I am into my third month playing the guitar and am somewhat proficient in all of the open chords...although I still get some buzzing now and then. Right now I am working on some early Dylan and while I have the chords down, the strumming pattern still eludes me. If anyone has any suggestions for "Blowin in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin" I would really appreciate it.
Always good to see someone playing Dylan! Welcome :-)
I play a lot of Dylan myself, but I'm not really any good at deducing strumming patterns - I'll just try to play what I like/hear. Let me try to think a little aloud here (in the office, without myu guitar):
The times they are a changin - it does have kind of a 3/4 beat. Something like this should work (assuming you are familiar with this notation - else just ask )
1 & 2 & 3 &
D U D
or
D D U D U
Maybe put together something like this:
G em C G Gsus4
1 & 2 & 3 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 1 & 2 & 3 &
D D U D D U D D U D D D U D U
ga----ther round people where-ever you roam
Blowin' in the wind ... I like to finger pick it. To strum it, something like this should work:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U
How many roads must a man walk
as I said - not my strongest side - but I hope it helps somewhat - I guess others can (will) chip in too
Good luck :-)
lars
...only thing I know how to do is to keep on keepin' on...
LARS kolberg http://www.facebook.com/sangerersomfolk
early Dylan has a jangly folk feel.
a strum down then a quick up and down...for the 3/4.
and a down with three strums for a 4/4. the strums after the first are short, loose, jangly.
to0 my ears.
I learnt "Times" as: D DU DU count 1 2& 3&
"Blowin" as D D DU DU count 1 2 3& 4&
But, as others say, there is a lot of room for flexibility in these songs. I'd concentrate on getting a steady simple strum down cold then move on to working the lyrics over top of it.
These were amongst the first songs I learnt, so I still use the patterns above as a starting point. You can vary the patterns or throw in some bass-strum action as time goes by.
Thanks for the input. I plan on trying out all your suggestions this evening.
