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Old 06-28-2017, 07:34 AM
Gateway40 Gateway40 is offline
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Default "Could you be loved". need help

Learning, Could you be loved a great Bob Marley song. My part is playing on the upbeat 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and ( with my teacher wanting me to come in on the and with a up stroke). I am having trouble with my timing, i cant seem to get into the groove of the song ( missing the up strokes and coming in on the 1 instead of the and). Any thoughts on learning a song and keepin the rhythm on a song your struggling with. I know practice practice practice works and will def practice just looking for help in the getting the beat section.
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Old 06-28-2017, 07:39 AM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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Whenever I have trouble understanding how a song flows I go to sleep with it playing on repeat in my earbuds. It becomes instantly familiar then, though I do sometimes end up hating the song.
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Old 06-28-2017, 08:39 AM
FwL FwL is offline
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Try playing with a down stroke instead. If your teacher objects, tell him/her/it that no self respecting Reggae guitarist would use an upstroke
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Old 06-28-2017, 08:53 AM
Tahitijack Tahitijack is offline
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There are several youtube lessons. All seem to teach down stroke or route and down. Look for the five minute guitar lesson on this song.
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Old 06-28-2017, 09:46 AM
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I would not play the upbeat as a downstroke. My suggestion is to get your metronome out and set it for 4/4 time, with eighth notes. To get the reggae feel, practice the upstrokes on the "and" of each measure:

1 AND 2 AND 3 AND 4 AND

If memory serves me, that upstroke is a quick flick of sorts, not a full strum where you are aiming to apply your stroke equally across all six strings. Hope that helps.
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Old 06-28-2017, 10:43 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FwL View Post
Try playing with a down stroke instead. If your teacher objects, tell him/her/it that no self respecting Reggae guitarist would use an upstroke
This. (But if you want to stay friends with your teacher, see second half of post below...)

Could You Be Loved is fast, but the "and"s are still played as downstrokes. I.e. every 8th note is a downstroke. You just don't play the beats themselves. Like so:

Code:
BEATS (100bpm) : 1  &  2  &  3  &  4  & |
    Downstrokes: d  d  d  d  d  d  d  d |
           PLAY: -  D  -  D  -  D  -  D |
The "d"s are your hand movements (very short, from the wrist). The "D"s are when you actually hit the strings.
If you set a metronome to 100 (measuring the quarters), your hand is actually moving down 200 times per minute. You feel the beats (and count them if it helps), but you miss on the beats (the clicks), and the played chords fall exactly between the clicks.

This guy seems to have it right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ideE5Gi0rYE&t=75
- but his right hand move may not be the best to emulate, because it looks like he's playing ups on the beats, which is not a great idea. The double-downstroke (every 8th) is better, to keep you on track.

What your teacher is suggesting is not normal reggae practice, but may be easier for you at whatever stage you're at. IOW, trust your teacher to have designed his lesson for your benefit! (Maybe to get you to play upstrokes instead of downs as an exercise.) In that case, you'd play it like this:
Code:
BEATS (100bpm) : 1  &  2  &  3  &  4  & |
    Downstrokes: d  u  d  u  d  u  d  u |
           PLAY: -  U  -  U  -  U  -  U |
In this case, your right hand movement is half the above speed, moving down on the metronome click (the 1-2-3-4 count). Because the move is slower, the hand can move further, above and below the strings in a wider arc - partly from the elbow - to help maintain tempo.
Again, it's really important to make a positive downward stroke on the 1-2-3-4. You just miss the strings, and hit them on the way back up.

The problem with doing it this way is that it may be harder to get those in-between up 8ths exactly between the downs. That's why the faster double-downstroke is better - it's easier to keep the 8ths straight.

It may help both methods to set the metronome to 200 to mark the 8ths.
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Last edited by JonPR; 06-28-2017 at 11:01 AM.
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Old 06-28-2017, 04:35 PM
FwL FwL is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueser100 View Post
I would not play the upbeat as a downstroke..

Why not?

Downstrokes on the offbeat is pretty much the foundation of Reggae guitar playing.
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Old 06-28-2017, 11:55 PM
cypressfog cypressfog is offline
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Some very general advice is that when you can't do something, slow it down until you can. What isn't always obvious is that this often means at first to go stupidly slow, ridiculously slow, so slow that it barely sounds like music. But slow enough that you can do it right.

Try getting a metronome or an app and set it to 60 bpm, or even 40 bpm, and play one eighth note per tick. So slow that you can say the rhythm in your head and get it right every time. Then speed it up 10 bpm at a time, and if you start making lots of mistakes, slow it down a bit and practice more at that speed.

There's no magic other than time and practice, but it will eventually start to come together. Every guitarist had to go through these same challenges at first, and we're proof that if you stick with it, it will happen!
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Old 06-29-2017, 11:34 AM
Gateway40 Gateway40 is offline
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Cypressfog,love the format, ( play golf in Carmel and love the cypress fog) thank you big help! FwL, JonPR, really makes sense when i see it!!!! Bluesr100, the 1 and 2 and along with the metronome is exactly what i have been trying to do but forgot the metronome!!!! Now that i have a reference point to get back on track iam sure i can learn this...Thank you.
Tahitijack,i will look for ta Hyatt 5 min lesson. Thank you.
dannyg1, will try the over and over i have used that before but never going to sleep listening... thank you.
Cypressfog,whenever i get stuck or it gets hard i try and remember there is no magic other than time and practice. I am very fortunate to have a talented teacher who is very deacated to teaching.
Thank you all again!
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