16th Note Rhythms For Guitar Pt.1


This video guitar lesson is intended to show the beginning guitarist with basic strumming technique, how to start to incorporate 16th notes into the strumming patterns.

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

3 Comments

  1. Robert Swinton on March 22, 2010 at 7:56 am

    A great lesson on strumming, your descriptions of wrist positions are very helpful. I also like the idea of reviewing the quarter notes and joining them with the eighth note.
    I look forward to more info.

  2. Simo on March 18, 2012 at 12:31 am

    Hi Carl
    This is the first time i have seen of your site and i think its great. i’ve been playing for years but i believe its good to re visit the basics from time to time…..

  3. zois asimakopoulos on September 30, 2016 at 7:16 am

    Thanks for the tips Carl . Realy helpful.

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