Suggested Strumming Pattern for Take It Easy

[SprintBob]

I've been learning this song recently and it's fairly simple to play with nothing but open chords (G-C-D-Em-Am). It's fairly quick when played along with the original (138 bpm) and I'm working up to that tempo.

If you have played it with success, do you have a strumming pattern you'd recommend? I could not find any with the tabs and chords I have found for the song. I have been using a D-D-D-U pattern.

Thank you!

[fazool]

I think I use D-D-U-U-D-U but I am at my office without a guitar and trying to "remember" it.

But more importantly, I will pass on some sage advice I was given from my brother (in law) when I was learning to play 30 years ago.

I was asking him a question about a song and asked him about the strumming pattern my brother and I were discussing. I didn't understand (or, frankly, appreciate) his response. He said "You guys need to stop thinking about the strumming pattern and just *FEEL* the music".

I don't know how to apply this or even help facilitate this. But what I will tell you is that somewhere along the way, I embraced that advice and it has made all the difference. Playing along with complex strumming patterns has become one of my (very few) strong abilities and its a pleasure.

So, think about it that way while you work on the song.

[Fatfingerjohn]

Hi,

I play D,D,U,U,D,U; you need to get the timing right.

What is also useful when playing many eagles songs in G is to use the rock G, then rock c, then rock d. i.e.
G (from bottom string up) is 3,2,0,0,3,3
C is x,3,2,0,3,3
and D is x,x,0,2,3,3

This is done in practice by keeping the 5th and 6th strings fretted all the time for all 3 chords (with ring finger on 2nd string 3rd fret and pinky on 1st string 3rd fret.) You can use this for the intro and at various other sections as it fits; also can hold the 3rd fret position with pinky and ring fingers on Em if you wish.

Good luck.

[Bluepoet]

Originally Posted by SprintBob

I've been learning this song recently and it's fairly simple to play with nothing but open chords (G-C-D-Em-Am). It's fairly quick when played along with the original (138 bpm) and I'm working up to that tempo.

If you have played it with success, do you have a strumming pattern you'd recommend? I could not find any with the tabs and chords I have found for the song. I have been using a D-D-D-U pattern.

Thank you!

Sorry, I don't have a "pattern" for you, but just want to echo fazool's idea. Listen to the Eagles playing that song...I mean listen to it, as if you're playing it (air guitar)...then, try to incorporate that feeling and memory into your actual strumming. It's a rock song, so it's more of a thing of "accent"-ing your strums, to go along with the singing, and the bass...if you think of where you want to accent, your hand will figure out how to accomplish that...

I hope I'm not being too esoteric here, but you have to feel the song first, and have a strong vision in your mind's eye, so to speak.

[clintj]

I learned it from the actual sheet music, and I don't 100% follow the written strumming pattern. I tend to follow the vocal phrasing more and play what I think complements that.

[SprintBob]

I certainly understand the comments about feeling the music and adjusting or experimenting with the strumming pattern(s) during a song like this. I am already doing that in other songs I play and practice now. I was interested in what strumming patterns other guitar players might be trying with this song for comparison.

Thanks so much for the responses so far.

[clintj]

The "by the book" pattern is D U D U D D U with a couple of minor variations during the verse. The chorus is D D D U D U / U D ... U D U. It's a pattern that covers two bars, and the downstrum on the "2" of the second bar is a tied quarter+eighth note. I generally play the downstrums, and add upstrums to follow the vocal part as needed.

[Laughingboy68]

I've been playing for over 30 years. Never in all that time have I thought about "D(own) U(p)" patterns. If you must, play along with the record to get the feel.
Then stop worrying about D D U D. I think this is one of the things that gives an individual their own feel or style. Thinking about a strum pattern makes it sound awkward and mechanical.

Just my $.02

Mike

[srmaximo]

I've taught guitar for ten years and have watched hundreds of my students learn to strum. While I agree that ultimately strumming by "feeling" the music is a good goal, the ability to do that comes from having learned a huge repertoire of rhythms--either methodically, or through futzing through thousands of songs as they were learning to play music.

So until you get to the point where it seems natural to "feel," thinking about the "downs" and "ups" is totally fine.

I like the strumming pattern other people are recommending. Here's how I write them for my students:

D   D U   U D U
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

And here's a video of the pattern on my site. Scroll down to "Exercise 7" and click the link next to it.

Hope this helps,

Rob

[DaveKell]

I've made a number of comments in other threads about how starting out to master fingerstyle after playing guitar for over forty years has made me feel like a complete beginner again. It's truly an arduous uphill climb for me. As for my strumming, I am completely competent in that regard. No matter the style being played, I can jump in and hold my own.

