Chordal Study Using Alternating Roll Patterns

Here we will be working with the Alternating Roll Pattern from one of the lessons in Crosspicking.You can click HERE if you are not familiar with what crosspicking is. In the chordal study below, you will be using the C, C7, F, and Fm chords to emphasize a fullness that is usually not easily produced with a stand-alone acoustic guitar. If you don't quite remember what an Alernating Roll Pattern is, click HERE to refresh yourself. If you haven't ever worked with Alternating Roll Patterns, you should also click above to learn what we are referring to.

Below is a few tablatures that will explain how you can incorporate this style into your playing. The symbols that look like staples below indicate that you should perform a downstroke, and the symbol that looks like a "v" is when you will need to upstroke. When you see the dotted line in the tablature, that will simply mean that you will continue the stroke from whatever it was before the dotted line.

For example, in the third measure in the first tablature, when you need to play the first fret on the "high E" string in an upstroke, that also means that when you play the first fret on the "B" string in the same measure, you will need to upstroke that note too. Make sense? Give it a try!

Now that you have a much better understanding of what we mean with picking arrangements in a chordal study, you will be able to incorporate ANY chord into a song within appropriate key and pick out notes that will really enhance your guitar playing and make a normal strummed chord sound much more pleasing and aesthetically sound.

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