Two ties in one strumming pattern?

Sure why not! Let’s check out a tied strumming pattern where we have more than one tie in a bar.

Syncopation = good. More syncopation = better? Who knows, let your ear be the judge of that! Either way these patterns have 2 ties so you will have three upstrokes in a row which opens up your rhythms quite a bit. Sounds confusing but it will all makes sense when you see and hear it. Have a look at the strumming pattern below and click the play button to hear it in action.

Strumming Pattern 01

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How do you like the sound of that?

Let me know in the comments below! In the next section we’ll be looking at using a tie from a quarter note to an eight note. Up to know we’ve only looked at using a tie from an eight note to another eight note. In the following section we will look at strumming patterns that use rhythms where we use eight notes that are tied to quarter notes.

The end result of that will be more open sounding rhythms on your acoustic guitar. A lot of contemporary acoustic guitar songs use more open sound rhythms like the ones you’re about to learn.

All you need now is some basic chords and then you’re off to the races.

Seriously all you need is chords and rhythms to play acoustic guitar. In other lessons we’ll get into using techniques like fingerpicking as well as some advanced chords to spice things up even more. But for now these basic strumming patterns should get you going! Remember to take things slowly as that’s the best way to learn acoustic guitar. Get a few patterns down first before learning a lot of new ones.

Click here to check out the new strumming patterns

Happy strumming!