Strums and rasgueado
Written as a plain chord, every note starts at once. A strum spreads the chord’s notes across a short moment, string after string, the way a pick or a hand crosses them; an arpeggio rolls it more slowly. A rasgueado strikes the chord several times in a row, once per finger, as a flamenco guitarist does.
Both are set on the chord’s notes, so select the whole chord first (a marquee around it is quickest), then right-click one of its notes. They’re offered on fretted and keys tracks, not on drums.
Strums and arpeggios
Available on every platform.
Strum a chord
In the note menu’s Strum submenu, choose how the chord is played:
- Down Stroke: from the lowest string to the highest (on keys, from the lowest note).
- Up Stroke: from the highest string down.
- Arpeggio Down and Arpeggio Up: the same directions, drawn as a rolled chord.
- None: every note at once again.
Under them, the speed sets how long the stroke takes to cross the chord: Very Fast, Fast, Medium, Slow or Very Slow, from a 32nd of a beat to half a beat. A new strum starts at Fast.
The notes that strum together are the ones that start at the same moment and carry the same strum, so a note left out of the selection plays with the beat as written.
How a strum looks
In the Editor, a fretted chord’s strum is a line to the left of it, the chord’s height, with an arrow the way the stroke goes: a down stroke points up the tab, towards the higher strings. An arpeggio’s line waves. The Score draws the same line and arrow beside the chord, for keys parts too.
Guitar Pro files bring their strokes in, and Guitar Pro export writes them back as strokes with their speed. A .gp keeps an arpeggio as an arpeggio; Guitar Pro 5 has none, so a .gp5 writes it as a stroke the same way. With Show Articulations off, a strummed note keeps a small dot on its fret.
For a chord you just want picked down or up, without spreading it, pick direction is enough.
Rasgueado
Available on every platform.
Play a rasgueado
The note menu’s Rasgueado submenu lists the patterns Guitar Pro 7 has, each named by its fingers, p the thumb, then i, m, a and e (the little finger): ii, mi, mii, pmp, pei, pai, ami, ppp, amii, amip, eami, eamii and peami. Several come twice, the second marked (Anapaest). None takes the rasgueado off.
The chord is struck once per finger across the note’s length. Most patterns strike evenly; an anapaest plays short strokes, then a long one. Each stroke is a quick strum down from the lowest string, except where a finger repeats the one before it (ii, the second i of mii): that stroke comes back up, a little softer.
How a rasgueado looks
The Score writes the pattern’s fingers in small italics over the chord, with an arrow over each one for its direction. In the Editor, the pattern’s fingers are written once over the chord, “rasg. eamii”, with the other marks; with Show Articulations off, its notes keep a small dot instead. Select a note and its menu shows the pattern checked.
Guitar Pro 7 and 8 files bring their rasgueados in by pattern. Guitar Pro 4 and 5 files only say there’s a rasgueado, so it comes in as mii, and that’s also how a rasgueado comes back from Guitar Pro 5 export. A .gp export keeps its pattern.