Silent Strums and Continuous Rhythms
The following rhythm pattern shows a quarter note strum on each beat of a bar of * time.
After playing the first strum your right hand moves upwards in preparation for the second strum. The strings are not played on this upward movement. This upward motion can be represented by a broken upward strum symbol p which indicates that the strings are not strummed (a silent strum).
So the basic rhythm could be written as:
The previous two rhythm patterns sound exactly the same. If you watch your right hand you will notice that it actually moves up and down in a continuous motion but it only makes contact with the strings on the down strum. Also if you play some eighth note rhythms, (see Lesson 5) you will see that your right hand also moves up and down in a continuous motion sometimes making contact with the string and sometimes not.
Silent Strum Symbols
When an upward strum is made without contacting the strings it can be represented by p .
When a downward strum is made without contacting the strings it can be represented by o .
Some very useful and interesting rhythm patterns can result by incorporating eighth note rhythms with silent down strums.
Try the following rhythm holding a G chord.
This rhythm is the same as the last eighth note pattern in Lesson 5, except the down strum on the third beat does not make contact with the strings. Practice this rhythm holding a G chord shape until you perfect it and then use it with the following chord progression. You can apply this rhythm to any chord progression you like. This is a very important rhythm which will be the basis of many other rhythms.
