How To Play Rhythm Guitar Through YouTube Tutorials

Posted by Mike Schumacher

Now that you have found your love of music, it is time to start exploring other instruments! One of these instruments is rhythm guitar. You can pick up some easy ways to play this instrument quickly!

Many people begin playing rhythm guitar by picking out simple patterns with their fingers or using picks to strum the strings. Both of those are great starting points as you learn how to play rhythm guitar!

There are three main chords that make up most songs’ rhythms. These are the alternating major chord, the compound minor chord, and the descending octave pattern (or “octave drop”). By learning how to use each one in different sequences, you will be able to create many classic song rhythms!

This article will go into more detail about all three chords and how to practice them for beginner musicians. In addition to practicing alone, there are several online resources and tools that can help you progress faster.

Listen to the recording

youtube how to play rhythm guitar

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The first thing you must do is listen to the song or piece several times so that you can learn the rhythm pattern. Once you have this down, you can start altering the timing and licks in the songs!

Youtube is a great tool for practicing your guitar skills. You can find many beginner lesson videos as well as advanced lessons here. Since music makes us all feel connected, sharing these exercises with others through youtube is very helpful.

Learn the song on your own

youtube how to play rhythm guitar

It is very common for people to start playing guitar by learning how to play some chord patterns or songs that use few chords. While this can be helpful in certain situations, it will not work if you want to truly learn how to play rhythm guitar!

Rhythm guitarists typically know what notes are being played at every beat of a song. They also may recognize timing patterns such as half-time or triplet rhythms.

By practicing these exercises out of order, you might end up with a good piece of music, but you have still not learned much about how to play the instrument. This could potentially limit your goal to “playing like a professional” instead of unlocking the potential to create your own music.

The best way to learn how to play rhythm guitar is to pick one song that you already love and just try to figure out the parts that make it interesting. You do not need to look too hard either; there are many free resources available online and through friends who can help you.

Practice making the notes correspond to the beat

youtube how to play rhythm guitar

Now that you have your guitar string length sorted out, it’s time to learn how to play some chords!

Chords are simply sets of tones that go together to make a familiar sound. For example, the chord that makes music sounds like there is a rising note, a falling tone, and then a resting one is called the major chord. The most famous version of this chord is what musicians call the “power chord” or sometimes just the “chord” because it can be anything really!

The power chord contains all three parts in one – the root, the second (or mediant) degree, and the third (dominant) degree. This means that whatever key we are playing in, the root will stay constant while the other two degrees change depending on which scale we use as our basis for the song.

For instance, if we were to play the chord from the beginning of this article, the first letter of each word becomes the root, so A is G#, B is F, and C is E. Using these roots, we could write the chord more clearly as G3-F5-Eb1.

Learn how to read chord charts

youtube how to play rhythm guitar

Chord diagrams are one of the most important things to learn as a guitarist. They help you organize your music knowledge by showing you the chords for a song or sequence of songs!

In this article, we will go over some easy tips on how to read a chord diagram quickly so that you can do it at a speed that feels natural to you.

We will also look at some basic chords that every guitar player should know. This includes major, minor, seventh, sixth, half-diminished, augmented, barre, and power chords.

Learn to use your fingers to play the notes

youtube how to play rhythm guitar

The second way to learn how to play rhythm guitar is by learning how to use your fingers to produce the notes. This method is very common in music, especially for professional musicians!

Many people start playing using their hands as the main tool to create music. By doing this, you’re starting to add dexterity to your instrument which can really boost your skill set.

You will also need to know where each note of the chord goes within a measure so that you can play them correctly.

A lot of songs are written in terms of either/or patterns where there is an easy pattern or riff repeated throughout the song. These riffs are usually played as chords and typically have lots of beats per minute (BPM).

Knowing how to play some basic licks and rhymes can get you started as a guitarist.

Learn to use your picking hand correctly

youtube how to play rhythm guitar

The second way to play rhythm guitar is by using your index (picking) finger to create the notes. This technique is known as tapping, and you can start playing songs with it!

To tap out a note, pick up the string with your index finger and then hit the button just like normal strumming. Then move your index finger down to touch the next fret, and continue doing this until the song has gone as many chords as you would like.

The great thing about this method is that once you get the hang of it, you can really speed up how fast you are able to go. Only need one chord per bar? No problem! Just keep practicing and adding more chords into each measure!

And because you aren’t having to press the strings onto the fretboard, your fingers don’t have to be as close together either. You can spread them out a bit and still produce some nice sounds.

Learn to use your fretboard

youtube how to play rhythm guitar

The first thing you need to do is learn how to navigate your guitar’s neck, or what we call your fretboard. Your strings have a number of frets that go across them, and picking out which string goes in which fret can be tricky at times!

The trick is to think about the notes on the song as shapes or patterns. For example, if the next note is an A then there is already a rising tone going up by a third (A). So starting with an open position, play a low G and roll it up one more step to get to a high A!

You can also drop down a whole tone for a falling tone and so on! This will help you match the music correctly and give you some tips on filling in missing tones.

Record and share your own playing

youtube how to play rhythm guitar

One of the most helpful things you can do as a guitarist is to learn how to play rhythm guitar. This article will talk about some easy ways to get started!

When learning how to play rhythm guitar, one of the first things you should do is find a song that has a steady beat and learn the chords for that song. Then, it’s time to record yourself playing those chords while keeping up with the music.

After recording, it’s then time to take your recording and break down what part of the chord you played, which fingers you used, and where the note sat in the chord.

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