playing

[louise]

help please, i can string a few chords together G,C,D,A, Am,E,Em and would love to turn these into simple songs,however even though i know the songs and can find easy tab i dont know how the strum patterns work for a given song!! sorry for my dumb question but i am lost!!

[albertshaw]

There are a few strumming books with CDs and examples. That's how I learned. Maybe you should start with one of these. Don't know any web resources.

[Drew]

Not a dumb question at all. Take a look at most of Bob Dylan's songs (or most rock for that matter). I think you know as many chords as Mr. Dylan does. If he slides one in that you don't know, you should buy a good chord book. It's a must have.

As far as rhythms, listen to the song over and over. If you don't have the recordings in your own collection, check with friends. Tape or burn the ones that you want to learn. Begin by tapping out the rhythm with your hand as you listen to the song. When you feel confortable with the rhythm then pick up your guitar.

Hope this helps.

[Splatt]

Play along with CDs... Lots!

[A1rh0pper]

Here's an easy formula if you wanna try to play by ear:

THis is just an example....

But if a G chord sounds good with a song:

G A B C D E F G
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

A few popular chord progressions are 1 4 5 and 2 5 1

So you'd play
G C D
or
Am D G

A lot of songs will follow these simple progressions, though there are several other "standard" progressions. Pink Houses is one that follows the 1 4 5....It's G throughout the verse, then C and G in the chorus with a D thrown in for flavor. There's also an F floating around in there somewhere.

[plexipunk]

Just use your ears, it is like dancing to a beat.

[bobbyh]

In my opinion, strumming a guitar is something that you just have to get a feeling for. Just keep playing and it will click for you one day!

[reno]

Try this:

Lightly lay all of your left hand fingers (assuming your a righty) across the strings anywhere on the neck. Just enough to deaden them - no pressure. Then do strumming patterns with your right hand. Pretend you're playing a percussion (spell?) instrument, The advantage is that you won't be distracted by chord changes while trying to maintain your strumming pattern.

[anothersmith]

Louise, it's not a dumb question at all. Some people can pick up strum patterns just from listening to CDs, but some of us need more help than that. I learned a lot in lessons. I suggest to go to www.elderly.com and look for a book on strumming patterns; I'm sure there must be such a thing. (In fact, I may look for one myself.)

By the way, welcome to the forum!

[anothersmith]

Louise, I ran a search for "strumming patterns" at elderly.com, and came up with the following list of materials:

http://www.elderly.com/search/elderl...ns%22&x=13&y=4

Hope this helps.

[plexipunk]

I am lost here..... strumming is directed by your ears, not a learned hand movement. ie, if I was tapping a beat with my fingers on a table, no one taught me how. Strumming is the same..... just play the guitar.... just strum what you want to hear, there is no "correct" way. Listen to CD's..... you'll pick it up fast, just like dancing to a beat.

[anothersmith]

Some people need dancing lessons. Some people need strumming lessons. There are patterns that aren't intuitive to everyone, just as there are dance rhythms that aren't intuitive to everyone.

Not all of us are particularly musical; some of us do this just for fun, even though we're not very good at it.

[freestyle]

The clap your hands in rhythm to the music method is a good one. It gets your mind into the beats of the song. Another help may be to speak out the rhythm pattern you learn to clap. Usual musical speak for this goes One Two Three Four. then goes up by halves to one and two and three and four and. from there go up again to one ee and two ee and three ee and four ee and (thats 3/4 or waltz rhytym) then go up again to one ee and uh two ee and uh three ee and uh four ee and uh. This should take you into most of the musical patterns you will be playing on your guitar. Then there are the up stroke and down stroke things. Down strokes are when the pick goes down, and up strokes are when the pick goes up. When you down stroke, stroke all the strings. When you up stroke, only hit the bottom two or three strings. This is not cheating, it's how you do it. The right way to do it. When I say bottom, I mean the ones nearest the ground. Usually the high E and B and G strings. Now you can stroke up and down as needed, and you have rhythm patterns you have clapped and talked out. Put the two together and off you go. Practice makes perfect. Okay?