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Old 06-26-2013, 01:38 PM
USMC7312 USMC7312 is offline
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Default How to Figure Strum Pattern From Sheet Music

If I have the PGV Sheet Music, would I just use the top line (melody) and create something like the average to get a common strum pattern?
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Old 06-26-2013, 01:45 PM
walternewton walternewton is offline
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No, I don't think PVG sheet music would generally be of much help with creating a strum pattern specifically (except maybe for basic things like the time signature) - if you want to try to mimic what's on a recording it's best to just listen and copy, otherwise just use whatever pattern sounds good to you.

Last edited by walternewton; 06-26-2013 at 06:46 PM.
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Old 06-26-2013, 02:10 PM
USMC7312 USMC7312 is offline
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Thanks for the response, but ....

I have read many materials that have alluded to being able to get a good pattern from the melody line. Not to say the strum pattern perfectly reflects the melody, but rather a wholistic view of the melody beats should provide a great start to finding the strum pattern that provides a similar sound to the artist.

I know everybody says just listen and if that doesn't work use a slow downer app. For me, I struggle great with this and have come up with little to nothing to advance my ear discernments of strums. I am pretty good with notes, but as far as getting "The Strum"/Very Similar reflection of the artist, I fail miserably.

Anyone else with thoughts on extracting the strum pattern from PGV sheet music?
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Old 06-26-2013, 06:29 PM
DupleMeter DupleMeter is offline
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PVG Sheet Music/Lead sheets are not inherently showing (or hinting at) a strum pattern. I'd be very dubious of extracting a strum pattern from a vocal rhythm because...well...create a rhythmic signature that is in prosody with the feel of the song/genre.

IMO your best bet is to have someone help you with a half dozen or so patterns that you can master & then mix & match as you see fit.
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Old 06-26-2013, 08:08 PM
USMC7312 USMC7312 is offline
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Thanks for the reply. I am working on 6 patterns and just fitting them into songs as I go, but it would be nice to come up with another means of abstracting strum patterns other than by ear or come up with a way to train my ear better. Like an app that will play a song and walk you through catching the different drums that would correspond to the type of strum. Like catching the snare and hats in a given song.
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Old 06-27-2013, 02:53 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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You always need to listen to a song to get the strum pattern. PVG sheets won't tell you, because they don't regard it as important (because it isn't ). Occasionally you might see distinctive chord riffs notated (showing the rhythms), but not strum patterns throughout a song.
If there are no distinctive rhythms shown in the accompaniment - and you haven't heard the song before, and can't find a recording - just use a simple generic strum pattern to begin with. That means downstrokes on every beat, possibly with accents on 2 and 4 (if it's a normal 4/4 pop/rock song), possibly with occasional upstrokes (between the beats, obviously).
If the tempo is slow, downstrokes on every 8th may be possible and advisable, if it feels uncomfortably slow to play downstrokes only on the beats. Of course you still mark the beats (quarter notes) with accents; the inbetween downs on the 8ths may not be marked at all, they're only there to keep the rhythm solid.
Chord rhythms are rarely related to the rhythms of a vocal melody. It's normally best to just keep the beat.
IOW, you count "1-2-3-4" with your RH downstrokes; and if the tempo is slow enough you count "1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and" all with downstrokes.
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