My youngest son is a drummer who wanted to take up guitar. His early strumming was the usual clunky forearm hatchet chops so many start out doing. Finally, I told him to consider the pick to be a drumstick and the strings to be a drumhead that is vertical instead of horizontal. A sudden look of recognition came over his face and he accomplished the best strumming effort right then he ever had before. I've really thought a lot about how I could describe to someone how to strum like I do so effortlessly but am coming up empty. I can't remember who might have first taught me as I only ever had a teacher for a few weeks as a child. I've tried figuring out how to describe how I know how to strum a particular song and again am coming up empty. I'm not going to claim I had a talent for strumming because that just sounds ridiculous.

As a master signpainter and pinstriper, I require extreme hand/eye coordination that is now as natural to me as breathing. As a strummer, I require a brain/rhythm sense connect to my forearm and hand. It too is as natural to me as breathing. My early guitar playing development took place in front of a record player learning songs off albums in the 60's and 70's. Obviously I was emulating something I was hearing. Possibly that is the answer. Pick a style of music you want to play and jump in and play along until you sound like the original. I can only remember the latter part of my development where I was very adept at learning a new song quickly. Obviously that was not always the case, it couldn't have been. But I stuck with it and eventually it clicked. I've also watched a lot of artists on tv and got answers to how they were strumming a song I wanted to learn. I'd say a one on one with a teacher who could provide that experience would be highly advisable. I continued to demonstrate strumming to my son and he got much closer to accomplishing it. When I would take a break and play a song for myself he would walk away in resignation thinking he couldn't accomplish what I was doing. My point to him was always I wasn't born knowing how to do this son. Keep after it and you will get there.

[Fatfingerjohn]

Not wanting to hijack this thread further but thought I'd just add to the debate about 'free flow' or 'describing the pattern via DUDU etc'. I'm not a professional teacher, but I do guide a group of oldies into learning the guitar. Many have no musical background and often little sense of rhythm. There is no way at beginner stage that I can just say 'let it flow'. I have to give them a marker through the 'down up' descriptor or '1 and 2 etc'.

Like a previous poster here, I sometimes have difficulty describing it precisely as I tend to change the pattern from one playing to the next and/or one verse/chorus to the next, without thinking about it. This is much more the 'free flow'. But it does not come naturally to many beginners so they need a marker. (Its actually been quite helpful for me to teach people because it's made me thing more about what I'm doing!)

FFJ

[skitoolong]

Originally Posted by Fatfingerjohn

Not wanting to hijack this thread further but thought I'd just add to the debate about 'free flow' or 'describing the pattern via DUDU etc'. I'm not a professional teacher, but I do guide a group of oldies into learning the guitar. Many have no musical background and often little sense of rhythm. There is no way at beginner stage that I can just say 'let it flow'. I have to give them a marker through the 'down up' descriptor or '1 and 2 etc'....

FFJ

As a somewhat advanced beginner I could not agree more. Blessed with no music sense but an analytic brain I couldn't fathom what my partner (who got me going) meant when she explained that I just needed to listen to the music and let the strumming follow the beat.

I needed to learn where the counts laid within the measures.. how many.. The basics.

So I learned at least 20 different patterns using songs as learning vehicles. Waltz, quarters, eights, sixteenth strums... Drove her crazy. Me in the corner strumming wispering "DD..UU..DU..." and the like. It took most of a year, but now I really don't even need to think about it. It's ingrained. I can listen to something and find the pattern(s) and finally "let it flow", but there's no possible way for me to have found how to do that another way.

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by skitoolong

As a somewhat advanced beginner I could not agree more. Blessed with no music sense but an analytic brain I couldn't fathom what my partner (who got me going) meant when she explained that I just needed to listen to the music and let the strumming follow the beat.

I needed to learn where the counts laid within the measures.. how many.. The basics.

So I learned at least 20 different patterns using songs as learning vehicles. Waltz, quarters, eights, sixteenth strums... Drove her crazy. Me in the corner strumming wispering "DD..UU..DU..." and the like. It took most of a year, but now I really don't even need to think about it. It's ingrained. I can listen to something and find the pattern(s) and finally "let it flow", but there's no possible way for me to have found how to do that another way.

Thanks for all of the great feedback. The "folk" strum pattern suggested above seems to work nicely for me as a basis for playing the song. I can see where you can deviate in a couple of places depending upon how you want to play and hear the song. Just having a strum pattern I am comfortable with allows me to focus on the rhythm and chord change points as the song flows relatively fast for a beginner like me.

I agree with the approach to master and polish as many patterns as you can as I believe it really will give you an ear to hear and fit what works on any song you want to play rhythm guitar on.

[jfq722]

Originally Posted by fazool

He said "You guys need to stop thinking about the strumming pattern and just *FEEL* the music".

This is very true. I was given similar advice though not by my brother, and it was: "You need a little whiskey!".

The points I think are the same though.
Because I can guarantee you when the songs were being written, the writer wasn't thinking: D-U-D-D-U etc..

[jfq722]

..........