Hi- this is my first contact with this site! I know there are loads of Q & A's on strumming but I can't find what I need. I am 60 years old and have been trying to learn acoustic for months. I thought I was getting on quite well, about 15 to 20 open chords + f, bm.b7 etc, until I tried playing Donovan, catch the wind. There are only 3 chords but I couldn't get it to sound anything like the way I remember it, so eventually I tried youtube, which has made matters worse! He is strumming pretty fast but you only hear a fairly slow bass note beat with a few other notes hear and there. I know you don't strike the strings on every strum but how do you learn to pick out just the occasional notes when your strumming that fast. I've got a bit of arthritus in my fingers shall I give up now or is there a way I can learn? - :(
Don't give up. If you're trying to do what I think you are, it takes patience and practice. I'm a noob myself, taking lessons since January. And I may be off the mark here with my answer, which I know someone will correct if I am wrong.
I don't know the song you're working on, but it sounds like there are melody notes in with the chords. A lot of people play this way if they don't sing, or to make it more interesting. Years ago I learned how to play Still The Same like that. I played the rhythm chords with some melody notes thrown in at the right places. Don't ask me to do that now (20 years have passed).
Here is a Youtube of Yesterday being played like that...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abSHoDpLZmo
If this is what you mean, then it's practice, practice, practice. I also want to play this way. My teacher said it's a matter of striking a note in a chord, or adding or changing a note. I've just started working on the harmonica solo in Heart of Gold using the chords to keep the rhythm going, and melody notes for the solo.
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
Rikard
Thats such a great song. Im very much a beginner as well and and Im sure there are plenty of people on hear who can come up with a better explaination, anyway I played it with a really simple Bass /down /down up strum ( i think its in 3/4 time :oops: ) and it sounds ok. I play it with a capo on the third fret using c f and g shapes for the verse.
Check out the Davids pod casts on this site for some free tuition on strumming, I think they would be well suited for you https://www.guitarnoise.com/blog/2008/01/28/podcast-basics-of-strumming/
Hi Rikard, welcome to GN. Lots of good folk around here.
First off, no give up. Period. End of story. Not an option. Put the single song off for a while while you learn the mechanics needed to do perform it, but don't stop.
I don't know the song, at least by name. I just YouTubed it. Sounds good. Sounds just like Jase said, or close to it at least. Kind of an alternating bass line going followed by two strums after the single note beat. For me, it's a lot harder than it sounds. It's tough to go from pick-a-note mode to strum-mode. I don't care how easy it actually is once you get the hang of it. My bane (bain?) is the "I Shot The Sherriff" lesson in the Easy Songs For Beginners section on the GN web site. It kills me, and is very embarrassing to admit.
Give yourself a break.
Oh, one other thing. What's the chord progression you're using? Maybe someone wrote it in a different key than what Donovon recorded it as. That might throw one off? I dunno. Best to check the gas tank before replacing the engine kind of thing, maybe.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Rickard...welcome. I am just a tad younger than you at 57. I can relate to the song you picked very well. I had been playing guitar for almost a year when those English guys invaded.
I really dug Donovan; had all the records. I even liked some of the sappier, almost vapid songs on the records.
Season of the Witch, Sunshine Superman were two favorites. I learned then right away.
the other was Catch the Wind.
that song almost has a 3/4 feel. the strumming is very feathery. it is a 1 2/3 D U /D and D U/D.
the organ always threw me off. that had a 4/4 count or something.
it is a tricky rhythm pattern. the whole song is airy. a mixture of counts.
fits the song well.
thanks a lot for all your replys, I was 'well pleased' when I logged on, I feel like I've arrived home at last! I will practise, practise, practise & give the strumming lessons a visit.
You may want to try one of David Hodge's Lessons Pick Your Poison on alternate picking and strumming to help. It won't speak directly to the song you are trying to learn but I think it wil help you with what you want to accomplish overall.
Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
Hi Rickard! First off, welcome to GN, if I haven't already said so in meet and greet.
OK, to "Catch The Wind." There's a video here on youtube..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS8RZsOZ1Dw .... that helps a little - but only a little. Listening to the chords, most of the verse seems to be Eb alternating with Ab, with the odd Bb thrown in. However, watching his hands, he appears to be using C F and G chord shapes, so I'm guessing - I really can't make it out! - he's using a capo at the third fret.
His strumming rhythm seems jerky in places, as if instead of keeping a steady up-down-up-down strumming motion, he's only actually strumming when hitting chords. (Then again, it looks like an old Top Of The Pops clip, so there's a very high probability he's miming!) Maybe if you practise the chords the way he's doing them, with a capo on the 3rd fret, it'll help to get the rhythm; there are places where he seems to pick a couple of bass notes inbetween chord changes.
