Chords for Tenor Banjo Lesson | Basic Strumming Patterns

Hi, I'm David with the Deering Banjo Company.
Today we're playing the tenor banjo.
We're gonna be looking at some basic right hand [E] strumming patterns
for the tenor banjo.
_ Definitely the first thing to start out with would be just your straight fours, your straight
quarter note
downstroke
strumming pattern.
[G] We're playing this F chord and it's gonna be held at the fifth fret.
[F] It's gonna be five five seven eight.
We got index index ring
pinky.
_ [Eb] _
So with our right hand, we're just gonna strum.
We're gonna assume we're playing a song in four four time
meaning there's four beats to a measure.
So
we count off the tune.
We're gonna count one two three four
and then we're just gonna strum down [D] for each of those beats.
So here we go.
[F] One two three four. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ One two three four.
So we're just strumming [G] straight down for each beat.
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ This is gonna be your most probably most common and your most basic
strumming pattern.
So if we sped it up a little bit we'd be _
_ _ [Gm] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [F] _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ [F] So there we go with just a little a little, you know quick little blues, but now let's try to do that
We'll do something else.
It's good for faster tempo tunes is to sometimes just play on the two and four.
One two three four is the beat in each measure
but on that two every time you hit two and four will strum.
So it'll be one two three four.
One two three [Gb] four.
One two three four.
And it's all still downstrokes.
So one counting off [Eb] one two three four.
[F] One two three four.
One two three four.
One two three four.
One two three four.
_ _ _ _ Here we're gonna still play every beat but we're gonna accent on the two and the four.
So we're gonna play and you'll I'll play
really light strum on the one beat one and on beat two
I'll hit it harder beat three a real light strum and before I hit it harder.
So here we go.
One two, three four.
_ [Bb] _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ [C] _
_ _ _ [G] So here you can hear that that beats two and four are accented.
You can take [Gb] out that that little light strum and just [F] play on two and four.
One two three four.
One two _ _ [Bb] three _ _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ four.
One two three four.
So there you have a couple basic strumming patterns you can use in your playing.
We have straight fours. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Accent on the two and the four. _ _
_ _ _ We're still playing every beat.
But we're accenting on the beats two and four or where you just play on beats two and four.
One two three four.
One two three four. _ _
_ [D] So try that in your playing, try that [Bb] on different songs.
Some songs will _ work better than others for different patterns and see what you like.
Alright, have [C] fun.
See ya. _ _ _ _ _