Old man

Try playing along with the CD. I think you'll find it's easy to begin to imitate.

I have tried... but I'll give it another shot. :)

Thanks

Just keep your strum relaxed. I think you'll find that helps.

You don't have to play it exactly to make it sound right. David is fond of pointing that out!

Okay, to answer your question and yes it took me a little bit to get this strum down.

16th notes in a "General struming style" would to me equal down,up,down,up so!

I beleive the notation would be more easily identified or understood with ties, however, I also belive that this great web sites notation system cannot always accomadate what the Lessons author wanted to do in the clearest way.

With this in mind lets focus on what is presented.

The strum for the first beat is DDU, Okay, So this motion of the hand is a down,down, up and takes up one beat
(you must understand some form of standard musical notes to come up with this)
You understand that down,up,down,up can be represented as (one ee and ah) the one is a downstroke the ee is and up stroke the and is a down stroke the ah is an upstroke. Thats hard to read but its the best I can do. If your a perpetual foot tapper you tap your foot on the one.

OKay!

The first down stroke is an 8th note, the second down stroke is a 16th note followed by an 8th note that carries into the second beat! (FYI>This can be represented as a tie, in standard notation, if you dont know this you should learn it.) an 8th note is made up of two 16th notes, that means that one half of the 8th note( or a 16th note) is taking up the 2 of 2,eee,and,ah! (If you dont know how much of the beat a quarter note takes up in 4/4 timing then the rest of this and the preceding will be more difficult to understand)

So. You would strum one,(Down) miss the upstroke(do not hit any strings therefore not play the ee) and then hit a downstroke on the and, and an upstoke on the ah. So your hand plays just the one and ah.

Using the term miss can be misleading but I hope you are able to follow what it implies. It is a useful tool in deveolping feel for strumming. Yet, it can be overapplied in many situations.

So, this last 8th note carries into the second beat meaning we will not sound the 2, of 2 ee and ah!. WE will miss it, but again, I use this term with caution!

We will play the ee with an upstroke and the ah with an upstroke of beat two. This will bring us back to DDU on beat 3 of the measure(played just like beat one). The ee is an 8th note followed by another upstoke which is a 16th note because you are not letting it ring due to immediatly following it with a downstroke on beat 3 of measure 1. The note is not allowed to sustain (to ring) and is not muted or given a rest ( similiar to puting you palm on the strings to mute them or lifting your left hand fingers). If your a righty.( Oh lord I hope this makes sense!)

Beat 4 is the same as beat 2

So if this helps then it helps, if it doesnt then you should know that trying to explaing thngs on the guitar is alot more difficult for me then playing it, well, sometimes, lol.!

hmm, if you are right (and I hope you are) this would mean that I always have to double my (right) arm movement as far as 16th notes are involved? This explains my problems with 16th notes in the Neil Young lessons and in general.
I'll give this a try.

thanks
plautzi

Hey everyone, I'm trying to figure out the intro in strait strumming ex.#1, just want to make sure I'm reading this right.

first measure Dm9
1/8
1/16 and 1/8
1/8 and 1/16
1/8
1/16 and 1/8
1/8 and 1/16
1/8
1/16 and 1/8
1/8 and 1/16
end of first measure

I think thats 6 beats.

the second measure is four beats of D, I'm assuming he's including the Dsus4 and Dsus2 in that as well.

Does this sound correct?

Thanks :D

I just realized I did fractions :oops: sorry about that, I've been drafting too long!!

I'm also struggling with the intro, but it's late at night and I can't use a pick or I'll wake my parents, so I decided to move onto a different part. I have to say, I wasn't satisfied with the pre-chorus banjo part, even though it was acknowledged as "feeble" :wink: . So, I just did a quick tab for what my ears here, and I think gives a bit more flavour to it (of course, this is probably slightly above beginner, but it's worth working at):

(D) (C) (G)
|------------------5-----7p5--------------------------7----|
|--------------/7---------------7-7--3-------5------8-----|
|--------------/7---------------------------5------7-------|
|-----------0---------0-------------------5------5---------|
|---0-2-3-------------------------------3------------------|
|-3---------------------------------------------------------|

Apologies for the bad formatting and spacing, but if you listen you'll get the gist. You can also do the last two arpeggios in open chord arpeggios, though you'll have to slide up on the E string to get that final high B note (which is essential!). Unfortunately I can't really replicate the slide guitar that brings us into the chorus, but there's only so much you can do on one acoustic guitar.

P.S. I have only just found this site and it's wonderful, I've already founds loads to improve my playing, and you seem to choose songs I love to play anyway yet didn't realise how to get the proper voicings from (Don't Panic for instance). Thanks!

well i've been trying for hours and have not got this rhythm into my head at all.
these are my notes:

This bit is best copied into notepad as this particular font mucks about with the spacing.
1E&A 2E&A 3E&A 4E&A
D-DU -U-U D-DU -U-U

And here it is in a different format.

1/8 down 1E
1/16 down &
1/8 up A2
1/8 up E&
1/16 up A
1/8 down 3E
1/16 down &
1/8 up A4
1/8 up E&
1/16 up A
I reckon it's going to take me MONTHS to get this strumming pattern down pat, is this definitely a beginners one :shock: ?!!!