Got a problem with your rhythm playing and strumming? You're not alone, it's the biggest struggle for most guitar players! So this series takes you through the essential strumming patterns in an easy and fun way! While strumming is something that should feel natural and easy, understanding what is going on can be very helpful for even confident strummers!

Strumming Techniques 1 & 2 were my most popular DVDs for many years, Strumming 1 is based in 8th note strumming and Strumming 2 details 16th note strumming and associated techniques. For kiddies that don't know what DVDs are, here's a wikipedia link :) They're now in a downloadable mp4 format.

For this *remastered* edition I have cleaned up and improved the audio and improved the picture as best I could, but these are old films made on a 'handycam' and the built-in microphone (oh how times have changed!).

I have broken each movie in half to make the download file sizes more manageable and you will be able to download the PDF booklets and the movie when you buy it. There are a range of resolutions to download so you can choose how big a file size you want to download - or just watch them in your web browser - you don't need to download them and they're not going anywhere! :)

Strumming Techniques 1

Once you "get it" it feels great and having solid rhythm skills makes playing even simple songs sound great! I would really recommend getting this while working on the Beginner Lessons if you want to develop this core skill quickly and well.

This approx 120 minute movie starts at an absolute beginner level and focuses on basic eighth note strumming patterns and continuous hand movement. It then develops the use of ties, picking out the bass note of a chord and the use of the muted strum as a percussive device - along with a whole lot of handy hints to help you get your rhythm guitar techniques solid. It finishes with a brief look at sixteenth note strumming and its applications.

There are 20 patterns studied, each one fully explained and then played over and over again for you to play along with, and make sure you get in the groove and get it right!

I think this is one of the most effective movies I have made for beginners (even after all these years) and while I cringe at my haircut, I really hope it will be a really big help for anyone struggling to get their rhythm playing consistent and confident.

Strumming Techniques 2

This approx 120 minute movie takes you into 16th note strumming which is a very common, useful and cool way of strumming -especially in rock and pop. The patterns taught in this movie are some of the most common ones played on guitar. You should have completed Strumming Techniques 1 or be confident with 8th strumming before starting these lessons.

It assumes that you understand and can confidently play your 8th note strumming patterns and you keep your hand moving when you strum. This movie moves at a faster pace than Vol I, and as well as showing you the patterns, I explain the 16th note count, how to break down the 4 notes in each beat and then how to make up your own patterns.

It's important that you go through and make up some of your own patterns as you follow along because there are far too many 16th note strumming patterns for me to go through them all. So what we do is go through 24 of the most common patterns and explain how you can experiment with them. If you do some of your own studies it won't take long for you to hear the strumming patterns you hear in songs and work out how to play them on your own.

I'm sure that if you enjoyed Strumming Techniques 1 and are looking to increase your skills as a rhythm player that you are going to dig this one too!