Guitar Noise Podcast #1 - “Strumming Part 1 / Basics of Strumming”
Welcome to Guitar Noises’s first Podcast - a thirty-minute, one-on-one lesson with me, David Hodge. This first podcast is also the first in a series on strumming, covering the very basics of strumming - using fingers as well as a pick. We’ll be working with the basic techniques of downstrums and upstrums, covering a number of simple strumming patterns, as well as playing the “boom-chuck” or “bass / strum” technique of strumming, which is the first step toward more complex patterns. Oh, and we’ll also discuss important concepts such as the root notes of chords and sock puppets…
Our first series of Guitar Noise Podcasts will cover strumming - moving step by step from the very basics to alternate bass picking, to adding hammer-ons and pull-offs to spice up simple patterns to crosspicking and partial chord playing to incorporating other playing techniques, such as palm muting and choking, to bring even more excitement to our strumming. Plus we’ll look at how to listen to patterns so that you can readily replicate complicated patterns you hear on recordings.
I’ll do my best to walk you through things step by step, just as we do in the many song lessons at Guitar Noise. So pull up a chair and let’s have some fun!
Peace
Guitar Noise Podcast #1 - "Strumming Part 1 / Basics of Strumming" [30:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
January 28th, 2008 at 4:41 am
Hi David
I just finished listening to your podcast, it was very helpful. Thank you so much! I’ll be looking forward to the next one.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Hi Pat
Thanks for listening and thank you for your kind words.
We’re hoping that we’ll be able to put up new Guitar Noise Podcasts every other Monday. Next time out we’ll explore more with alternating bass lines and also start adding very simple hammer-ons and pull-offs to liven up any basic strumming pattern.
In the near future, we’ll also be looking at “missing” downstroke beats during our strumming patterns. This may sound easy, but usually gives many beginners a bit of a fit. But once you can get this under your belt, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting any strumming pattern at all, with a bit of practice of course!
Hope you find all the GN Podcasts as helpful as this one.
Peace
January 28th, 2008 at 11:06 am
David, you are such an EXCELLENT teacher. I just wish I lived closer so I could take private lessons from you. I listened to your first podcast on strumming and I wanted to download it to my Ipod so I could listed to it when I was away from my computer. Is this possible? Where can I download it from? Thanks and God bless you! Doug
January 28th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Hi Doug
Thanks for the kudos and pardon me while I kind try to hide somewhere!
You can download any of our Guitar Noise Podcasts right here on site. If you look at the “play” button, you’ll see three options: “Hide Player,” “Play in PopUp” and “Download.” Just press the last one. I had to look for it myself, so don’t think twice about missing it!
Oh, and if it doesn’t work, try right-clicking on the “download” and then going with “save target as…” to put it on your computer.
Thanks again and I hope you like the next Podcast, too!
Peace
January 31st, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Thank you for such a lucid explanation. I am a beginner and I think your lesson is excellent. Even without a video to see you play, I could follow you nicely with my guitar! Looking forward to your next lesson.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Thanks for another wonderful lesson, I’m a big fan:)
Do you know in a whole year, it never struck me to use anything other than my thumb to strum up with.. this is why we need lessons! I’m practicising my hammer-ons and eagerly awaiting the next instalment..
Podcasts are a great idea, it feels like a quality 30 mins to sit down and get a lesson like this. Thank you.
January 31st, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I’m waiting for the advanced course!!!!
February 1st, 2008 at 7:26 am
Hi Pradeep and Jenny and Sammy
Thanks for your kind words. It is very strange doing a lesson on a totally audio format. Even though I haven’t (as yet anyway) done any type of video lesson, I am used to relying on visuals such as musical notation or guitar tab. Not to mention the writen word! So it’s good to know that the explanations and the workings of the lesson are readily understandable.
Jenny, I know many guitarist who only use their thumbs for strumming. It often is a matter of style and personal comfort. A lot of people will tell you to strum with your fingers as if you’re holding a pick and that’s a great starting point. But you have a wide variety of sounds available to you depending on how you strum. Don’t hesitate to experiment and to listen and to discover what you like best.
