Folk · Guitar
Folk guitar rhythm: 3/4 waltz
The folk guitar rhythm in 3/4: the thumb plays the bass (B) and the strum goes down (↓) and up (↑). Beat by beat, one mark per eighth note, with · where there is no stroke: B· ↓· ↓↑. 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
Folk is played with a bass-and-chord figure — 3/4, straight (even subdivisions) — for the guitar: the thumb plays the bass (B) and the chord (A) answers right after. To the ear: B — A↓ — A↓ A↑.
How to count it
In 3/4, each bar has 3 beats, counted in eighth-notes (two per beat). Say the beats: 1 e, 2 e, 3 e. Tap your foot on the strong beat and read the grid above: each cell is one subdivision.
The rhythm grid
B = bass (thumb) · 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
The strumming hand alternates two voices. The thumb (or the pick on the bass strings) plays the bass (B) and marks the pulse; the fingers (or a down-stroke) answer with the chord (A) right after. 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 D
Take a D: the bass (B) is the low D, and the D chord (A) answers next. Play it slowly, following the diagram and the sound.
Common mistakes
- Bass and chord landing together. The bass (B) comes first; the chord (A) answers after. If they collide the groove disappears — separate the two hands in time.
- 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 from the low end. Play just the B with the thumb, slow, watching each one land in place.
- Chord alone. Now play only the A hits, answering the bass, without the bass note.
- Add the two voices. Bass then chord, always in that order, slow, until it plays itself.
- 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. Now put it in time: hear the pattern, follow the count and practice slowly until the bass and the chord sit apart in time. In Chord and Fret, the Metronome and the Rhythm Trainer help with that drill, free.
Train with the metronome →Variations & related patterns
With the strum steady, take it to Folk 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 →