After mastering this style of rhythm guitar you will be able to confidently play a massive amount of popular music written in a strumming style. Sixteenth notes are a little more difficult to get down because of the speed required to play them, but I feel that you will lock in with the rhythm very quickly if you can just follow this lesson as well as Pt.2.

The key to being able to physically play 16th notes well is to keep your strumming hand wrist very loose. Most of the strumming when doing quarter notes and eighth notes comes from the elbow and wrist. But most of the movement for 16th notes comes from the wrist exclusively by keeping it loose and whipping it up and down quickly over the strings.

By the end of this video series I will give you some demonstrations of what the wrist looks like when playing 16th note rhythms at higher tempos so you can see the wrist motion.

Take your time with this lesson since not only are you trying to be able to physically play the patterns, but feel and count the rhythms as well. In fact, it is a good idea to use your foot to tap the beat while clapping the actual strumming pattern before you try and play it on the guitar.

Don’t forget the PDF TAB download for this lesson since it contains all of the picking and rhythm indications.

16th Note Rhythms For Guitar Pt.1

Stay tuned for Pt.2 where we will will learn more complex 16th note patterns.

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16th Note Rhythms For Guitar Pt.1

This technique is used frequently by players as diverse as Neil Young and Willie Nelson to more modern players like Dave Matthews and Damien Rice.

At first you may feel a little bit awkward having your hand come down and make contact with the face of the guitar while you strum but it will become second nature to you very quickly.

Try to listen for this technique being used in a lot of the acoustic music that you listen to.

No TAB for this lesson because I am just holding an E Major chord the whole time and concentrating on the rhythm. But after you get the technique down, start applying it to actual chord changes and various right hand rhythms patterns that you like. Just remember to always make the downstroke a percussive hit.

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Percussive Acoustic Guitar Rhythms