Rhythm and time signatures
Rhythm is what holds a song together. Beat, tempo, bar, eighth notes: four words to understand so you play in time and can read any strumming pattern.
Beat and tempo
The beat is the song’s steady pulse, the one you tap your foot to. The tempo is its speed, in beats per minute (BPM): at 60, one beat per second; at 120, two per second.
The exercises on the site have a tempo slider: start slow, speed up once it’s clean.
The bar
Beats are grouped into bars. In the vast majority of pop, rock and folk songs, a bar has four beats: you count “1, 2, 3, 4,” and the 1 is a little stronger. In a chord chart, one box equals one bar.
Eighth notes: “1 and 2 and”
To strum faster than the beat, you split it in two: those are eighth notes. You then count “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.” Your strumming hand goes down on the numbers and up on the “ands,” even when it doesn’t touch the strings.
Count out loud
The best rhythm exercise there is: count out loud while you play. When you get lost, your voice brings you back to the beat. The site’s strumming patterns and guided exercises all start with a four-beat count-in so you can start together.
Swing
In blues and jazz, eighth notes aren’t even: the first of each pair lasts longer than the second. That’s swing, or shuffle: “da-dum, da-dum.”
To practice: the lesson Your first 3 strumming patterns, then The shuffle rhythm.