strum patterns

Zguitar,  Welcome to Chordie!

  Strum patterns are a difficult subject to broach within the limitations of language.  Which may be why it is difficult to get help with them.  The best teacher is by doing and especially if it can be visually reinforced or introduced via video.  I would be looking at anything by justinguitar on you tube, as his stuff is really good, and it is just one guy and his axe in a small studio, communicating in plain language! 

  But honestly most of us just do our thing and it happens to sound very much like we are following some recipe out of a book somewhere.  Strumming is the prime function of the rhythm guitar guy, and he is following and augmenting the percussion and bass line of the tune.  So in there with the drummer and bassist is where you are going to find the strum pattern, which is hard to hear as an individual instrument in even a fairly small ensemble.  But the beat is your guide.

  Sorry I can't give you a better answer, but after so many years  of playing it all seems to be automatic... not that it wasn't difficult at first and maybe a little awkward.  Just too easy to forget what the early years were like all the time.

The nice thing about Chordie is that we are here to help each other as we can, and I'm sure that more learned minds than mine will come through with other responses that may serve you better.  Visit often and you will find a wealth of information at your disposal that can't be replicated anywhere else on the web.  People helping people, a community with the common bond of music,
making the world a smaller and friendlier place every day.

Keep making music... it just gets better and better, and again Welcome to Chordie!

Take Care;
Doug

As a "total" novice I feel a little awkward giving advice.  I have 6 songs I'm currently learning all from different genres, they're just songs and tunes that I love to here and play.  However, even as a total novice I like to put my interpretation into them so they sound like "my songs" rather than the originals.  Yes the melody is the same but thats it!

What I have found that the better I get (and we are still taking pants) and the faster I can change chords, I find myself putting in different strumming paterns without thinking about it, I guess this is "feeling" the music?  It can be annoying as I struggle to get a C without missing a beat (forget F's and B's for now) and when adding strumming paterns I have less time to change chords but ultimately I think subconciously I'm pushing my self, which is good.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you truly listen to the tune you'll do it anyway but I have spent 36 years listening to acoustic guitar music which has definately helped me.

Hope this helps.

I've struggled for years with this same problem.  Mostly because I have been an on and off player over the years.  I have found that since I am practicing every day now that after a while it just seems to fall in place.  I concentrate on singing the melody as I play the chords and eventually it just happens.  I don't usually strum like the original song, but my singing puts the chord playing in the background and it sounds pretty good.  It does take practice and with plenty of that, you will notice a difference over time.

The problem you have is the same problem that even experienced players have on a lot of songs - so dont worry to much ... sometimes you got to make it up as you go along .

Hi Zguitar,
I don't pretend to know all the struming patterns, but what I have found out is learn the tune

of the song you want to strum, and learn it well.  then play until you are getting the Chord

progression down right and smothly. then play the song many times, don;t try and conintrate

on the strum pattern, it will come in time.  Also if you end up strumming your own style that's

good, who says the strum pattern is set in stone.  I tend to play a lot of my songs and let my

right hand and arm go with the flow of the music, it works for me and it sounds like the song I

am learning, but not just repeating robot style, you can have your own style.

Luck and Health to all!!!

Well Zguitar, I think you hit on the reason why it's so difficult for us to tell someone a strum pattern.  The songs people want to play have all sorts of instrumentation and often additional engineering and production work done to them.  And then someone wants to play a single acoustic guitar and either make it sound like an entire band, or they have a particular sound in their head that they want to get out but don't know how to express that to get help with a strum pattern that will make that sound. 

I encourage you to continue searching for lessons on the web, and also to keep asking for what you need to develop.  I'm just suggesting a reason why its sometimes difficult to get a straight answer to your questions.  It's not that people don't want to be helpful, that's for sure. 

Good luck and keep working on it. 

- Zurf

Having the song implanted in your head is a good thing, i am still fairly new to it and i find the lessons on you tube can be really helpful, just type the song name and lesson, sometimes you have to search a bit but they are all there. Or find a video of someone just playing it, it is easier to learn if the only instrument you can hear is the guitar. It will all fall into place eventually.

Hi,
my first post here... what a fanastic site! I am 60 yrs old and picked my first guitar up at 16! Been round the guitar block several times and had a ball!

Strumming? Just keep doing it as other people say but one tip is... to familiarise yourself with a piece first DITCH YOUR IPOD! You said you had difficult picking the rythms out. PLay them on a CD player not an IPOD.... fiddle around with the left and right balance and you will be able to bring the rythm guitar out of the background and you'll be able to focus on it. And when the sound is in the room and not right in your ears over an earpiece you should be able to find it. Good luck.

Ian

Z - Cool song.  I think you're talking about the bridge and the first version here on Chordie looks like it.  Capo needs to be on 2nd fret I think.  C G D C G Em C G Em G....

http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/www.u … ;id=138918

Most absolute beginners don't know how to play B or F.  Those bar chords come later.  If you try putting your fret hand with your index finger fully deep on the fret you may find strength comes along.  A lot of people (me too) initially use more of the tip of the index finger because it feels stronger.  Just play it rough for a month and you'll find it's easier.

Hey z,

Maybe this site will help you to figure out how to develop rhythm patterns while playing. I've used it in the past and it's very helpful:

http://spytunes.co.uk/

Enjoy,

J