[SunnyDee]

Originally Posted by stanron

You asked how to strum this. I thought someone would have answered by now but here goes anyway.


Each beat divides into three rather than the usual two. So instead of counting

1 + 2 + 3 +

for each bar you count

1 + + 2 + + 3 + +

for each bar. To strum the basic pattern you strum down on the number, do nothing on the first + then strum up on the second +. Like this

D   U D   U D   U
1 + + 2 + + 3 + +

You can see that the down strum lasts twice as long as the up strum. Once you get the feel for the rhythm you may well be able to figure out the syncopation yourself.

I'm going back over this whole thread today and really studying all the info. Stanron, your help is much appreciated, this is a pretty good way to describe the swing. Can you elaborate why you would describe this as 3 beats rather than 4? Compound triple rather than compound quadruple, I guess?