And watch other players! One of the best ways to pick up new approaches to playing, even the simplest playing, is to see how other people do things.
And Sammy, hopefully you won’t be waiting too long! We’re going to be doing some beginner stuff for a while, so I hope you won’t get too bored… Thanks for listening all the same!
Peace
February 1st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
This podcast is great, and really helpful for beginners like me. Thanks, and I hope you do lots more!
A suggestion: the mp3 was recorded at 48kbps, which is a relatively low bitrate (i.e., low-quality audio). I know it costs money to serve up these podcasts, and low-bitrate podcasts are probably cheaper to serve than high-bitrate ones, but you may want to look into recording at 96kbps or 128kbps so we can hear the nuances of the guitar a little better. It comes across a little scratchy and low-fi right now (kind of like AM radio, whereas 128 kbps would get you FM-quality sound or better).
Keep the podcasts coming!
February 1st, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Hi Chris
We’re already working on this. The big problem isn’t in recording them, it’s in sending and uploading. I recorded the podcast in .wav and then converted it to the same 128 kbps that we use for the MP3 files in the Guitar Noise lessons. But…
It took more than forever to send it via email to Paul so that he could upload it. I eventually broke the thirty minute podcast into five minute segments so that I could send it to him but then piecing it together and uploading became a bigger hassle for his part of the project. It was only through trial and error that we were able to find that I could send the whole file to him after I converted the .wav file to a 48 kbps that things worked out on both our ends.
So…
Any suggestions for dealing with this would be more than appreciated. Understand that I am on AOL and have to deal with file size when I send this on. And I can’t even begin to tell you what Paul has to do to upload them for the GN Blog.
Peace
February 1st, 2008 at 4:47 pm
David, I understand completely. Technology can be such a pain in the neck, can’t it? This may be a geekier solution that you want to get into (I don’t know your and Paul’s level of technical interest), but the standard way of transferring big files is via a system called http://FTP. If Paul has an FTP server running on his computer, and you run an FTP client on your computer, you can dial-up with AOL and then use FTP to transfer arbitrarily big MP3 files across to Paul. Someone with experience with FTP could get the system running in 5 mins, but it does take a little tech know-how. Not that I meant to criticize–the podcast audio quality is just fine as-is.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Hi again, Chris
I’m not taking the question of audio quality as a criticism, so please don’t worry about that. I’m about as tech-savvy as a raspberry, but I do have some friends that could probably walk me through the procedure. I won’t be able to have it in place for the second podcast, but provided Paul can work it on his side) we’ll see about trying it out on the third. If it works, we can retro-post the old podcasts to the new quality as well.
Of course, all this is assuming it’s good with Paul. Thanks for the tip and wish us luck!
And thanks for listening!
Peace
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:37 am
The good news is we do have the files at 128 kbps. We may go with that in the future.
I am aware of the ftp solution. At the moment we’re not hosting the audio files on our own server so setting up ftp permissions for David is a little more complicated. Why does everything have to be so hard?
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Hi David - I have read many of your lessons over the last few years and very much enjoyed them. This additional format is great. I listened to most of it on my ipod while watering my garden by hand in the early morning before the start of another fierce Australian summer’s day. It was wonderful. Thanks for all of your creativity and efforts.
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Hi David
You’re welcome! Please feel free to give us any suggestions you might have and I hope that these lessons are as helpful as the written ones.
Hope you’re having a good summer in Australia!
Peace
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:11 am
David,
I, too, would like to express my thanks and extend my compliments for the fine work you do. I was at my daughter’s guitar lesson the other day and another father and I began commiserating on our own attempts to master the instrument. I suggested Guitar Noise - and you in particular - as a great place to turn. The other guy said he’d already been here and that it was by far the best place on the web to learn guitar and that you were an incredible teacher, saying you made it feel like a private lesson. I couldn’t agree more.
Just thought I’d share.
Paul
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Hi Paul
Thanks for sharing and thank you as well for the recommendation. I have to tell you that even after writing at Guitar Noise for over eight years now, it still seems very weird to hear that my name is being mentioned all over the world. To me it’s just great to know that so many people are getting to play the guitar and make music and have fun.
