Ally Venable is an award-winning blues-rock guitarist and singer-songwriter who is adding new sounds and colors to contemporary blues. Her latest offering, Money & Power, continues that trajectory. Integral to her success is her guitar style, which combines hot Texas blues licks reminiscent of Buddy Guy and Albert King along with modern funk, pop, and soul influences. For her Guitar World lesson, Ally uses the blues form as a canvas in the key of G. This means she's playing the classic I-IV-V blues chords of G7, C7, and D7. She also incorporates an approach chord of B7 into the C7. The first skill you are going to look at is a funky 16th note-strumming pattern, and we recommend some easy drills to tighten up your strumming hand.Most music is in 4/4 time, which means four beats to a bar, and the note value of each beat is a quarter note (often also called a crochet). Subdividing each of the four beats, you can play another group of 4 known as 16ths (ie 4 lots of 4 = 16). The 16th note pattern consists of alternating down and up strums from your picking hand, keeping the pick steady and even in tempo and volume. So, let’s first establish the strumming pattern of alternating down and up strums. As Ally demonstrates, lay the fingers of the fretting hand lightly on the strings to dampen them. The 16th note pattern is counted 1–e-&-a, 2–e-&-a, 3–e-&-a, 4–e-&-a with the number referencing the main 4 beats in a 4/4 time signature groove. Start on a down strum then consistently keep the picking hand moving. Once you have established this framework, you can mix up the rhythms and create more funky parts with some chords on and off the beats. This is known as syncopation, weaving in and out of the beats, and it's a vital aspect of being a groove based guitarist. Ally suggests establishing a steady tempo – think of the main pulse in your head before you play – and a groove with just the muted strokes. In the video, she uses the top portion of a G7sus4#9 chord using the notes C-F-Bb. Start the strumming hand going, and press the fretting hand fingers down when you want to hear the sound. Having all muted strums sounding all the time can sound a little boring, so the final stage is having some of the strums silent.It is good practice to keep the strumming hand going up and down though, moving above the strings like the hand of a metronome. Remember, the strumming approach remains the same, it’s just the omission of various muted strokes and the fretting hand pushing down on the chord that creates the overall part.
