Exercise 1
This exercises adds quarter note and 8th note rhythms to an Em, G, Em, G, Am, C, Am, C chord progression, which is to be played 4 times around.
Look out for the down and up strokes in the notation to tell you which direction to strum. If you are unsure what this is or how to do it, go check out this useful article on How Strumming Is Notated In Music – By Bryan Mulford.
Also, look out for the bar that has the two bar repeat symbol. This means to repeat the previous 2 bars.
Exercise 2
Using a chord progression of Em, D, Em, D, G, C, G, C, we will apply a rhythm of 1 + 2 + 3 4. This sounds a bit like ‘quick quick quick quick slow slow’.
The strumming pattern is down, up, down, up, down, down.