Before You Accuse Me

Arghhhh.... I need some serious help here, maybe I'm just too thick. I can follow the lesson until it reaches the point where it says 'Shuffling consists of playing a pattern of two pairs simultaneous notes'
I really need to someone to spell this out for me. Am I supposed to be holding just the strings as the tab says, or the E chord and the the strings, can someone please please tell me what my left hand should be doing and then what my right hand has to do. Do I just pick the two strings shown or do I strum. Boy do I have a headache. I know the answers to this are there somewhere. I think I'll go and practice a nice simple silent night again until someone puts me out of my misery. :-/
Denise

You can play this a lot of ways and I just know that's not a very helpful answer! So I'll tell you what I do and, hopefully, so will other people and you can end up with a number of things to try out.

You can do this with your fretting hand concentrating on just the single notes (I've seen people play shuffles with only one finger!), but it's a good idea to get used to doing it from the chord shape so that if you accidently miss a string, you won't mess up the sound because you're still playing the correct chord.

Let's just concentrate on the A shuffle for starters, okay?

1) I form a A chord with my fretting hand by barring my index finger across the first four strings at the second fret. The main pressure is on the D and G strings because that's where my two most important notes (E and A respectively) are.

2) If I'm using a pick, I strum just the A and D strings. I use a short downstroke that (hopefully) gets just these two strings as close to the same time as any downstroke will allow me to. If I happen to miss and overshoot in either direction, I'm covered because I've got the open low E and the A note (index finger on the G string, second fret), which are part of the A chord to begin with.  

(by the way, the shuffle is a great way to practice the technique of hitting only two strings at once. very important to be able to be comfortable with this if you plan on playing a lot of electric guitar...)

3) Repeat step #2 for the second pair of notes in the shuffle.

4) Keeping my index finger in place, I fret the fourth fret of the D string (the F# note) with either my ring finger or my pinky. Almost always the ring finger, in case your interested. I now strike the A and D strings with the pick again for the third pair of notes in the shuffle.

5) Repeat step #4

6) Remove ring finger from D string (index finger will still be on the second fret!) and repeat steps #2 and 3.

7) Repeat steps #4 and 5

If I decide to not use a pick, then I've got a couple of options. Usually I will fingerpick in a "pinching" motion. My thumb will do a downstroke on the A string while my finger (usually index) will simultaneously do an upstroke on the D. You can play both strings with downstrokes by the thumb. Or upstrokes with one finger, two fingers, and I think you get the idea.

I hope this helps. I hope to make this lesson one of the first MP3s I record once I get all moved and (relatively) settled in to the new digs, so perhaps before the middle of January the sound files will be online

Peace

David, thank you soo much. That was exactly what  I needed, I'll give it a go later. The theory in the lesson is realing helping the keys to stick in my head though. You know how no matter how many times you read something it just doesn't compute  ;)
Denise

You know how no matter how many times you read something it just doesn't compute  ;)
Denise

Amen to that!   ;)  

Peace

I thought you might want a laugh. I printed off your advice David and I'm reading when I realise the reason I couldn't make it sound like anything was ..........wait for it.......... I was reading the Tab upside down, not literally, but for some reason I was playing the B and E string on the A key and trying to stretch my finger to the 4th fret was impossible.

:::off to get a brain transplant:::

Denise

Could it be possible to put a mp3 on the lesson page. For that special timing/rhytm feeling.

More than possible, but for right now, I've simply got too many other things (mostly in connection with moving across country and leaving my current job and such...) that have to be done first. As I mentioned a few posts above, I hope to make this lesson one of the first MP3s I record once I get all moved and (relatively) settled in to the new digs, so perhaps before the middle of January the sound files will be online. Sorry for the wait but I hope it'll be worth it.

Peace

Thanks for the lesson- its been great to work through and has been a good introduction to playing the blues.

Aside from the information on this website is anyone aware of a good book/CD/resource for learning this style- since working through the tutirial ive really taken to it and would love to explore it further...

cheers!

This fellow does a lot with blues styles on his site:

http://www.torvund.net/guitar/index.asp

And there are several instructional books out there on blues guitar, but I'm not familiar with them.

Squidward asks:
Hi All
I was just listening to Sweet Home Chicago, the original by Robert Johnson and I realized the shuffle used in Before You Accuse Me would fit perfectly. Now all I need is an intro and an ending, and I haven't got a clue. Can anyone point me to any tab to fix my problem? In the key of A same as Before You accuse Me of course Oh and a turnaround would be good too!

Hello Guys,

Thanks for this website it's been very helpful for a total beginner like me !

I'm currently enjoying the Before you Accuse lesson me but i don't understand something ( https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/before-you-accuse-me/ ).

On the following example :

Do we have to slide 2 frets further when the 4 is marked on the tabs? I don't get that 4 there...

Could you explain me ?

Thanks alot

Lois

Yes and no.
Yes you MOVE your finger to the fourth fret (from the 2nd fret) so that you will be plucking the 4th and 5th string at the same time.
No, because you used the word 'slide' which gives a different sound to the notes as they are played.

The four (or any number) is the fret number that you place your finger on that string.
Those six lines that the numbers are on represent the six strings on your guitar. Numbers on those lines represent the placement of your fingers on (behind) the frets.

(Moustache? . . . . Lois? . . . visualization not good here.)

Mostly what kenrogers said, but you don't move your fingers. It's a shuffle that you hear in many blues songs. In this case you can put your index finger on the 2nd fret and play it twice, then use your middle finger to play the 4th fret twice (leaving the index finger in place). Because the index is still on the 2nd fret, the next part is easy - just lift the middle finger off the string

I am confused about this song, Do you play any Major Key chord then what? I read through it and am kinda lost, I know I am dumb haha! Thats why I need this place.!

I think maybe william55's asking about GN lesson:
https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/before-you-accuse-me/
:)