So when are you and this other father getting together for your first jam?
Peace
February 4th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Thanks, Great Podcast, keep them comming!!
February 4th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Thanks, Don!
Next one will be up online, if all goes according to schedule, one week from today. That’s Monday, February 11. We’ll be starting where we left off, with the Em chord, and add hammer-ons to the basic strumming patterns to spice it up. We’ll also work on different hammers you can use with the Am chord and wind up with a little “off the beat” strumming, trying to miss the “downs” of the “down and ups.”
Hope you like it.
Peace
February 5th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Oh Man, is your timing unreal. I have just been reading your article on “The pattern trap” and still struggling with this strumming thing and “”Bam ! “” This page with the podcast comes up. The universe provides once again. Thanks! You’re the best teacher I have come across.
I have gone through mostly all your easy playing songs. and still struggle with strumming. So I generally just play the finger picking songs. But I think I can go back and try some of the strumming ones like “Riders of the storm” and many more. This is fantastic.
All I need now is to master chord changing fast enough to stay in rhythm and I’ll have confidence to play around the camp fire. I’m reading your articles now on connecting the dots and chord changing. Looking forward to the next podcast on the 11th Feb..
cheers
February 5th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Hi Glenn
Glad that you found this podcast helpful and I hope you’ll find the others to be as well. Future strumming podcasts will cover a lot of different topics and ideas and many of the techniques written about in the Guitar Noise song lessons (such as “anticipation” from Three Marlenas, Riders in The Storm, not to mention almost any Neil Young lesson) will be getting their day on the Guitar Noise Podcasts.
And a quick note to everyone - Be sure to write me if there are specific topics you’d like to see addressed in future Guitar Noise Podcasts. While we obviously can’t address everything, we’ll do our best to touch on as many subjects as possible.
Peace
February 11th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Hi David,
I just feel compelled to comment on your lessons here and the podcasts that you are doing ….I just finished listening to the second podcast and its just great. Of course I’ve also listened to the first one as well. I am a beginner and starting rather late in life but I am having fun with it. Without question that is because of you and the work you are doing here. You explain things very well and you just make it easy to understand…..I can see progress and you are keeping it interesting and fun.
It was just sheer luck I came across your lessons and (guitarnoise.com) when searching the web for lessons online but what a lucky day it was…..thanks David!!!
February 12th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Hi Ty
We’re glad that you stumbled across Guitar Noise and that you’ve found our website to be helpful to you. And I’m thrilled to hear that you’re having fun with the guitar. That’s what it’s supposed to be about!
And it becomes even more fun when you start sharing making music with others!
Looking forward to hearing how things are progressing with you.
Peace
February 25th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
[...] just subscribed to the Guitar Noise Podcast. In the first episode, managing editor David Hodge goes through some of the basics of strumming. If [...]
February 25th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Doug Iver said, “I wanted to download it to my Ipod so I could listed to it when I was away from my computer. Is this possible?”
Doug in itunes, under the “Advanced” menu button, click on “Subscribe to Podcast”. Then type/paste in the following: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GuitarNoiseBlog?format=xml
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Hi David,
Thanks for your high-quality lessons…And for your sharing …Thanks you very much You are idealist and a good teacher…I am congratulating…
Cem ikiz
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Hello Cem,
And you’re welcome. I seem to waver a lot between idealist and cynic, so I’m glad I’ve got the “teacher” part to keep me on track!
Hope you find all the podcasts as helpful.
Peace
PS. And thank you to Jeff for the note on how to subscribe to the Guitar Noise Podcasts, not to mention the kind note you posted on your blog.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
thank you for helping me. i just started playing guitar and your instruction were very helpful. i will continue to listen to you lesson by lesson. thank you again, and please keep on giving us such great advice. tom
April 26th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Hi Tom
And you’re welcome. I’m glad that these podcasts are being helpful to you (and to everyone else, too!).
And just so that you know, we appreciate the feedback. Knowing what works and what doesn’t will help us to make the future Guitar Noise Podcasts even better.
Peace