Folk exercises

Bass on the beat, strum or fingers on the offs. The bass should be a little louder than the strum — that contrast is the sound of the style. These are longer gym reps; the short wake-ups live on Folk drills.

Technique path: Drills · Exercises · this page

Each card has pedagogy, TAB (high e on top — see Foundations · TAB), and Play. One model at a time; Play becomes Stop. Tempo follows the metronome.

Sources (two-check): Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1 (bass-strum, open-chord changes) · Berklee-style locking the picking hand to a click while chords change.

Suggested order

  1. Boom-chick on G.
  2. Alternating bass.
  3. Waltz 3/4.
  4. Travis seed.
  5. Boom under G–C–D.
  6. Folk pulse variants — same family, other chords.

Beginner

Boom-chick on G only. Capo off. Stay near 60.

Intermediate

Alternating bass. G–C–D under boom-chick. Waltz bass-chick-chick.

Advanced

Travis seed on several chords. Then deepen on Folk drills.

Folk pulse

Hold the chord and let the right hand do the work. The neck lights the shape the loop is playing. Full drill set: Folk drills.

Boom-chick on G

Beat 1 bass, 2 strum, 3 bass, 4 strum. Hold G throughout.

    1     2     3     4
e|-------3-----------3--
B|-------0-----------0--
G|-------0-----------0--
D|-------0-----------0--
A|-------2-----------2--
E|-3-----------3--------

Bass a little louder than the strum.

Alternating bass on G

Same pattern; beat 3 takes the open D (fifth) instead of the root. The bass walks instead of thudding.

E|-3-----------   root
D|---------0---   fifth on beat 3

Deeper: Folk drills · alternating bass.

Waltz 3/4

Bass on 1 only; chick on 2 and 3. Meter switches to 3/4. Many older folk and Nepali songs sit here.

    1     2     3
E|-3--------------
e|-------3-----3--

Set the practice bar to 3/4 before you start.

Travis seed

Thumb on the bass; index and middle pick one string each on the offs. Folk door into pima — not the full classical method.

e|-----------------
B|--------0-----0--   m
G|-----0-----0-----   i
E|-3-------3-------   p

Deeper: Folk drills · Travis picking · Classical exercises.

Boom under G–C–D

One bar each with boom-chick running underneath. Three chords, dozens of campfire songs. Say the next chord name out loud on beat 4.

G                 C                 D
e|-3---------------0-----------------2--
B|-0---------------1-----------------3--
G|-0---------------0-----------------2--
D|-0---------------2-----------------0--
A|-2---------------3-----------------x--
E|-3---------------x-----------------x--

Do not stop the right hand to make the chord change — keep strumming even if only two strings are fretted on beat 1. Hands-together version: Exercises · boom-chick through a change.

Folk pulse variants

Same right-hand family on different chords. Capo later — shapes first.

Practice note

How long: 8–10 minutes. Two on boom-chick, four on G–C–D, two on Travis or waltz.

Listen for: the bass landing on the click, and every strum the same weight.

Then deepen: Folk drills (capo, walk-downs, lok 6/8, first pieces).

Exercises home Folk drills Classical exercises