Expression Hand
The accent is achieved by raising the hand more than a standard strum then whipping down with additional force to strike the strings.
The first accented strumming exercise emphasised the first beat of the bar. This established a bar structure within common time rather than monotonous alternating of the basic quaver pulse.
The accent was then placed in various parts of the beat to create different effects. The first variation placed the accent on the second and fourth beats of the bar emulating the backbeat of the snare drum from a basic rock beat on a drum kit.
Asymmetrical rhythms help create syncopation, this one spreads 3 beats over a 4/4 bar, the 8 quavers are divided up into 3+3+2. This rhythm is complex as the second beat occurs on the fourth quaver, that is the offbeat of the second beat of a traditional 4-4 bar. This accent therefore falls on an up strum and helps to delineate between the characteristics of the up and down strums referred to above.
The accent alternating between down and up beats thickens the texture. More advanced participants were invited to experiment with more complex time signatures including 5-8 and 7-8
