Lesson Length: 2:40

Instructor: George Goodman

Concepts:
* Quarter and Eighth notes
* Downstrokes and Upstrokes
* Chords in the key of C major

George Goodman's Guitar and Harmonica Method

Takamine EG541SC
I am playing my black tak in this one.

This is a Takamine G Series EG541SC bought in North Carolina when I was playing in a band called Double Take.
Specs:
Top - Solid Spruce
Back - Nato
Sides - Nato
Finger Board - Rosewood
Electronics - TK40
Finish - Gloss Black
Check out more Takamine G Series Guitars

Outline
Each of the individual note types have been studied in previous lessons. Now its time to mix things up a bit.
This lesson covers a very common and popular strumming pattern that uses both quarter notes and eighth notes.

The count on this rhythm is 1 2& 3 4&. Downstrokes occur on the beat and upstrokes occur on the offbeat - &.

Chord Progression

The chord progression used in this exercise:
C | C | Dm | Dm | Em | Em | F | F | G | G | Am | Am |

Building On The Last Exercise
Playing an eighth note rhythm with all downstrokes leaves room to add the upstroke which will result in the sixteenth rhythm.

Things To Work On
Work on creating clean sounding chords and making the chord changes as quickly as possible.
For the left hand, fret the strings with the finger tips by arching the fingers and place them close to the frets.
For the right hand, strum down (down stroke), and then up (upstroke) with a combination of wrist and elbow movement. Keep your hand close to the strings without using excessive movement.
Stick to the beat.

Ear Training
Practice singing the root notes of each of the chords and listen for the differences between the quality, major or minor, of the different chords.