This Spanish guitar riff looks more difficult than it really is. I am going to show you 4 easy guitar chords you will use, and then I will break down the strum into 3 steps. If you just follow the steps, you will have no problem putting the strum together. So, let's get started!
Spanish Guitar Chords
1. A minor Chord
2. G Chord
Use your 2nd and 3rd fingers and leave the high E string open. That makes it a little bit different than your normal G chord.
3. FM7 (#11) Chord
This is the more exotic sounding chord. It looks like an F Bar Chord but it's not! Just put your first finger on the 6th string, first fret.
4. E Chord
You can take an A minor chord and move it over one string to get this E chord.
This Spanish guitar chord lesson focuses mainly on the strum. By the way, I do have nails that I use for strumming. I use them mainly for other guitar techniques- they are not necessary to play this strum.
Spanish Guitar Strumming Patterns
Step 1: Down - Up - Down - Up
Mute your strings to practice this strum. use the outside of your fingers for the down, and twist your hand a little down too, now on the way up, use the outside of your thumb.
When you do this, don't overexaggerate the twisting of your hand, keep it relaxed, you don't want to clench your hand. Think of it like flicking water off of your hand, it's not a hard motion, it should just flow easily.
Step 2: Light Mute
Now for this step, open your hand and lightly touch (light slap) the strings.
Step 3: Up - Down - Up
Next, you are going to bring your fingers up and brush the strings from the inside against the strings, then down on the nail, and then brush up from the inside again. You can use one finger for a light strum, or you can hit with 2 or more fingers and it has a stronger sound.
Put it All Together
Go ahead and practice putting the whole strum together. First, practice it only with your strings muted, then when you're ready, pick one chord to practice the whole strum with slowly.
Once you feel confident with that, try all of the chords on the strum, each chord does the entire strum sequence. In this order we will play the A minor, G , FM7 (#11), and E chords. Now we are going to do 2 strums on each chord. Here is the section of the video to listen to review the chord sequence and to play-along with this.
Be Patient and Keep Trying!
Don't get too frustrated, be kind to yourself, and give yourself the time to learn this slowly. It may feel awkward at first, just practice it a little at a time and you will get the hang of it pretty quickly.
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