This first podcast is also the first in a series on strumming, covering the very basics of strumming – using fingers as well as a pick.

Our second GN Podcast picks up where the first left off – we’ll take a “basic” strumming pattern from the first podcast and then spice it up by means of adding simple hammer-ons to the chord being strummed.

In this Podcast, we’re going to start with looking at the differences between strumming various note values, in terms of timing, and try a very simple exercise.

With this podcast you’ll hopefully start to feel more confident that you can strum where you want without thinking twice about it.

In this, our fifth GN Podcast, we’ll continue to make our playing more interesting by adding walking bass lines into our chord progression strumming.

In our sixth podcast we’re going to begin looking at 3/4 timing. Using a simple progression we will employ a “bass/strum” pattern and then add in a bit of a walking bass line to move things along.

This time out we add the technique of crosspicking (using individual notes instead of strumming or partial chords) to give some variation and interest that basic strumming wouldn’t cover.

We’ll take one of our earliest strumming patterns and add a bit of crosspicking to it, giving us even more choices of variations and embellishments to the original strumming pattern.

We’re going to take ideas from many of our past GN Podcasts and use them to create fills that will make our basic strumming sound even better.

The tenth Guitar Noise Podcast gives us an introduction to palm muting, how it’s done and, more importantly, how it can become a vital part of your strumming bag of tricks.

This podcast will take us from the basic elements of string muting and then work on integrating this new technique into the strumming patterns and techniques we’ve covered thus far.

For lack of a better way of putting it, we’ll be “stretching out” our downstrum – turning it from a typcial downstroke to something that’s more of a musical punctuation mark.

In this podcast we’ll look at the feel of swing and of how “swing eighths” differ from the “straight eighth” notes that we’ve been using in our strumming up to this point.

Let’s take stock of the many things we’ve learned so far and, over the course of the next number of GN Podcasts, put them to use in song.

In this lesson we’ll still be using “Handsome Molly” as an exercise to incorporate the various lessons we’ve picked up in our podcasts thus far.

In this podcast we’ll start with a basic ”bass / strum” in 3/4 timing and then add some fancier work to both the bass and the strumming.

In this podcast we’ll look at creating walking bass lines from D to G chords. We’ll also start to tackle the “chorus” section of this song.

Let’s wrap up our work with the traditional song, “Streets of Laredo,” one that some of you may recognize from Johnny Cash’s “American Recordings IV.”

This podcast gives us an introduction to some very important strumming techniques – anticipation, dynamics, and using rests as part of a strumming pattern.

In this podcast we’ll make use of rests, combining them with simple arpeggios to create space while strumming, especially in slower songs.

Our latest podcast begins a look at the Irish folksong, “The Star of the County Down.” Not to worry – we’ve prepared a “cheat sheet” for you.

In this podcast we’ll make an arrangement for the last half of the verse and also do something fun with the chorus of the old Irish folksong, “The Star of the County Down.”

In this podcast we’ll take a look at getting comfortable with strumming with an eye toward being able to sing and play at the same time.

In this podcast we’ll continue to explore how to sing and play at the same time, using “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” as our example.

Let’s finish our look at “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” by looking at a slightly more complicated strumming pattern as well as learning about a new voicing of the G7 chord.

In this podcast we’ll work on getting the basics of the summer camp song “Puff The Magic Dragon” down, plus have a little fun with the bass line.

It’s time to explore what to do when we get around to playing with another guitarist. So here we start out with a simple arrangement for two guitars.

Since our next Topic of the Month is Finger Picking it seemed like a good idea to show how you can add simple techniques you already know from single note playing and strumming to spice up your finger picking playing as well.