Before we can play rhythms, we need to be able to hear and feel them. This course will help you build your rhythm from the ground up. Learn to strum and sing at the same time, be able to create your own patterns for any song, and to feel the beat/groove like a "natural."


STRUMMING MADE SIMPLE

by James from GoodGuitarist

Unlimited, Lifetime Access

Choose a payment option

Here's what You'll Discover In Strumming Made Simple

  • Build Up Your Sense Of Rhythm From Scratch

  • Learn to strum and sing at the same time

  • Be Able To Play What You Hear

  • Create Your Own Patterns For Any Song

  • Become A "Natural" Strummer

  • Develop Your Sound & Tone

  • Understand Time Signatures

  • Understand & Feel Syncopation

  • Learn My Simple Way For Playing 16th Note Patterns

  • Be A Steady Strummer With Rock-Solid Rhythm

As a Bonus, You'll Also Receive

  • Chord-Switching Library

    It's important to be able to switch between your chord shapes with precision and accuracy. This chord-switching library will show you the 10 basic chord shapes and help you focus on developing dexterity and being able to easily switch from chord to chord.

  • Course Workbook

    This is my most comprehensive, detailed workbook ever. It is designed to go along-side the video tutorials but also stands alone as a valuable tool for helping you develop your rhythm. Over 50 pages of diagrams, exercises and helpful tips & tricks.

  • Lifetime Access To Future Upgrades

    This course is one of the cornerstones of my system for learning guitar. Your feedback is heard and I will be constantly improving all my courses to give you the best experience. More lessons, more song recommendations, more everything!

Get started today

Develop your rhythm from the ground up!

Enroll Now!

Reviews for Strumming Made Simple

Brilliant calm and intuitive lessons

Ian Campbell

James has a wonderful calm and relaxing way of teaching. I am an older student and have looked at other instructors but this is by far the best. Ian Campb...

Read More

James has a wonderful calm and relaxing way of teaching. I am an older student and have looked at other instructors but this is by far the best. Ian Campbell

Read Less

Excellent! Slow and steady!

nancy sudak

Clear and concise, easy to understand

Clear and concise, easy to understand

Read Less

Love it!

Erich Littlepage

Read Less

Learn step-by-step, at your own pace

Rhythm is the most underrated aspect of learning guitar. Developing solid strumming is the fastest way to sound like a good guitarist!

Enroll now

Here's A Lesson-by-Lesson Breakdown

  • 1

    Start Here: Workbook and more..

    • Welcome To My Strumming Course!

    • Strumming Made Simple - WORKBOOK (PRINTABLE)
  • 2

    Chapter 1: Hearing and FEELING Rhythm

    • What We'll Learn In Chapter 1

    • Lesson 1 - The Beat

    • Lesson 2 - Counting

    • Lesson 3 - Tapping Your Foot

    • Lesson 4 - Developing Musical “Feel”

    • Lesson 5 - Rhythm Fundamentals

    • Lesson 6 - Easy & Useful Patterns

    • Lesson 7 - Strumming With a Pick

    • Lesson 8 - Strumming With Your Fingers

    • Lesson 9 - Musical Event: “Breakdown”

    • Lesson 10 - The Metronome

    • Lesson 11 - Review + Staying "Loose"
  • 3

    Chapter 2: The Most Common Patterns

    • Lesson 12 - The Most Common Strumming Pattern

    • Lesson 13 - Feeling Off-Beats (Syncopation)

    • Lesson 14 - Troubleshooting Upstrokes

    • Lesson 15 - The Rhythm “Roadmap”

    • Extra Help - Example of Syncopation In Real Music

    • Lesson 16 - Tapping Your Foot With Off-Beats

    • Lesson 17 - Articulation: “Root” Strum

    • Lesson 18 - Tempo

    • Lesson 19 - Musical Event: “Stop”

    • Lesson 20 - Metronome & Common Patterns

    • Lesson 21 - Feeling Off-Beats & Syncopation
  • 4

    Chapter 3: Playing What You Hear

    • Lesson 22 - Vocalizing Patterns

    • Lesson 22b - Vocalizing Another Pattern

    • Lesson 23 - The Rhythm “Roadmap” Part 2

    • Lesson 24 - Double-Length Patterns

    • Lesson 25 - Splitting Patterns

    • Lesson 26 - Foot Tap w/ Those Patterns

    • Lesson 27 - Dynamics

    • Lesson 28 - Subdividing Ahead of Time

    • Lesson 29 - Musical Event: “Chord Shots”

    • Lesson 30 - 8th-note Downstrokes

    • Lesson 31 - Using The Metronome To Practice a Whole Tune

    • Lesson 32 - Troubleshooting Common Patterns

    • Lesson 33 - Extracting Patterns From a Song

    • Lesson 33b - More Practice With That
  • 5

    Chapter 4: Strumming and Singing

    • Lesson 34 - Subconscious Strumming

    • Lesson 35 - Mechanics of Singing + Strumming

    • Lesson 36 - Singing + Strumming

    • Lesson 37 - Muted Strokes

    • Lesson 38 - “Ghost” Strokes

    • Lesson 39 - Using The Metronome To Practice Strumming While Singing
  • 6

    Chapter 5: Practical Theory + Using It To Improve

    • Lesson 40 - Sixteenth Note Patterns

    • Lesson 41 - Sixteenth Note Counting

    • Lesson 42 - Another 16th Note Pattern

    • Lesson 43 - Time Signatures: 4/4

    • Lesson 44 - Time Signatures: 3/4

    • Lesson 45 - Compound Time

    • Lesson 46 - Time Signatures: 12/8

    • Lesson 47 - Reading Rhythm Notation

    • Lesson 47b - Rhythm Notation + Time Signatures

    • Lesson 48 - Tapping Foot w/ 16th Patterns

    • Lesson 49 - Swing vs Straight Feels

    • Lesson 50 - Holding Down The Rhythm

    • Lesson 51 - The Most Important Metronome Exercises

    • Lesson 52 - Moving Forward
  • 7

    Useful Strumming Patterns (You Should Practice)

    • Practice Makes Perfect
  • 8

    Bonus: Chord Switching Library

    • Need Help With The Basic Chord Shapes?

    • The 10 Basic Chord Shapes

    • Chord Switching Practice

    • Chord Progression Practice

    • Simple Song Practice

About The Instructor (James)

I first picked up a guitar at age 17. I was at a friend’s house. He showed me how to play the riff from “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and I was immediately hooked. Several thousand hours of practice, performance and one music degree later, I found myself wondering “what next?”

I taught at music schools for a while, but teaching “out of the book” wasn’t for me. I was determined to make my home practice work. That’s when I had the idea to make a YouTube channel to help promote my lessons.

It was challenging at first – I was writing, filming and editing everything by myself (still do!). It took a (long) couple of weeks to film and edit my first tutorial. But it was all worth it because after it went up, I could tell there was something special happening.

Guitar students began writing to me from all over the world. On top of that, my home teaching studio was thriving. The more I taught, online and in person, the more I learned about teaching all types of learners. This helped me create the easiest-to-follow lessons on the web and has fueled my desire to make my channel bigger and better. It continues to grow today, faster than ever, with millions of views and counting.
Guitar Instructor James from GoodGuitarist

Take Charge of Your Strumming

Learn what it takes to be in control of your rhythm, to hear a song and be able to play along instantly, to play and sing and much, much more!

Enroll Now!

With Strumming Made Simple James also recommends: