ehy bonzo don't take it so bad! I was answering to steelstring question aboutstrummin pattern. I did not quote him in my answer so you could have tought that I was answering to you... I know that the 5th chord is a bass one...
regarding the pattern I see that we both use the same with the only difference that you play B d budu alternating the bass note which is probaly more correct that mine bd dudu...i'll surely try your version
Matteo
What Strumming Pattern did you play with?
I play it:
1+2+3+4+
D DU UDU
Edit: Ehm .. forget this last strumming pattern .. it does not fit into 4/4 rythm ..
i use DDUUDU a lot and it seems to work fine for songs with a 4/4 time signature... or have i missed something? :?
hi amira
you're right that pattern works very well with almost every 4/4 song because having a bit of syncopation gives you a nice feeling of movement (a lot more than a steady du/du/du/du pattern). You could play any 4/4 song with it if you wish, of course if the original recording of the song was based on sixteen notes, you will obtain a better result if you use a sixteen note pattern.
To explain it better let's take U2's One: if you play it alone in your bedroom you could heartily strumm a d/du/u/du pattern and everything will work fine (until you play it at proper speed:-)!). if you try to play the d/du/u/du pattern along the cd you will notice that your pattern is not perfect because the music is a bit faster. The key is that the rhythm is based on sixteen notes so that if you play the song alongiside with the cd with ANY sixteeen notes pattern you will be closer to the orginal recording
Matteo
I can sing it much easier in the key of G!
hi amira
you're right that pattern works very well with almost every 4/4 song because having a bit of syncopation gives you a nice feeling of movement (a lot more than a steady du/du/du/du pattern). You could play any 4/4 song with it if you wish, of course if the original recording of the song was based on sixteen notes, you will obtain a better result if you use a sixteen note pattern.
To explain it better let's take U2's One: if you play it alone in your bedroom you could heartily strumm a d/du/u/du pattern and everything will work fine (until you play it at proper speed:-)!). if you try to play the d/du/u/du pattern along the cd you will notice that your pattern is not perfect because the music is a bit faster. The key is that the rhythm is based on sixteen notes so that if you play the song alongiside with the cd with ANY sixteeen notes pattern you will be closer to the orginal recording
Matteo
I only play in my bedroom... although i'm planning on the living room for a family sing song at christmas :D
seriously though... can you try and explain this bit again... "The key is that the rhythm is based on sixteen notes so that if you play the song alongside with the cd with ANY sixteeen notes pattern you will be closer to the orginal recording" I don't get it. :?
just try a 1/16th note pattern like 1+2 3e+a 4e+a, 1+2 3e+a 4e+a or in strumming terms: DUD DUDU DUDU , fit that into one measure
Hi Amira, the one thing that I understood in my year of guitar is that, until you play song a proper speed and with the right chord changhes, it is not important to play the same exact pattern of the original recording. What really matters is to play a pattern which has the same resolution of the orginal song (if you want to stay close to the orginal).
When you listen to a song try to focus on counting the beats: lets' say 1, 2, 3 and 4 and count them. After a few measures you shoud be able to count them quite easily (try also to tap them with your hand or foot). Now try to identify how many notes are played between two beats: if you find at least one beat of the measure where you feel there are more than 2 notes it is for sure a sixteen note pattern. The most common one is probably
dd/ddu/dd/ddu (or slight variations of it)
you can see that in this pattern there are two beats with three notes so you could be sure that a few of them (the du) are sixteen ones.
So when you play any song which is based on sixteen notes you could heartily use this pattern and you will do no wrong: maybe your version will be a bit different from the orginal one (if they used a different sixteen notes pattern) but it remains close enough to the original to be discernible.
The first thing to do is to learn to play a few of these patterns (of course having listened before how they should sound i.e. check an instructional book or some online lessons) After a while with just a few listenings you should be able to understand quite esaily which is the song resolution.
To start discerning sixteen notes pattern just listen to some of Song for beginners on this site like "Tangled up in blue", "Old Man", "Wild world", "wish you were here" or "heart of gold" (the latter one verses only): they are all songs with a sixteen notes resolution so you could play them with any sixteen note pattern you like (like the afore mentioned dd/ddu) and they will still works well.
Of course you could also play a song based on sixteen note resolution with an eight note resolution pattern (like the infamous d/du/u/du): the song will still be discernible but your version will slower than the orginal one. To understand this concept just check the original version and Byrds's cover of Mr. Tambourine Man: Bob Dylan plays it with his classic sixteen notes pattern while the Byrds plays it with eight notes pattern. If you listen to the beat, Dylan's version is not a lot faster than Byrds's one, but because of the faster pattern his version seems a lot faster than Byrds one
Hope to have not confused you more than before :-)!! (sorry but I'm not Englisjh mother tongue)
Matteo
ehy bonzo don't take it so bad! I was answering to steelstring question aboutstrummin pattern. I did not quote him in my answer so you could have tought that I was answering to you... I know that the 5th chord is a bass one...
regarding the pattern I see that we both use the same with the only difference that you play B d budu alternating the bass note which is probaly more correct that mine bd dudu...i'll surely try your version
Matteo
I'm sorry Matteo, I did think you was talking to me. My fault.
There's definitely a low E being played, so I don't think John Denver plays it with a capo. Or it's played in "A" position anyway.
I couldn't remember if there was a file upload section here or not...I made a quick transcription of the first 7 bars (intro and first verse) of the lead guitar - for you Rahul.
http://www.dougsparling.com/music/guitarnoise/JohnDenver-CountryRoads.pdf
EDIT: Looks like I left off the "E" chord symbol on measure 5.
This was a quick transcription, but it should be close. I normally use slow down software and good headphones...I just did this off my mp3 player with earbuds...
why is this such a debate? This song is done with a capo on 2nd fret in A position. I even have acoustic magazine which also confirms this.
I didn't know there was a debate about this...however, just from listening to the first few bars (before the bass comes in), I hear a low E in the alternating bass (actually, it sounds likes it alternates every other bar - |A E|A A|). Unless the song is played in drop D tuning (which is a good possibility), it wouldn't be possible to play low E with a capo on the second fret. I'm not an expert on John Denver's playing style, but I do know that he used a capo a lot, and that he used dropped D tuning at times...and I have seen one unofficial transcription of "Country Roads" that put it in DADGBE with capo on the second fret (though the fingerpicking pattern didn't seem to match what I hear). A video would probably be a good way to find out for sure, or the Homespun DVD on John Denver's playing taught by Peter Huttlinger, a guitarist who played with him.
I saw him perfom this song on tv once and he was using a capo on 2nd. maybe for the recording, he layered the tracks. Which is possible. Cause i have seen a version without a capo but it doesn't sound as good as the 2nd fret capo, however, if your playing by yourself and no other guitar player is playing with you, you will want to use the capo 2nd fret version cause it sounds better, and when i saw John Denver performing it live he was doing it completely solo.....and he used a capo.
I think everyone is forgetting that the person that wrote this tab did it with a beginner guitarist in mind - so - if it doesn't sound quite right - that's OK!
BJ
I have the sheet music for this song, and it does indicate Drop D tuning...
Music is the universal language, love is the key.
When you play the bass note, do you play the lowest bass note in the chord you're playing.... for example, if playing a G chord would you play the the note on the sixth string, or could you play either the note on the sixth or fifth string. Also, for the D chord would you play the note on the open fourth string?
