A lot of students come to me complaining that they're stuck with the same old strum patterns and don't know how to invent new ones. It's easy to get out of a rhythm guitar rut like this. Here's a couple ways to do it.
One of the best ways to learn is through mimicry. It's how babies learn everything and it works for us grown people to. And I can hear the battle cry now. "I don't want to sound like other people!" Don't worry, you won't. Learning new patterns and styles by mimicry gives you a start and then you can develop that into anything you want. In my own experience, I usually copy it wrong the first few times anyway, and comes up with something different that I like to.
So let's say you're stuck in an indie rock vein. Go pick up something extremely different, like Afro-Cuban jazz. Sit with that music, pick just one chord (even if it doesn't sound right) and trying playing a groove that fits with it. You can even do it with muted strings if you don't find the right chord. Listen closely to the drums and bass and see if you can create something that grooves with them. After awhile you'll find that you're playing strum patterns that you didn't know before. It's a body motion thing, not a brain thing.
Another way is to take the patterns you know and tweak them using the different elements of a strum pattern. We often approach a pattern like a drummer approaches his kit. Different parts of the kit for different beats in the measure. Like a low kick drum on 1 and 3. Snare on 2 and 4. On the guitar we can hit the lower strings on 1 and 3 and the higher ones on 2 and 4. Or, flip it around and create something different.
You can also use muted strokes, or ghost notes, to add a percussive aspect to your strum. To do so, you simply loosen your grip on the chord and run your pick over the dead, muted strings. Mix those in with your regular strummed notes.
So not only can you change the rhythm, but you can also change the part of the chord you're using or use ghost notes for texture.
Now, for the last bit we'll get a little technical. Let's take a measure full of 8th notes. Each "" is an 8th note in this case:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
That's your basic 8th note strum. For the exercise, go through and leave out one 8th note each time to create a new pattern. R= Rest.
R 1 R 2 & 3 & 4 &
R 1 & 2 & R & 4 &
Try removing each 8th note, one at a time. Those rest spots can be actual rests (silence), tied notes from the previous strum, or a muted stroke. Each type gives it a little different feel.
Once you've been through all 8 possibilites, try leaving out combinations of 2 8th notes. Then 3. Then however many you want. Then take some of those combinations and put them together in two measure phrases. For instance, in the first measure you leave the & of beat 3. In the second measure you leave out the downbeat of beat 2.
Mix and match however you like. You can start to see how many possible patterns come about this way.
And if you'd like to learn specific types of stock grooves for a variety of styles (and you should), I heartily recommend "The Rhythm Guitar Enclyclopedia" by Jody Fisher. There's hundreds of strum patterns in there in tons of styles.
Drop D tuned rhythm guitar grooves lesson in heavy styles of Black Sabbath and Down
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