In this second installment students will begin strumming the chords in whole note rhythms/every four beats keeping the beat as slow as needed in order to switch chords “in-time”. This may be a good opportunity to introduce playing with a metronome so students become accustomed to playing with an established beat. Additionally, strumming should be limited to simple down strokes (as depicted by the arrows in the diagram below).
By using whole note rhythms the player has plenty of time to think about the next chord change and transition to it in time. Furthermore, players will be forced to count, get a sense of where the downbeat is and feel a longer "phrase".
Next month I’ll continue on the topic of how to teach Cowboy/Open Chord songs - til' then.
