Hi if you know how to play Mother could you please tell me what strumming pattern you play with the chords on the verses?
I really love this song, and have an acoustic guitar and would love to play it. I have only been playing for a few months, but have been playing everyday and sure if explained to me will get it.
Thanks appreciate it.
Daza.
Mother isn't about strumming patterns as much as it is about timing. The verses alternate between 5/8 time and 4/4 time. The first line, for instance would start with 5/8 for the "...mother do you think they'll drop the..." and then it switches to "normal" 4/4 timing on the word "bomb." That's not an easy switch for most people to do and if you're thinking in a "down up" pattern instead of paying attention to the count ('one, two, three, four, five, one and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and..." with each syllable getting equal count as a half beat) you're going to flounder a bit.
To make matters more interesting, the last line of the verses move from 6/8 time to 4/4. And then of course, there's the chorus which is in 12/8 time until the very last word where it again switches back to regular 4/4.
According to the book of "authentic guitar tablature" I have for this album, Gilmour (as most guitarists pre-digital cut-and-paste technology) doesn't use any single pattern and varies his strumming in slight and subtle ways even when the timing isn't changing. You can certainly hear that's the case on the recording. This is another great example of where your focus as a player has to be on the counting of the beats and not on patterns.
I'm sorry if this isn't the kind of help you were hoping for. Perhaps one day when I've a lot more time than I have now, we can put together a Guitar Noise song lesson on this wonderful piece of music. Maybe late in the year.
Peace
I've played this one quite a bit and have to back up what David said. It's quite different all over the places. Theres so much to it. You don't have to be exact either, but this song is pretty decent as far as turning into a single guitar arrangement. Funny, I've been playing this for a few years now and I don't know the strummng pattern until I'm playing it.
Do you have Power Tab? It's a free music tool that lets you load a ",ptb" file. You can press the play button, follow the line and watch and hear what's happening at the same time. While these "ptb" files should never be considered the final word, most get you off in the right start. The Power Tab tool is free. You should be able to find it and the song file. If not, lemme know.
Or, spend $60 for Guitar Pro. It's like Power Tabs on steroids.
And then there's the old fashioned way. Listen to the song over and over again and figure out all the patterns for yourself..
And don't forget, there are some chords that are strummed with a little more emphasis the others around it.
Good luck!
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
Mother isn't about strumming patterns as much as it is about timing. The verses alternate between 5/8 time and 4/4 time. The first line, for instance would start with 5/8 for the "...mother do you think they'll drop the..." and then it switches to "normal" 4/4 timing on the word "bomb." That's not an easy switch for most people to do and if you're thinking in a "down up" pattern instead of paying attention to the count ('one, two, three, four, five, one and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and..." with each syllable getting equal count as a half beat) you're going to flounder a bit.
To make matters more interesting, the last line of the verses move from 6/8 time to 4/4. And then of course, there's the chorus which is in 12/8 time until the very last word where it again switches back to regular 4/4.
According to the book of "authentic guitar tablature" I have for this album, Gilmour (as most guitarists pre-digital cut-and-paste technology) doesn't use any single pattern and varies his strumming in slight and subtle ways even when the timing isn't changing. You can certainly hear that's the case on the recording. This is another great example of where your focus as a player has to be on the counting of the beats and not on patterns.
I'm sorry if this isn't the kind of help you were hoping for. Perhaps one day when I've a lot more time than I have now, we can put together a Guitar Noise song lesson on this wonderful piece of music. Maybe late in the year.
Peace
Thanks David for your advice, the song does sound simple, but I have heard it is a bit complex with the timing. Is this something a new guitarist should be trying to learn? I love pink floyd songs and fact I learnt to play wish you were here right here on GuitarNoise :D please add mother to your lessons and also maybe knockin on heavens door by Bob Dylan another I have learnt(sort of ), thanks again I appreciate it
Great advice from David and Roy. I would agree with Roy...listen to the song and play along with it. Just keep at it. It is a great song to learn.
David, not that I disagree with you about the timing. You are spot on as usual. But strumming patterns would have a great affect on the song. What I mean is, it would sound much different if you played all downstrokes, right?
Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
David, not that I disagree with you about the timing. You are spot on as usual. But strumming patterns would have a great affect on the song. What I mean is, it would sound much different if you played all downstrokes, right?
It would definitely sound different. Much different? That would depend on the touch one has with downstrokes. Downstrokes don't all have to be played like pounding a nail. :wink:
The point about patterns is this. Taking these examples directly from the "Guitar Tablature Edition" book, Gilmour strums the first measure of 4 /4 timing in Mother (beginning with the word "bomb") like this: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D D U D U D U D U
The second: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D (H) D U D D U U D U D U
The third: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D D U D D U U D U D U
And the fourth: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D U D U D D U D U D U D U
None of these measures is exactly the same. In fact, if you go through the whole song, very few measures are the same. Some beats he'll strum as four sixteenth notes (DUDU) and some as two half notes (DD) and others a combination of the two.
If you're thinking in terms of a pattern of down and ups, you can certainly come up with something that will work for you throughout the song. But if you want the organic feel of it to come through, you get your wrist strumming in sixteenth notes and keep a steady rhythm. You concentrate on the beat so if you miss an up or a down, it won't matter and most people won't even know. You concentrate on the "pattern" and you miss an up or down, usually everything is thrown off and it could take a whole beat or more to get back on track. It's hard for anyone to miss that.
Concentrating on patterns instead of rhythm doesn't always work. Concentrating on rhythm allows you to both come up with patterns and to make organic variations in them throughout the song so that you sound like a human being and not a digital recorder.
Hope this helps.
Peace
Thanks so much David. That is a great help.
Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
Thanks David for explaining in detail, will you be adding this song to your lessons? and adding mp3's to help? that would be awesome. :D
It'll definitely be a lesson but it's definitely going to not happen until after September. It will probably be like most of the lessons here at Guitar Noise, meaning that it's not going to be concerned with playing it note per note, stroke for stroke.
And it will definitely have MP3s.
Hopefully it will be worth the wait!
Peace