It's a pity the video quality's not great - but at least the sound quality's OK, and unencumbered by strings etc, so you may be able to hear more clearly what he's doing.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Sounds to me like he is simply playing triplets. I think the reason it looks so fast is he is using all downstrokes. But the count basically goes:
1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
He first plays the bass note (probably root, then major 3rd or 5th) and then strums the chord twice. Then at times he does little single note runs between the chords. This is not exactly what he played, but it represents the style of playing:
Capo at 3rd fret
C (Eb) F (Ab) C (Eb) G7 (Bb7)
e----0-0---0-0---1-1---------0-0---0-0---1-1--------
b----1-1---1-1---1-1---------1-1---1-1---0-0--------
g----0-0---0-0---2-2---------0-0---0-0---0-0--------
d--------2-----3-----3-2-0-------2------------------
a--3-----------------------3-------------------0-2--
e--------------------------------------3-----3------
1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a 1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a
Put a capo at the 3rd fret and use common chords like C, F, and G, also Am, Dm or D7, and Em or E7. Listen to the bass especially, that will help you figure out which chords he is using.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
I'm laughing, here! "Old Man...Strumming" sounds like a movie title. Hey...pushing 58 I ain't no spring chicken, either! Yep...BIG TIME osteo in me fingers!
But...
You seem to be all too intent on copying someone else's strumming techniques. Forget it. It ain't gonna happen. Play what you feel. Play what you feel...
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
Hi,
I agree with Cat - it's good to develop your own feel and techniques. I find slogging through scores and lessons trying to do exactly what somebody else did to be a recipe for having a slow and rather dull time. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather experiment until I find something that just feels right to me. Then I enjoy playing, and I don't have to to try and remember zillions of different specific things to suit each song. That feels too much like trying to copy every singer's voice each time I attempt to sing.
But here's another video anyway. You get a pretty clear view of the neck, where the capo is and what his hands are doing. Looks to be a different version, but you can see the strumming reasonably well. Usually the capo is on fret 3, but this looks rather like fret 2.
One of the first albums that I bought (vinyl LP)...sigh... I've still got it too... lovely song.
Chris
Nice find, Chris. That looks like an older Donovan - the guitar, especially, makes me think "Cosmic Wheels" era, so about 73-ish? His voice might have deepened a touch by then....looks very similar to what he's doing on the original, though, albeit a little slower and slighty less Dylanesque.
It's definitely a semitone down from the original - D instead of Eb, G instead of Ab, etc. (Yes, it did try it!) This is a good example of exploiting a capo to use different voicings than the norm....that fingerpicked bass-line wouldn't sound half as good in D G and A. (Yes, I did try it, and no, it doesn't!)
My oldest surviving vinyl album is Mott The Hoople's "All The Young Dudes"....from 1972. I've got albums that were released before that, but that's the oldest one I bought. Probably wouldn't be playable, but I hate throwing anything out - I'm one of nature's hoarders. I'll probably be re-incarnated as a squirrel next time out.....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
You seem to be all too intent on copying someone else's strumming techniques. Forget it. It ain't gonna happen. Play what you feel. Play what you feel...
Cat
Sage advice. I was driving myself nuts trying to understand why I don't strum the way So-And-So does. Well, I'm not So-And-So, I'm me. I'm learning that from this site. :wink:
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
Something to be said for either method, but I still believe the best way of learning a song is;
1 - Listen to the song. Get the guitar part(s) embedded in your head
2 - Play along with the song. Try and play it note for note.
3 - Ask advice. If you can't work it out yourself, there WILL be someone here who can - or who'll get fairly close.
4 - Try again, with the new input. There might be a note you're playing in the wrong place to lead into the next section.
5 - Always, always, always pick the easy way first. You can learn the proper way later! If it sounds recognisable, you're halfway there.
it's always going to stick in your memory better if you can work a song out yourself, rather than learn a tab parrot-fashion - the more work you put into it, the more fun you'll get out of it, at least in my experience!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Thanks for all your advice everyone, just a quick update, I downloaded all the podcasts to date, on strumming technique & I am just finishing no 4. Every one has seemed impossible at the beginning, but somehow I accomplish them, I haven't had so much fun for a long time and David Hodge is a remarkable and skillfull teacher. I now know that I will be able to play all I ever wanted to this year. Thank you David, may you live long and prosper - Rickard :note2: :D :D
