From: fvr@broom.bae.bellcore.com (Frank Ricciardi)
Subject: Re: NEED Guitar Help : CHORD PLAYING !
Organization: Bell Communications Research
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 17:25:54 GMT

	I don't agree with everything written here, yet I don't violently 
disagree either. Strumming is something most guitarists take for granted. 

	However I am schooled in music so I'll give this a shot.

	Most, and I emphasise MOST, rock music is written in 4/4 time. This 
means there are four beats to a measure. You can actually count the beats in 
your head while listening to the song, and you'll begin to anticipate chord
changes.

	We count music like this,    one, and, two, and, three, and, four, AND, 
one, and, two, and, three, and, four, AND  etc...
The "ands" are very important. The actual beats are on the numbers, and the ands
are the half beats. Every time you come back to the last AND, you have completed
one measure. (Granted some chords may be played for several successive measures)

	To strum a basic progression with a simple rhythm, and I mean simple,
you could strum down on the numbers, and up on the ands. This will keep you in
time. In fact many strums you hear in rock are based on this model. (John 
Cougar Mellonhead comes to mind)

	There are other more complicated rhythms, sometimes called feels, like
reagae, funk, jazz, etc...


	Anyway, learn to count and keep time. Then play around, it'll come.






In article <Bt6s1J.MBI@quake.sylmar.ca.us>, jeff@quake.sylmar.ca.us (Jeff Skaletsky) writes:
|> In article <1992Aug17.222508.17493@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> mvats writes:
|> >Ok, this is the situation : I've pretty much got the tablature scene down, and
|> >Basically I know how to play chords <there is nothing to it!>, it is the 
|> 
|> I know a few people who'd argue with you there - especially in the barre
|> department. :-)
|> 
|> >So, how should I strum ??  Currently, I've been strumming to the lyrics, SO
|> >basically I would strum on each sylable <sp?>.  Is this correct ?  OR, should
|> >I just strum at a constant rate and just change chords when I need to ?
|> 
|> I play to the drummer -and if there's no drummer, I simulate one in my 
|> head.  I do this automatically now that I've been playing for so many 
|> years - I remember when I started out my strum was very even and 
|> unvaried - it was all I could do to keep the beat!  But after a while, 
|> when playing becomes much more natural and automatic, you can start to 
|> add emphasized strums, fingering changes in mid-chord, doubling or 
|> quadrupling to the note (16ths or 32nds to the 8th), etc.  A constant 
|> strum will work of course, but to me that'll be relatively 
|> uninteresting...  The rhythm guitar is somewhat part of the "rhythm 
|> section," and therefore play it the way it sounds best to you.  
|> 
|> I tend to play in a syncopated manner, that's *my* style - you have
|> to find your own...
|> 
|> I've never played it, but in the R.E.M. song, my strum would be like this:
|> 
|> This one goes out   to the one I   love.
|>   /   /   /    /  ///   /   /  /    /
|> 
|> This is almost a cha-cha...
|> 
|> It seems like it's *almost* in 3/4 - a waltz.. (123 123 12 123 123 12)
|> so you could strum to any or all of the beats.  (can you tell I'm not 
|> "schooled" in music?)  At least this is what *I* hear in my head - 
|> I'm sure it's different for different people...
|> 
|> -Jeff

-- 
________________________________________________________________________________
"If you got to it and didn't do it, may you never get to it, and do it again"


Frank V. Ricciardi

fvr@bae.bellcore.com

Newsgroups: alt.guitar