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Post by leerummey on Dec 28, 2009 6:32:43 GMT -5
hi all ive had an acoustic guitar for about a month now and i can play the intro's to a few easy songs but am finding strumming the rhythm of the songs quite difficult i think maybe im trying to strum quicker than i can change chords any advice to make it easier ? many thanks lee
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Post by Happy Jack on Dec 28, 2009 6:52:16 GMT -5
hi all ive had an acoustic guitar for about a month now and i can play the intro's to a few easy songs but am finding strumming the rhythm of the songs quite difficult i think maybe im trying to strum quicker than i can change chords any advice to make it easier ? many thanks lee Practice with a metronome and start slowly - once you can change chords cleanly start to increase the speed. Do this for a minute. Then take a break and start again with different chords Make sure you can change chords cleanly before increasing speed. Practice 1 minute chord changes I hope Mojo won't mind me posting another teacher up Another way is to keep the strumming even all the time and when you change chords play the open strings before your chord change - that will give you an extra beat or 1/2 beat to change chords - it works fine with some songs and some chord changes. Say a simple 1 2 3 and 4 and / dddudu 4/4 pattern A to E on the last upstroke your fingers would be off the fingerboard moving for the E chord but you would still play the up on the open strings. Works well on upstroke where you tend to play only the lower strings on the upstroke - by the time you play the first downstroke of the second bar your fingers will be in place I hope that makes some sense Works well in some songs but not in all
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Post by verbosity on Dec 28, 2009 8:18:06 GMT -5
hi all ive had an acoustic guitar for about a month now and i can play the intro's to a few easy songs but am finding strumming the rhythm of the songs quite difficult i think maybe im trying to strum quicker than i can change chords any advice to make it easier ? many thanks lee yeah I'd say start off slow, maybe try the following songs: Jesus doesn't want me for a sunbeam ( go for the nirvana acoustic cover, its dead easy) I need you - eurythmics knockin' on heavens door these all have slow simple strums and easy chords. It's easy to hear a song and think you can do it, often they are faster, or have more difficult chords or difficult strums. Stick to basic chords at first ( C,D,G,Em are the basis of most songs, add in E,A,Am and you have 90% of 90% of the songs out there ). these should the the chord that you get used to first, you'll find that you'll be able to hop between them quickly and easily in no time. Strumming feels like the easiest thing when you start off but its important to make sure you are strumming correctly, if you're sloppy you'll pick up bad habits that are hard to drop later on ( for instance hitting strings you're not supposed to), but once you have a few chords down you should be able to start concentrating on your strumming and rhythm a bit more. I've been playing for 4 years now ( though probably at the level of someone who's been playing for about a year with constant practice, and good tuition/lessons), and still find strumming to the correct timing/rhythm hard at times. If I could recommend a song by mojo I'd recommend these: pretty easy chords and the strum isn't too hard. Also you don't have to strum every song, try everybody hurts, or this song
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Post by leerummey on Dec 28, 2009 8:48:20 GMT -5
thanks for the advice happyjack and verbosity ive watched the vids u posted and will try them out thankyou once again oh i can play some of stay by sugarland as taught by mojo and im not too bad at changing from d to a to e to g but its just a timing issue for me with that song i definately cant sing to my playing and change chords at the right part of the song as well lol
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Post by verbosity on Dec 28, 2009 8:58:33 GMT -5
but its just a timing issue for me with that song i definately cant sing to my playing and change chords at the right part of the song as well lol Adding singing to the mix just makes things a lot harder, it can really mess with your timing, I make sure I've got the song down pat before I even try to sing along to it.
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Post by Mohikanas on Dec 28, 2009 9:03:50 GMT -5
thanks for the advice happyjack and verbosity ive watched the vids u posted and will try them out thankyou once again oh i can play some of stay by sugarland as taught by mojo and im not too bad at changing from d to a to e to g but its just a timing issue for me with that song i definately cant sing to my playing and change chords at the right part of the song as well lol In due time my friend, you will get confortable in changing between chords, once your hands start doing chords automaticaly (without thinking too much) you will see that you can sing along then Guys right here said pretty much everything you have to know about strumming, just one more thing, see that you're holding the pick correctly (if you're using one). Good luck practicing
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