Forró · Electric guitar
Forró electric guitar rhythm: Tina Charles
The forró electric guitar rhythm in 2/4: the strum goes down (↓) and up (↑). Beat by beat, one mark per sixteenth note, with · where there is no stroke: ↓··↑ ··↓· | ··↓· ·↑··. Play the audio here in your browser, set the tempo anywhere from 50 to 200 BPM and follow the grid, which marks every subdivision.
Sound summary
Forró is played with a chord strum — 2/4, straight (even subdivisions) — for the electric guitar: the hand strums the chord (A) down and up. To the ear: A↓ — — A↑ — — A↓ — — — A↓ — — A↑ — —.
How to count it
In 2/4, each bar has 2 beats, counted in sixteenth-notes (four per beat). Speak the count: 1 e & a, 2 e & a. Keep the beat with your foot and follow the grid: each box is one subdivision.
The rhythm grid
A = chord · ↓ down-stroke · ↑ up-stroke · — = no stroke
The ↓/↑ direction follows the bowed-string arcada convention (ᴨ down, V up; Ribeiro 2017).
How to play it
Right hand
Alternate down (↓) and up (↑) on the chord (A). The down-stroke is firm; the up-stroke just grazes the thin strings — that contrast gives the bounce. On the rests the arm keeps going: it stays in motion in the air and lands again on the next hit.
Left hand
Keep the chord well pressed through the whole pattern — the left hand rules pitch, the right rules the bar. Only release the shape at the end of the bar, moving the hand ahead to the next one.
Example in G
Hold a G and apply the whole pattern to it — every hit lands on the same chord. That’s how you take the groove into any song: change only the left hand, the right hand’s rhythm stays the same. Hear the example below.
Common mistakes
- Weighing down the up-stroke. The up (↑) should just graze the thin strings; matching the down-stroke’s force thickens it and drags the time.
- Rushing. Fast subdivisions are easy to run. Start slow with the metronome and only speed up once the pattern is clean.
- Stopping the arm on the rests. The hand never stops — it keeps swinging in the air and only touches the strings on the next hit. That’s what holds the time.
Guided practice
- Start all down. Strum the chord down (↓) on every stroke, one direction only.
- Bring in the up-stroke. Let the arm rise (↑) lightly between hits, grazing the thin strings.
- Take it up on the metronome. Start slow, keep the pattern clean, and add a few BPM at a time.
You’ve got the theory; now the time has to enter the body. Play along with the audio, follow the count and raise the tempo bit by bit until every stroke lands in its place without rushing. The Chord and Fret Metronome is free and keeps that drill steady.
Train with the metronome →Variations & related patterns
With the strum steady, take it to Forró progressions, putting rhythm and chord changes together. In Chord and Fret’s Progressions by Rhythm, the progressions come with diagrams and audio, free.
Train with progressions →