I see a lot of tabs posted for various songs but I cant seem to figure out the strumming for these songs. How can I tune my ear so that I can make out the strumming pattern of different songs ?
Lotsa threads out here which will give ya lotsa tips on strumming. just look them up. post again if you have problems.
strumming! this is a common problem for beginners and I think the best way to get a good control over rhythm is -first put the thing in your mind that nothing is impossible(just efface the term impossible and failure from your vocabulary),this prepares your subconscious mind which i think is very beneficial and quick way. Then, pick any easy song-l Mr. recordman by Ugly kid joe will be perfect.Set the equalizer of ur media player(if ur using pc) to full treble(so that u hear the chords very well). Never! ever try to copy-cat the strumming pattern, just fiure out by listening. The song I've listed above uses only 3 chords G,Cadd9 and D and u'll get the tab for the song in any website. Try it yourself. Try hard until you succeed. Believe in yourself. If u fail at first attempt try again and i'm sure if you just practise for 3 hours(max) you'll get it right. But do it! keep a faith
listen to the song many times. with perseverance. say abt 10-15 times and u will get the strumming patern right. concentrate on the drums. they will help u. another easy one is "back to you"-bryan adams best of luck
i'm a beginner n was a little bogged down .. but i told myself that like everyone else i have 10 fingers n a brain ... there's no reason i shouldnt be able to play .... it does wonders ... n bout strumming... well its kinda hard initially ( even i've been having a little trouble) but i just try getting the same sound ..... n dont bother too much if its a little off ... right now the important part is to get confidence in being able to play n change chords at the right time .. just wondering ... is your upstrum able to have the same fluency as the down strum ?? mine's a little off ... n i'm religiously practicing getting it right ... i've caught myself trying to get by without using the upstrum ... n thats simply not feasible .. so if youre inthe same trouble ... make sure you get your upstrum right ... tc n best of luck
Good points here, as this is a question I've seen a lot in this forum. Heres my two cents worth. First of all, its called a "rhythm guitar", not a "strumming pattern guitar". Free your mind from strumming patterns. When you listen to a song, shake your head with it, tap your feet with it, and get a sense for the rhythm. If you try to copy the rhythm pattern verbatim, you will have two problems - you will be binding yourself to one recording and not really be learning anything from it, second, its not possible to exactly reproduce anything, and in your trials you might lose the "feel" of the song. Probably when the song is done two times by the same band, the strumming pattern is not a DNA copy each time. Try to go with the "feel" of the rhythm instead of the exact strumming. Second, strumming patterns are important, when you decouple them from songs. Like jazz riffs, its how you combine these patterns that produces good music. So practise basic strumming patterns without trying to think about songs. Consider a set of 8 dots, and see in what ways you can fill "up" and "down" strums within those 8 dots to build your own patterns, and see where you can use them. Try thes (D-down stroke, U - upstroke, . - hold): D . D . D . D . is a basic pattern, for 8 beats. Then try D . D . D . D U or D U D U D U D U Then try D . D DU D . D . where you play a quick DU in one count make your own patterns like this and play with a metronome or drum kit (lotsa software drumkits available ont he net which u can use for practise) Remember - you play the rhythm, not the strumming pattern.
This is for all beginners having problems with strumming. I don't know whether its very helpful to have lotsa variety in the kinds of strum that one plays, but many songs seem to have a similar strum. for example take a strum like D.DU.UD, this is the strum for papa kehte hai. songs like 'come as you are' by nirvana and 'yeh dosti' from sholay have similar strums. just small variations in the ties and rests. so try to have a few easy strums in your arsenal when you start out and a little variation here and there will enable you to play lotsa songs.
