Chord & FretRock · Electric guitar
Power-chord eighths
Sound summary
Rock is played with a chord strum — 4/4, straight (even subdivisions) — for the electric guitar: the chord (A) is strummed all down. To the ear: A↓ A↓ A↓ A↓ A↓ A↓ A↓ A↓.
How to count it
There are 4 beats per bar (4/4), split into eighth-notes (two per beat). Say the beats: 1 e, 2 e, 3 e, 4 e. Keep the beat with your foot and follow the grid: each box is one subdivision.
The rhythm grid
A = chord · ↓ down-stroke
The ↓/↑ direction follows the bowed-string arcada convention (ᴨ down, V up; Ribeiro 2017).
How to play it
Right hand
The chord (A) is strummed down only (↓): keep the arm level, each down-stroke the same force and spacing.
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 E
With an E held, let the same chord ring under every stroke — close your eyes and follow just the right hand’s rhythm. Then change only the left-hand shape to take it into any song.
Common mistakes
- Running the subdivisions. The faster the pattern, the easier to push ahead — lock the tempo on the metronome before speeding up.
- Letting the tempo drift. Without a firm pulse the strum leaks — count along and hold the same time from the first bar to the last.
Guided practice
- Down-strokes only. Strum the chord on every down-stroke (↓), no up-stroke yet.
- Keep the down-strokes level. Make sure each down-stroke has the same weight and the same gap.
- Close with the metronome. Go slow first and raise the BPM only once the pattern comes out clean.
You already get the logic of the groove. Putting it in time is where it enters your fingers: hear the pattern, follow the count and practice with a metronome — slow first — until every stroke lands in its place without rushing. That’s what Chord & Fret does, with guided audio and an adjustable tempo.
Train with the metronome →Variations & related patterns
With the strum steady, take it to actual Rock progressions: rhythm, chord changes and voice-leading in one exercise. That’s the Progressions by Rhythm feature in Chord & Fret.
Train with progressions →The page explains; the real practice — repeating, timing on the metronome, listening, applying to progressions and reviewing — is in Chord & Fret. Save this pattern in your study to pick it up later, play offline and watch your progress.
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