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Learning the Guitar Basics: 4/4 Rhythm Strumming

If  you are learning how to play the guitar, the basic 4/4 strumming technique is one of the first guitar playing techniques that you must be able to master. This is usually used by beginners to hone their guitar skills and get the feel of the instrument.

In learning the basic 4/4 guitar strumming, you must be knowledgeable about the different basic requirements for guitar playing:

Strokes

Guitar strumming is basically composed of two different strokes: the downward stroke and the upward stroke.

The downward stroke is done by drawing the picking hand (usually, this is the right hand) from the uppermost string down to the other side. The upward stroke is the opposite of the downward stroke.

Finger placing

When reading guitar instructional materials, the fingers are usually assigned  numbers. The left-hand fingers are numbered from 1 to 4: the index finger is numbered as 1, the middle finger is numbered as 2, the ring finger is number 3 and the little finger is 4. This numbering is important to remember because tablatures show a beginner how to form chords by placing the fingers properly on the fret board.

The fingers of the left hand are supposed to be placed near the succeeding fret bar to ensure that you get quality sounding vibration from the strings. You must remember not to stress your fingers when pressing the frets.

4/4

If are playing the guitar by reading notes, you can refer to the beat shown near the clef sign to determine if the song should be played with a 4/4 beat as this is what you call the time signature. The time signature looks like a fraction when written in musical notation, the upper number tells one how many beats there are in one measure and the bottom number indicates what kind of note will receive one beat.

D-A-G-A

In learning the basic 4/4 guitar strumming, one can use the different chord families when practicing. One of the most popular chord patterns used in practicing this particular technique is the D-A-G-A chord pattern. It’s very popular because the chord patterns are easy to remember and very easy to perform.

You must first memorize the placement of the fingers on the fret board to be able to do the chords. This can take some time and beginners must be patient. Learning the guitar takes time and dedication and cannot be done overnight.

When you are able to master the chords, you should practice doing the chords one after the other, and this is where the 4/4 strumming comes in. In strumming the guitar in a 4/4 rhythm, you should count 1-2-3-4 repeatedly for each chord and shift to the next chord as you repeat the count. You can use downward strokes for each chord when you begin and then practice strumming the chords upward and then downward-upward.

A beginner will almost always find that the left hand is left out when practicing strumming because the fact is that the fingers are still adjusting to doing the chords properly. It will take time and a lot of practice to do the 4/4 strumming technique but it will be worth it.

When the left hand is being left out, you must not stop the right hand and wait for the left hand to form the chord patterns. Be consistent in your counting and strumming to prevent the right hand from becoming slower and train the left hand to be faster in forming the chord patterns.

After you become comfortable doing the 4/4 strumming technique with the D-A-G-A chord pattern, then shift into doing other chord patterns such as C-E-F-G or G-C-F-G. Opt to learn the different chords and familiarize your fingers with forming them. Learning the chords and strumming should be done simultaneously which will allow you to be able to learn at a much faster rate and understand the mechanics behind playing the guitar.

You must remember that the guitar is an instrument of passion and you cannot be a guitar expert in one night. There are many things that you must learn about the guitar to truly appreciate the beauty of the instrument.

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 More than a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and portions of the Gulf Coast, the government is still wasting millions of dollars in disaster aid, according to a report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office.

The GAO report finds evidence of double payments, aid given to foreign exchange students and a major failure to recover money paid out for illegitimate claims.

FEMA spokesman Pat Philbin said the agency has tried over the past year to eliminate waste by improving its registration process and upgrading its ability to check names and addresses.

“The agency will consider and evaluate any new findings that can assist in improving our processes and procedures,” Philbin said.

At the same time that public interest groups are in court this week, trying to restart FEMA payments to thousands of Katrina evacuees, congressional investigators detailed instances of fraudulent payments to some Gulf Coast residents.

The GAO report says nearly $20 million was paid out to some 7,000 people who claimed their property was damaged by first Hurricane Katrina and then again by Hurricane Rita, which followed on the heels of the more powerful storm.

Some may in fact have been damaged by both storms, but the GAO says FEMA didn’t have proper checks in place to flag duplicate claims.

FEMA also paid out nearly $3 million to more than 500 foreign exchange students. In several cases, the students actually informed FEMA of their international student status, and still received payments.

The GAO says rental aid was given to more than 8,000 storm victims who were already living rent-free in FEMA-provided trailers. In another case, FEMA provided free apartments to 10 individuals in Plano, Texas, while still sending them $46,000 to cover their own housing expenses.

At a Senate hearing to discuss the report’s findings, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), chairwoman of the Homeland Security Committee, said a weaker-than-expected 2006 hurricane season has given the government the “luxury of time” to get disaster aid right.

“FEMA has yet to strike a proper balance between expedited assistance and good stewardship of taxpayers’ funds. Current practices invite and enable fraud, harming the very people the program is designed to help,” Collins said.

The ranking Democrat on the committee, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, said in some cases, people didn’t intend to defraud the government.

“Some ineligible people who had no intent of gaming the government, but thought they might be eligible for assistance were granted payments, even though FEMA should have known they were not eligible and should have explained to them they were not eligible,” Lieberman said.

Last week, a federal judge ordered FEMA to resume making housing assistance payments to thousands of Katrina evacuees after determining the government had botched the way it notified victims they weren’t eligible to receive long-term housing aid. On Tuesday, the government appealed that ruling.

“Apparently FEMA doled out millions of dollars to people who did not deserve it and then denied assistance to many people with potentially legitimate needs without properly documenting why, making it difficult for applicants to appeal FEMA’s decisions,” Lieberman said.

GAO investigator Gregory Kutz told senators at the hearing that FEMA has recovered less than 1 percent of at least $1 billion wasted on fraudulent or unjustified claims. He described FEMA’s approach as “shooting money out the door” and then trying to recoup it later and said only pennies on the dollars are typically recovered that way.

“I hope FEMA has learned the costly lesson,” Kutz said.

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