Beginner help please (Page 1 of 2)

If you have a particular song that you want to play, try listening to it on youtube, or maybe finding a cover. That way you can see the chords (if it is a cover) or hear when the chords change and also listen for the rhythm pattern. Hope this helps.

"Where you begin doesn't matter. Your willingness to start is what counts."
Without music life would be a mistake.
Country music is three chords and the truth.

thanx for replies

ive looked on youtube a bit but im not at a level yet where i can hear the chords or changes, ive got a few print outs to work with i just need to know whether every song is the particular strum pattern on every chord or a diff method 2 easy songs ive found are mcfly its all about you, and a acoustic version of green days basket case, mcfly looks like this..

C       AM             F         G
its all  about you  its all    about you baby

that is first line,so i figured at 1st it meant 2 chords of C then 2 of AM then 2 of F then 3 of G

but very quickly after i knew that wasnt right, so for example if the strum pattern to this was DDUDU would i do that on each chord no matter how or where the words are?? thats wot confuses me, BTW i dont know the pattern for this or basketcase hint hint lol

basket case is 3 chords A D G cant find anything on that, guessing it some1's own work and they simplified it??

Are you trying to teach yourself or do you have a teacher?

"Where you begin doesn't matter. Your willingness to start is what counts."
Without music life would be a mistake.
Country music is three chords and the truth.

Keep in mind that just because chords are written out over certian words does not mean that thats where you need to change chords. There are a lotta songs out there that are not correct. The best way I have found is to listen to the song while counting the beats or to just strum along to the song while counting and write the number of beats next to the chord. Such as:

After listening your have determined that the strum pattern is D - D - U - D - U - D - repeat pattern. (this is counted as 1 - 2 - & - 3 - & - 4 - & - repeat) Start with the beginning chord - call it C. While strumming the pattern count to yourself 1 - 2 - & - 3 - & - 4 - & - (that's 1) - 1 - 2 - & - 3 - & - 4 - & - (that's 2). Write a 2 beside the C chord. Change to the next chord F and count 1 - 2 - & - 3 - & - 4 - & - (thats 1) 1 - 2 - & - 3 - 4 - & - (thats 2) Write a 2 next the the F and change to G.  Count 1 - 2 - & - 3 - & - 4 - & - (thats 1) write that next to the G chord then back to the C chord and repeat. Kinda follow this thru the entire song. This will work for most songs and once learned the counting will become 2nd nature.

Nela

One thing that I have learned over the years is to be realistic about what you can play and the sound that you can reproduce with just an acoustic guitar.  After all most songs you hear are produced by several professional musicians, lots of PCs and expensive stereo equipment!!  Try to look at some sheet music for a song.  Doesn’t matter if you can’t read it…..but you will quickly realise how much is actually going on with a piece.  It will also show you how the words are spread across the bars of the song.  Some songs are much more difficult to learn than others, without any apparent reason.  Also be careful, because as good and useful as Chordie is:  not all the songs are tabbed out correctly.  So if you are playing and it doesn’t sound right, it might be a duff chord in there somewhere.  Pick an easy song to start with…something you know really well and can sing along with comfortably when you hear it on the radio etc.  Then practice practice practice and remember if it was easy every one would be able to do it!!

For this song play through each chord once... The number of words under a chord has no bearing on it. The chords are just a general guide and their duration will vary based on the tempo of the song. If you look at the chords and follow along with the song on youtube, you can see/hear that with the speed of his strumming and the lyrics that he couldn't fit more than one cycle of the strum pattern in. ..

Yea pretty much each chord once (I say pretty much because you may find the occasional section in the song where an artist holds out on a chord) That's something that youll be able to pick up on in time and with practice but for now start with one cycle of the pattern on each chord and then fine tune it as you progress.

Most songs will be the same way with each chord being played once but there are exceptions. A common progression is G D Em C but on many songs using this progrssion you'll find G D Em C on the first line of lyrics and then on the second line you'll see just G D & C and in most cases you'll be playing C twice there. It's just something you have to listen for in the song... I know it can be hard to pick up as a beginner but give it a little time and effort and youll quickly be able to hear the changes in a song.... Watching covers on youtube are a great way to figure out your progressions as they often don't have all the background music going to confuse you and most allow you to see what chords are being played when and for how long....

I didn't mean it only needed to be strummed once.... When I say play the chord once I mean one cycle of the strumming pattern

Tell ya what... Give me a list of songs that you'd be interested in learning and I'll pick one and make you a video carrying you through that song.

You mention Green Day, How about  Good riddance (Time of your life) It uses dduudu throughout it.

oh and hittin the chord once per strum pattern is wot i was gettin at before when i was asking lol, took me a while but i got there, just gotta learn some songs now lol

ok thanx ill check it out, i got that song but its the picking verson and its complicated but if youv'e got or can do a tut for good riddance id appreiate that too

What we are trying to say is to listen to the bass notes of the song. If what you are hearing is - Dum - dum - DUM - dum - DUM - dum - DUM - dum - repeat it would be
                    1        &        2        &        3       &        4         &         1
With a DUM (1) being a down strum
and a dum (&) being a up strum
This would be a basic down and up strum pattern. This pattern will change according to the tempo of the song. You have to listen and train yourself to hear the beat of the song and that will give you the strum pattern. This takes awhile to learn but is not difficult to do. In a 4/4 timing there are several strum patters that can be uses. Listen for the bass as that will give you the down strums. The strum patterns could be per the example above or;
D - D - u - D - u - D - u - repeat or
D - D - u - u - D - u - D - repeat or whatever your are hearing. You can even make up something as long as you are keeping rhythem with the song.

Nela

It's not much help, but when it comes to ChordPro style song sheets, you've just got to feel it.  Same with tab too I guess as neither ChordPro nor tab gives any indication of timing, rhythm, or pattern (whether strum, picking, or finger-picking). 

Take this as an opportunity to make it yours.

- Zurf