mongoose1981
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My main instrument is: Encore Acoustic for now
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Post by mongoose1981 on Mar 9, 2015 21:58:01 GMT
As the title suggests, I find strumming a bit of a puzzle at times. An example would be the song by Riptide by Vance Joy, I can quite clearly hear the pattern, I know it goes DD, UDU. However when I play I feel the urge to throw in an extra U strum, DDU, UDU. It still fits to the music, is this heresy or acceptable behaviour??? I do the same for BloodBank by Bon Iver, I know it goes DD DUDU, but I change it to DDU, UDU, (which funnily enough I can sing along to, but not with the actual strumming pattern of the song). Not overly sure what my question is now, do you long term players do this, or to play song do you stick to original arrangement. I am worrying maybe I am becoming a bit reliant on 1 strum pattern?
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leoroberts
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Post by leoroberts on Mar 9, 2015 22:45:13 GMT
If you think it fits... then it fits. If we spend all our time trying to replicate EXACTLY what someone else did then music would be very boring
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Post by vikingblues on Mar 9, 2015 23:00:04 GMT
I'm with Leo. My thought is that it's best to play what feels natural and right to you as a musician if it doesn't work out trying it another way. That way the music should flow much better and sound natural.
So many guitar teaching lessons have insistence on things being played exactly as instructed. Maybe that's because it should be that way - the fact that I get irritated by that insistence does not mean I'm right and they're wrong! But I've mostly tried to learn from just a couple of guitar teachers (on-line) over the last 5 years - Michael "Hawkeye" Herman and David Wallimann - who both encourage the pupil to play using their own interpretation. Thankfully.
Mark
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 9, 2015 23:31:19 GMT
mongoose1981 - It's certainly a good skill to be able to "hear" the strumming patterns in a recording as you seem to be able to, and to be able to replicate it if you wish, but when you play the same song yourself I'd agree with Leo and Mark that you'll end up with a better result by trying what works best for you - provided that the pulse of the song remains what you want, and that you don't add/miss out beats in the overall timing. And good for you in realising the dangers of sticking with the same strumming pattern for too many songs. It gets boring for the player as well as the listener. Your additional U strokes are probably a great idea! I don't find the concept of "patterns" (at least in the sense of a constantly repeating mechanical sequence unvaried throughout a piece)to be particularly helpful - very few songs keep the same pattern all through, but often vary between eg verse and chorus, and often also have variations for emphasis and/or to complement the words. I do find it helpful to think of strumming as being a drum kit with notes - ie bass drum, snare and cymbals being roughly equivalent to two bass strings, two middle strings, two top strings. I rarely strum over all the strings at once, but use these different areas to give variation in sound with full chords, as well as using 3 or 4 string chords for further variation. I reckon strumming is a much underestimated skill - there's a lot more to it than just bashing away, as you obviously realise. All power to your (strumming) elbow! Keith
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mongoose1981
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My main instrument is: Encore Acoustic for now
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Post by mongoose1981 on Mar 9, 2015 23:46:28 GMT
Thanks for the input guys. Aye Keith I feel I may be sticking myself into one particular pattern here. Looking over list of songs I can play and sing too, (amounts to about 6 or 7 now) I strum the same pattern for all. Lions Roar by First Aid Kit is different, and I can do the pattern, but not a chance of singing it too, just end up confused. Don't suppose you guys could recommend any beginner style songs that have a pattern that deviates from my DDU, UDU significantly enough that I can't be tempted to throw it in there??
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 10, 2015 0:13:50 GMT
mongoose1981 - You might like having a bash at Time of you life by GreenDay if you haven't already done so. It is a nice example of using bass, middle and top strings as different voices - esp obvious in the intro, but carries on in various places throughout the song. Sometimes very precisely picked, other times more "blurrily" with more strings sounding giving a build up of sound. Also a good example of varying the rhythm in different parts of the song. In the beginning of the song the "patterns" are quite sparse, with not every possible strum being played, leaving spaces here and there - later on these get filled in, in much the same way as you describe adding extra strums in the spaces of an existing rhythm. Any use? Keith
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mongoose1981
Sore Fingers
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My main instrument is: Encore Acoustic for now
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Post by mongoose1981 on Mar 10, 2015 0:57:48 GMT
I haven't tried this Keith, but will give it a blast, gonna print off the chords now. On nightshift but we are running from the bad weather to shelter, albeit a bit late. Means practise time though for me.
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Post by ekhohead on Mar 10, 2015 1:17:13 GMT
Don't suppose you guys could recommend any beginner style songs that have a pattern that deviates from my DDU, UDU significantly enough that I can't be tempted to throw it in there?? If you're a Bon Iver fan then you can't go wrong with one of my personal favourites, Flume! It's pretty simple, mostly down strokes. Listen out for how many strings to play on each down stroke though (a lot of the time it's only the bass E string), as Keith said you'll rarely strum all the strings at once. It also has little UDU patterns here and there which are played on the G/B/E strings. Also, dynamic variation within each strumming pattern is hugely important. Work out which strums are louder and which are quiet. Sounds obvious, but there's so many guitarist which seem to ignore this! One guitarist who does some damn fine strumming is Ray Lamontange, understated and subtle. Beautiful! You'd do well to pay attention to his approach. Can't find the vid/song I was looking for, but this one will have to do: Takes the simplest of strumming patterns (DU all the way through) and just varies which strings he strums and how loud he strums them. Who'd have thought you could play DU for 5mins solid and have it sound so good?!
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mongoose1981
Sore Fingers
Posts: 14
My main instrument is: Encore Acoustic for now
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Post by mongoose1981 on Mar 10, 2015 1:50:32 GMT
Funnily enough I have about 4 or 5 Bon Iver songs I am meddling with, Flume being one. I was doing the lazy approach of just strumming though. I will listen closer to the various strums within it though. Strumming, it's becoming clear, is way more of an art than I had presumed at first. I love Ray Lamontagne, and hadn't even thought of any of his tunes. I can't watch videos out here with my internet, but will check this when I get home.
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