Guitar Noise Podcast #4 - “Sixteenth-note Accent & Partial Chord Strumming”
Hello to everyone and welcome our fourth Guitar Noise Podcast!
In this GN Podcast, we’ll work on two specific topics. First up will be a quick look at sixteenth notes and a smart little rhythm fill that you can use as an accent when strumming a chord. We’ll also see how you can use it to spice up (and cover up!) a chord change.
From there we’ll begin work with “partial chord strumming,” in other words, just using some of the strings to strum with. And rather than examine a specific pattern, we’ll focus on developing a feel for your guitar. Hopefully you’ll start to feel more confident that you can strum where you want to without thinking twice about it. If not the specific string than at least the general area
Both of these general topics will be coming up soon when we focus on ways to create strumming that is more “organic” rather than something that sounds like it came from a sampler.
As in our previous Guitar Noise Podcasts, I’ll be walking you step by step through the lesson. So get your guitar, get yourself comfortable and come play! And, as always, please let us know what you think.
Peace
RAINER KANIA on March 12th, 2008
Thank you, David. Your manner of teaching makes me want to learn more, and you keep things easy enough for me, a one-year student.
Again, thanks!
David Hodge on March 12th, 2008
You’re welcome! I’m glad that you’re enjoying the podcasts so far. Wanting to learn more is pretty much where most of us are at, guitar-wise. No matter how long you’ve played - one year or forty-one years, there’s still so much to learn!
Peace
James on March 19th, 2008
Thanks for the podcast, great lesson
This is the first time I’ve listened to one of your podcasts…now on to search for the rest…
David Hodge on March 19th, 2008
You’re welcome! Glad you took the time out to listen and I look forward to hearing what you think of the others.
Peace
John on April 12th, 2008
where is “beyond up and down”????
David Hodge on April 26th, 2008
Hi John
I’m still working on it. Unfortunately, I had (and have) a number of things going on at home that had (and have) to be dealt with first. Hopefully it should be online sometime in May.
Thanks for your patience with this.
Peace
Eric Carlson on June 13th, 2008
Wonderful. Thanks so much for the time you put into this Dave. Every time I work through one of your lessons or podcasts I feel like my learning gets accelerated. You really have a gift for teaching! Thanks for sharing it!
David Hodge on June 14th, 2008
You’re welcome, Eric, and glad that our lessons and podcasts are being helpful.
And please feel free to write with questions and/or suggestions at any time. That’s how we keep improving on the lessons and podcasts.
Peace
William on August 15th, 2008
David -
One question about the hand/arm motion to hit those 1/16th notes. All the notes in each measure up to the last two 1/16th notes are either 1/4 or 1/8th notes. If your hand/arm is going down on each beat (1, 2, 3, 4) and up on the “and” between the beats, then you can hit all the notes as needed without changing the motion of your hand. But then you have to suddenly accelerate your hand to get that last 1/16th note. Is that correct? I thought part of the idea was to get the hand in motion and just let it keep going. But then you have much too much motion going on, except for the last beat. Am I understanding this correctly?
Thank again.
William
David Hodge on August 23rd, 2008
Hi William
My apologies for not replying sooner. Things have been a little crazy of late (”late” meaning virtually all of August!) and I’m a bit (another classic understatement) behind in responding to both email and comments here at the Guitar Noise Blog.
There are basically two way of going about this, and you’ve correctly hit on both. You can either go with eighth notes in a typical “down and up” pattern and then double your speed when you get to the sixteenth notes.
Or you can strum in sixteenth notes the entire way. That is, as you put it, a lot of motion going on. But some people do find it easier to keep time that way because it is steady throughout the measure.
Both methods are valid and it’s hard for me to say which one will work best for you. I can tell you that, as you get more and more experience playing, you’ll probably find yourself using both approaches, depending on what’s gone on immediately before and what’s coming immediately after in any given song.
If it helps, we’ll be looking at this in a bit more detail of a practical nature in upcoming Guitar Noise Podcasts (probably somewhere between #15 and #20), so hopefully I’ll be able to help you make more sense out of it.
Thanks for your patience, not to mention your making time to comment.
Peace