I just read David's article The Pattern Trap. It answered a fundamental question of mine: why can't I seem to keep to "the pattern" for a song? Answer: I don't have to.
I have found myself breaking from what was supposed to be "the pattern" for a particular song. Those times sounded good to me even though they were "wrong". I'd skip strings, skip an upstroke or skip a downstroke, and it all worked. So reading the article, now I see that I was not wrong. :D
Example: Sundown - the basic pattern I've come across for the intro (and a video lesson said for the whole song, but he deviated from the whole key the song was written in) is B D D U D U D U D U (bold is the accent). Works great in the intro and an extended passage playing E. But I found that impossible to maintain in a passage with a quick chord change between E B7 A D, etc. I found myself breaking the above mentioned pattern, doing some quick DUDUDU, yet it sounded good (playing with the recording). Then when there was an extended E I could go back to the intro pattern.
That's part of what practicing is about... experimenting and finding what works in a song you're playing.
Thanks David! :D
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
And, if you slow down a song then you don't have to keep to any pattern at all - I play Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is" as a slowed-down accoustic number and try to replicate the piano lines within the chord structure which becomes effectively a picking/ strumming pattern over a 4-bar sequence; it works great.
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
That's one of the first questions I see when I look at song lessons is "What's the strumming pattern?" I've yet to see anyone answer with, "Whatever sounds good to you is the strumming pattern".
As long as it sounds good, changing up the strumming can be good in my opinion.
In Space, no one can hear me sing!
hi mate
I'd like to add my 2 cents. To ask which is the strumming pattern is the classic question that everyone of us has asked a lot of times (me included of course). It is also an uncorrect one because:
a) know which direction to strum does not mean anything because the same strum could have different time value. I mean if i say that the pattern is d d d du, I'm not telling you if the strums are quarter notes or quavers and semi-quavers;
b) in each song there usually are at least two but more often 3 or 4 different guitar parts so each one has a different pattern (just check any music sheet to have a confirmation);
c) it is quite rare that the same guitar plays the same pattern throughout the entire song, since there usually are a different pattern for riff, verse, chorus, bridge etc.
having said so, the real question should be: "how could i find a pattern that it suitably to the song i wish to play"? The answer is "find out which is the main rhythm of the song". The first thing to do so it is to listen to the drums and identify the main rhythm. This means
a) identify which meter the song is (4/4 or 3/4)
b) if possible discerne if it is played in regular eights or in triplets (or swing eight which is basically the same to our extent)
c) then discerne the drums pattern and play something that it is compatible with it.
Let's put it clearer: suppose that after a few listenings, you decide that the drums play 1,2,3 and, 4 rhythm in regular eights (very common rock drum pattern). This way you could choose any pattern you like until it is in regular eights and they all works fine. You could replicate the drums and play D/D/du/d and it would be ok or you could play D/D/du/Du or you could go syncopated and play D/Du/u/du, or metal and plays DD/DD/Dd/Dd (all downstrokes) and all the pattrens would work. Of course the real pattern could be slightly different but to your extent it is not so important.
Then when you feel confident with the track and you will learn a lot of different rhythms, it would be possibile that you get the exact pattern (also remembering that each music style has a few of common rhythms).
Of course there are a lot of other complications i.e. chord changes could be anticipated, very common in rock music, or the guitars could play in triplets while the drums play regular eights but let's stay simple for the beginning. I can assure you that if you the above steps for each songs you'd like to play, and if you study a few rhythms, in a few months you won't ask no more which pattern to play :-)!
if you have some specific request tell me which song you're working and if i'll see if I can help you
Matteo
