Dave Isaacs teaches right hand rhythms with this lesson for solo acoustic guitar. He explains that when playing by yourself you need to make up for the lack of other instruments by spicing up your right hand strumming.
Taught by David Isaacs in Effortless Guitar seriesLength: 7:47Difficulty: 1.5 of 5

Effortless Guitar With Dave Isaacs.
Lesson 1
JamPlay welcomes David Isaacs to our teacher roster. With his first lesson Dave explains his approach to playing guitar with a focus on efficiency of motion.
Length: 10:06 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 2
Dave Isaacs takes a look at left hand technique with this lesson. He explains how the hand works with the neck and fretboard and corrects some common mistakes most beginners and intermediate level players...
Length: 10:00 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 3
In this lesson, David Isaacs explains the mechanics of picking with a flat pick. He shows the differences between using your arm and wrist for the picking motion.
Length: 9:39 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 4
Dave Isaacs teaches right hand rhythms with this lesson for solo acoustic guitar. He explains that when playing by yourself you need to make up for the lack of other instruments by spicing up your right...
Length: 7:47 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 5
Dave teaches you how to open up the fretboard by learning chords built from scales. In this lesson and most lessons in his series, Dave assumes that the student knows the major and minor scales as well...
Length: 8:48 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 6
Building upon his last lesson, Dave shows you some ways to change between chords efficiently. This lesson is aimed at self-taught intermediate players but may benefit beginners as well.
Length: 7:32 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 7
Dave Isaacs continues his lessons on chord technique with this lesson on barre chords (also known as bar chords). In this lesson he shows simple but effective ways to play barre chords efficiently. He...
Length: 9:42 Difficulty: 0.0 Members OnlyLesson 8
Dave shows you how to connect a chord together in a progression even if it is not in the same diatonic key of the progression. In this lesson Dave assumes you have some basic knowledge of scale and chord...
Length: 9:42 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 9
David Isaacs explores the intricacies of fingerstyle picking and the different methods that can be used. He explains how your right hand works while fingerpicking and how to find what works for you.
Length: 21:31 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 10
Dave Isaacs shows you how to add melody lines to your fingerstyle arpeggio progressions. As with all his lessons in this series a certain amount of knowledge is assumed and Dave focuses on helping you...
Length: 7:37 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 11
Dave lays out his life long experiences related to practicing and guitar. If you have limited time to practice and want to get the most out of your time, you need to watch this lesson.
Length: 8:30 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
About David Isaacs
View Full Biography
Nashville-based Dave Isaacs has made a name for himself as one of Music City's top guitar instructors, working with both professional and aspiring songwriters and artists at his Music Row teaching studio. He is also an instructor in the music department at Tennessee State University and is the coordinator and artistic director of the annual TSU Guitar Summit.
A seasoned performer as well, Dave has released eight independent CDs and gigs steadily as a solo artist, bandleader, and sideman. He continues to write, record, and perform as well as arranging and producing projects for other artists.
Our acoustic guitar lessons are taught by qualified instructors with various backgrounds with the instrument.
Jim Deeming discusses how to use a metronome for practice, skill building, and speed building.
Free LessonSeries DetailsJessica kindly introduces herself, her background, and her approach to this series.
Free LessonSeries DetailsIn this lesson, Peter discusses the two bar clave that is common to the Brazilian style. You'll put together several patterns...
Free LessonSeries DetailsLesson 7 is all about arpeggios. Danny provides discussion and exercises designed to build your right hand skills.
Free LessonSeries DetailsMitch teaches his interpretation of the classic "Cannonball Rag." This song provides beginning and intermediate guitarists...
Free LessonSeries DetailsErik expounds on the many possibilities of open tunings and the new harmonics that you can use in them. He explains what...
Free LessonSeries DetailsNick explains how to play some of the most commonly used chords in the bluegrass genre.
Free LessonSeries DetailsSteve Eulberg does a quick review of this lesson series and talks about moving on.
Free LessonSeries DetailsHawkeye teaches several Robert Johnson licks in this lesson. These licks are played with a slide in open G tuning.
Free LessonSeries DetailsMark Nelson introduces "'Ulupalakua," a song he will be using to teach different skills and techniques. In this lesson, he...
Free LessonSeries DetailsOur electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
Emil takes you through some techniques that he uses frequently in his style of playing. Topics include neck bending, percussive...
Free LessonSeries DetailsLearn a variety of essential techniques commonly used in the metal genre, including palm muting, string slides, and chord...
Free LessonSeries DetailsJane Miller talks about chord solos in part one of this fascinating mini-series.
Free LessonSeries DetailsAllen shows you the 24 rudiments crucial to developing finger dexterity. This is a short lesson but the exercises here can...
Free LessonSeries DetailsStuart doesn't waste an ytime diving into blues as he starts his series off by demonstrating one of the most iconic and recognizable...
Free LessonSeries DetailsKris analyzes different pick sizes and their effect on his playing. Using a slow motion camera, he is able to point out the...
Free LessonSeries DetailsSteve Stevens shows some of his go-to licks and ideas while improvising over a backing track he made.
Free LessonSeries DetailsLisa breaks into the very basics of the electric guitar. She starts by explaining the parts of the guitar. Then, she dives...
Free LessonSeries DetailsChris brings his ingenuity to this lesson on the American folk song called "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" Also known as...
Free LessonSeries DetailsMark Brennan teaches this classic rock song by Jethro Tull. Released on the album of the same name in 1971, this song features...
Free LessonSeries DetailsWhile we have attempted to provide you with an accurate rendition of our video lesson experience, there are some features which
require a membership with us!
At JamPlay, we give you the ability to monitor your own progress for any lesson! If you watch one of our lessons and feel as though you understand around half of it, mark your progress at 50%. This adds the lesson to your customized Progress Report, and gives you an incredible ability to document what you need to work on, and where you left off.
With thousands of lessons at your fingertips, JamPlay can be a touch intimidating to a first-time user. With Progressive Bookmarking, we give you the ability to systematically bookmark sections of any lessons you are working on to quickly access later. After all, what is the point of all this content if it isn't easy to use?
JamPlay also gives you the ability to leave notes for yourself on any lesson. Just like in any educational system, taking your own notes while learning gives you the ability to highlight the instruction that is important to you. Leave your notes, and we store them in our database for you to reference each and everytime you come back to the lesson.
Signup today to enjoy access to our entire database of video lessons, along with our exclusive set of learning tools and features.
Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.I enjoyed that, but struggled to understand what exactly you did in the section in Scene 2, from 1:50, in how you strum. That was a jump forward that was a bit too big for me.
also, these other examples are great, but a bit more time on that would be great.
Hi Dave, Your last strum example with the A7 hammer on, is great! I slid into D (C7 form) and E (C7 form) and came up with a great funky blues progression. Bring on more great rhythm accented strums! Thanks, Ron
This is Awesome David! Can't wait to see more of your lessons.
Thanks for the terrific lesson. Mastering rhythm seems to me to be the key element in breaking out of beginning guitar. Or, how to start (finally) making some music. It involves a lot of "string control" for a beginner, but then that's the basic skill that separates playing a guitar from beating on wooden box with strings on it. I hope you continue the series. This may sound like asking you for a new strum (or a thousand), but a scene three to this lesson with more examples would be terrific. Thanks again. Denver Perkins
Great lesson David. I hope you have a whole bunch more on strumming and rhythm. This seems like a area I could really improve on.