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Beyond the beat, adding more to your ballad

The next idea is to give just a little more interest to the strum. The two 16th notes help to drive the rhythm forward. Be sure to strum down on everything except where it is marked to strum up (). You should still just think like you are strumming on the beat, just adding a quick "down up" after beats 2 and 4.

The next thing to do is to basically think about strumming on the beat, but add some extra strums here and there for variety. There is no set pattern, so therefore I can't say "do this". It takes a little more experimentation and experience to get the hang of this. Start simple, and add more as you feel more comfortable. There are not written examples of this but listen as I just play 2 chords going back and forth. I will start out just strumming on the beat and then slowly start to add some different rhythms. By the end you will notice that I have really over done it and what I am playing is really not appropriate for a ballad, but is is just an example of a technique. (chords are G to C)

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Back to the beginning of ballad basics for guitar

Other ballad accompaniment patterns for guitar