Now that you’ve mastered the ascending and descending frenados and practiced your chords and scales, it’s time to bring these skills into real rhythms. In this lesson, we’ll apply palm mute strums to two iconic Venezuelan styles: Aguinaldo and Venezuelan Merengue.
🎶 About These Rhythms
- Aguinaldo – A festive rhythm traditionally played during Christmas celebrations across Venezuela and parts of the Caribbean. Its lively, syncopated feel makes it a favorite for parrandas (musical street parties).
- Venezuelan Merengue – Not to be confused with Dominican Merengue, this style has a faster tempo and playful accents, perfect for showing off your strumming precision.
📋 What You’ll Learn
- The Sa-Ca-Chi-Cha Exercise – A foundational drill for timing your frenados within rhythmic patterns.
- I–IV–V Progression in Aguinaldo – Practice this progression in any of the chords we’ve learned (e.g., G Major, C Major, D7).
- Merengue Rhythm Mastery – Apply frenados to create the characteristic percussive “snap” of this style.
- Combining Strums – Learn how to mix floreos, double frenados, and standard strums for variety.
⚠️ Before You Begin
To get the most out of this lesson, make sure you can:
- Play ascending frenado smoothly without losing tempo.
- Execute descending frenado with a clean “tack” sound.
- Switch between chords without breaking the rhythm.
💡 Practice Tip
Start at a slow tempo, focusing on where in the measure your frenados land. Aguinaldo often emphasizes beats 2 and 4, while Merengue can vary — so listen closely and match the groove.
