Boom chuck
The alternating bass-note and chord rhythm of country and folk accompaniment, in which the thumb plays the bass and the strum answers it.
The pattern alternates a single bass note on the beat with a chord on the off-beat, which is why it sounds like two players and is sometimes called boom-chick. It comes from the alternating-thumb tradition of country guitar and is the basis of most country and bluegrass accompaniment, with the thumb moving between the root and the fifth of the chord. Played with a pick it becomes a percussive strumming pattern, and played with fingers it overlaps with Travis picking.
Example: A country song whose guitar thumps a bass note on each beat and answers it with a chord between, without a bass player, uses boom chuck.
See also
Related
- PageCountry guitar
- PageFlatpicking
- PageStrumming pattern
- PageAmericana
- PageBebop
- PageBluegrass
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley