I'm gonna chime in here with some unsolicited advice........
for real basic practice to learn to strum at different speeds a metronome will work fine. As Shiner says, you can start out slow, at a speed you're real comfortable with, and speed it up a little at a time till you're up to the speed of the song you're learning.
The advantage of a drum machine is they have different patterns, so you can usually find something that fits the songs a little better, such as blues, rock, and jazz patterns. The downside of the cheaper ones is alot of them don't have 3/4 time patterns, as in waltzes.
Now, if you want something free to play with a little and try out, go here....
http://www.jamstudio.com/Studio/index.htm
I'll try and explain a little here..... you can turn each instrument on and off....
you'll want to turn off everything except the drums, then speed up or slow down the tempo till it suits you. Lower L H box, click on the little speaker icon so only drums are lit up. Then check the box that says "loop page", speed up or slow down the "tempo" on the L H edge and hit "play" button.
The drawback here is you have to have your computer to play it, but, hey, it's free. There's also different drum patterns you can check out.
No 3/4 waltz here either, unless you "upgrade" and pay, which is a waste of money, IMO. If you're going to pay, pay for a metronome or drum machine, I say. But, I digress, back to the drum setting.
That's in the lower R H box. Click the drop-down menu that says "guitar", when it drops down, the second instrument down is "drums", that's where you can change things. This may not help, or it may....... either way, advice is worth every penny you pay for it....
) are looking for at this point. You can start it out slow, then speed it up as you get the drum patterns and the chords down.
