Quarter-note strumming: the first strumming exercise

Four downstrokes a bar, one on every beat, through G, Em, C and D: the four chords behind countless songs. It's the first strum to learn because there's nothing to it but the change: the strumming hand keeps time like a metronome while the fretting hand moves to the next chord before the next bar's first beat. Get this steady and every pattern after it is the same motion with more strokes added.

Quarter-note downstrums: 2 bars of 4/4 in E standard, written at 100 bpm.

Bar 1

Bar 2

The strums: an arrow down or up for each strum, a cross for a muted one, a dot for a single note, and a faint arrow where the hand keeps moving without touching the strings.

Practise it at 60 bpm

Opens in the player looped and counted in, with drums playing along, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 100 bpm. No account or microphone needed.

Goal tempo: 100 bpm
Starts at: 60 bpm
Length: 2 bars, looped
Tuning: E standard
Time: 4/4
Level: Beginner
Plays with: Drums

How to play it

One relaxed stroke from the wrist on each beat; start moving to the next chord on beat 4.

Hold the pick between the thumb and the side of the index finger, with only its tip showing, and strum from the wrist with the forearm relaxed. Each beat gets one stroke down across the strings of the chord: all six for G and Em, five for C (miss the low E) and four for D, starting from the open D string.

The chords change every bar: G, Em, C, D, then back to G. Start moving the fingers to the next chord as you play beat 4, so they're there for the next bar's first beat. A late change is fine at first; a stop in the strumming isn't, so keep the hand going even when the chord isn't quite ready.

The last stroke on D is accented, a slightly firmer downstroke that leads back to G.

Mistakes to watch for

Strumming with the whole arm from the elbow. It's tiring and hard to keep even; let the wrist do most of the work.
Gripping the pick so tightly that it catches on the strings. Let it give a little as it brushes past them.
Stopping the strum to change chords. The beat comes first: keep strumming, even if the change lands late.
Hitting the low E string on the D chord, which muddies it. Aim the stroke at the open D string.

A speed plan

The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:

That's 16 loops and about 2 minutes before you're playing at 100 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one. Strums are checked for when they land, not for which strings rang.

Questions

How fast should I play Quarter-note downstrums?

The goal is 100 bpm in eighth notes, which is 3.3 strums a second. Start wherever every strum is clean: the player begins at 60 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.

Why start with only downstrokes?

One stroke a beat leaves the strumming hand nothing to think about, so all your attention can go on the chord changes. Down-up eighths come next, and they're the same motion with a stroke added between the beats.

My fingers can't change chords in time. What should I do?

Take the tempo down below where the player starts, or stop and practise the change on its own, back and forth between two chords without strumming. Changing in time gets easier quickly once the fingers know where they're going.

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