quicker chord change pattern when you have fewer lyrics – and can hold them out longer. But ultimately – you'll decide what sounds and feels right to you. I personally find it a really great tool for songwriting and it's so simple that sometimes I forget to use it!
Changing Order of Chords
Changing Order of Chords - Technique #4 is a video guitar lesson presented by Vicki Genfan and is sourced from Acoustic Rhythm Survival Guide.

Songwriters!! For this exercise, that means all of you!

TRY THIS: Get out your recording gear...

1. First, play the progression as we've been playing it, I -V-VIm-IV. Start out with 4/4 time and play each chord for 2 beats. Come up with a simple melody over it.
2. Start the progression with the second chord or the V chord...so it is V-VIm-IV-I. Come up with a simple (different) melody over this.
3. Start with the VIm chord: VIm-IV-I-V. Create your melody.
4. Finally, start the progression with the V chord: V-VIm-IV-I. Create your melody.

Listen back and see how each progression inspired a different melody idea. What if it didn't? That's cool too, but notice how the progression feels different. In particular, notice how the very last chord of each progression feels... does it feel resolved? Unfinished? Is there tension? Does one version of this appeal to you over the others?

Answer these questions and take notes. If you're a serious songwriter, this is good information for you to be gathering for future reference.

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Reviews

5 results

Wurtulla

Verified buyer

01/31/24

Love the clear lesson format and extra practice sessions for each skill. Great teaching.

jaw0312

Verified buyer

06/21/21

Picking up guitar again after a long break, these courses help keep me focused in my learning and push me to learn new skills

wholmer

01/04/21

Essential strumming to know!

These lessons will get you on the right path for a solid foundation right from the start. I know, I’ve taken a LOT of self-taught courses over the years and kept realizing I had holes where I missed some techniques. The many different grooves presented here are going to expand your horizons!

Tracteur2660

Verified buyer

07/29/20

easy to stay motivate

It is a very nice way to learn and stay motivate. For a very low price.

AndyB63

Verified buyer

07/02/20

great little course to refresh and add new styles and ideas.

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