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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Struggling beginner
Hey all , i have been playing for about a year now and have taught myself, i can play alot of chords and strum pretty decently , but now im stuck. i want to be able to play some covers but can read the chords and play them , but cant play them like the original songs, or not even close. just cant string it together. eg like strumming patterns and timing , when to change and all that
all your help would be appreciated alot
Hi Saucy,
Welcome to Chordie, not sure if you've heard of Justin Sandercoe, if not give him a try, he can teach you anything you need to know, another good source is the guy at gutarjamz.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/guitarjamzdotcom
Hope this helps
Cam
Hi Saucy and Welcome to Chordie!
Well.... If you have watched "Idol" the thing you always hear from the Judges is "Make it your own". Just because you are doing covers, doesn't mean that you HAVE to, or even want to, necessarily do the tune EXACTLY like the original. If it is a tune you like, use a bit of that freedom (artistic freedom) to change things up a little.
If you are having trouble with timing, use a metronome to give you a steady beat to follow with your strumming, a toe tap will do if you can keep it even. Play along with a recording of the original music to learn the chord changes as they relate to the lyrics and if you use something like Audacity, you can speed up or slow down the tempo without changing pitch of your playback and record your progress at the same time. Another thing to be aware of is that most of the music out there that is tabbed out or even scored in Chopro, is someone else's idea of what the chords are and may be transposed to suit their voice or preference.... may not even be close to the key of the original recording. If your version sounds way off to what you are playing with... grab that capo and move it around to see where it sounds best, then hit the transpose button to move it up or down to suit you.
Above all (here it comes) Practice practice practice!
Keep your chin up and hang in there.... it just gets better and better. Naturally, hang around here awhile and you will meet a whole bunch of friendly helpful people to get to know. Everybody's been where you are and understand where you are coming from.
Again Welcome! And Take Care;
Doug
Hi Saucy,
Im a noob also. Only been playing 8 months or so. Everything Ive learned has been from youtube and Chordie. I'm not good at all but I can play a few songs. Try and pick easy songs that you know really well. One that comes to mind is Free Fallin' by Tom Petty. Really easy to learn. Easy to make it sound right too. As I said, youtube is the best thing I've found to help me. I can only learn by watching and imitating someone.
check these out, all on youtube
guitarsage
justinsanderco
Siggimertens
gally042
handsomealvin
As for the artistic freedom, it's up too you. But you sound like me, I want it to sound like I heard it. That's why I liked it in the first place so iIwant to play it that way. After you learn it well then add your own spin on it. At this point in my learning I am going back and adding stuff to the songs I know that I couldn't do a few months ago.
Practice practice practice. Sounds boring and tedious but that is the key. In just the past 2 days I have been able to switch to a barre F. Been practicing that one for a while. The more you play the more things will fall into place.
Keep Rockin'
I have been playing for under a year. I am a bit stuck on strumming. I find my strumming very loud, so loud it drowns out my voice. Can anyone suggest what I'm doing wrong and how to make my strumming in the background
Sounds like you may be using too heavy a pick. Drop down to a lighter guage pick and see if that heips.
Nela
I have been playing for under a year. I am a bit stuck on strumming. I find my strumming very loud, so loud it drowns out my voice. Can anyone suggest what I'm doing wrong and how to make my strumming in the background
Maybe try palm muting?
Covers are over-rated. Play it your way.
- Zurf
Saucy - welcome to Chordie where lots of us in the same boat as you. A couple hints here. What you pick to learn can really make you or break you. Some songs just come right to you, so don't get set on a someone complex like Dave Matthews or Eric Clapton. Stay easy like Bob Dylan just for starting out.
Try mumbling the words without really trying to get the lyrics. Just more like "scat" singing where you don't think so hard while strumming. I had exactly the same problem. Maybe try Knockin' On Heaven's Door for a starter. G, D, Am....G, D, C all the way through. You can put a capo on if you want.
>I want it to sound like I heard it.<
This all depends on the original song. Alot of simple sounding songs are actually quite complicated recordings with all sorts of studio tricks used. For instance Free's 'Alright Now' has 3 guitar parts all playing slightly differently. Same for 'Honky Tonk Women' by the Rolling Stones, there are Keith Richards playing diferent tunings, different stringings etc.Try looking for the artist doing the song unplugged or live in concert. Usually not quite the same...
Other thing to bear in mind is alot of stuff on chordie is peoples 'this works for me' versions. They may have missed passing chords, hammer-ons, run-downs and all sorts. Sometimes they are just plain wrong.
You'll find folk and country songs are much more rooted in real guitar playing. Same goes for singer-songwriters who perform solo with guitar.
What you want to be doing is listening to yourself and asking. Is this a whole song? Does it flow without pauses and jerks. Is the timing regular? Are your vocals telling the story and making the notes. If you are getting all this together people will forget the precise shape of the original. Thats why some cover versions put a whole new spin a song...
One of my heros, in fact my biggest hero, is Mike Peters from a band called The Alarm. Mike does loads of solo acoustic slots during gigs and I can assure you that in ALL of them there is enough in there to know what song it is but it does NOT sound like the full band version. As long as the melody and the rhythm is right and maybe the odd distinctive riff or progression is right then the rest is just accompanying the vocal. Get the feeling right and it will carry the whole song.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Struggling beginner
