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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Strumming Patterns with song books
Please don't take this as a complaint, but a wish. As a beginner I find the songs that are posted in the songbooks to be great.....but developing strumming patterns for them to be very difficult. It would be fantastic if the authors also suggested strumming patterns. Maybe I am the only one <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_smile.gif" border=0 alt="Smile">
Good suggestion. I'm fairly new at this.
I know most of the chords but I'm sick of all my songs sounding similar. I need a suggested strum or give me a time signature like 3/4 or 4/4 (yeah i know a little theory). You're certainly not alone.
Hmmm, I dont see the point in this.
Maybe it's just me,lol. I look for songs to play that I already know the tune of.
If I came across some lyrics that I didnt know the tune of, I would download the song and learn it that way, with the chords in front of me.
But I suppose everyone is different to how they learn things
Ken
It must be a rookie problem, but I also struggle to find the right strumming pattern even on songs I know really well.
Glad to see I am not the only one.....think I might have to start concentrating on melody as i find developing patterns that sound anything like the song very difficult <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_rolleyes.gif" border=0 alt="Rolling Eyes">
It's an inherent problem with tablature. There is no rhythm, so you're stuck having to figure out what is played where.
If you want to see all of the music, you need to learn to read standard notation.
hello
i am also new to chordie, so hello everybody <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_smile.gif" border=0 alt="Smile">
i got the same problem, to find good strumming patterns is really hard, even in the music stores with al the sheets and books they have.
there are sheets and books that wil give you strumming patterns, but not for a specific song.
i asked the store why that is, he good not answer my question. i find that really strange.
and i am only speaking for the beginners or about 2 years of playing, or perhaps even more.
i am sure the advanced players or the players that play longer as 4 or 5 years they dont need strumming patterns, or do they need strumming patterns too?
i play now for about 15 months, and can play a little bit of everything. i play classical(Wals,allegro-etude,fur elise,asturias,romance,el papamoscas,romantic song,)flamenco:(beginner soleares with falsetas). Some of the songs i can play now:war is over (john lennon)mad world (tears for fears),everybody hurts (rem),whats up (4 non blonds),let it be (beatles)hotel california (the eagles)father and sone (cat stevens)dust in the wind (kansas)down on the corner (CCC)knocking on heavens door (bob dylan)house of the rising sun (animals)stairway to heaven (led zeppelin) etc...
but al these strumming and picking patterns i got from my guitar teacher because he learned me all these songs
and because he plays many years for my teacher or any teacher or any intermediate or advanced guitar player dont need that because they are at a stage where they can hear what strums and pickings are played in music as wel as chord progressions,scales,intervals and so on.....
but for the absolute beginner or about a couple of years it is hard to do on your own, and absolute very hard if you dont have a guitar teacher at all.
then every thing sounds the same and the fun playing will be less and less and less.
i no, because that was what i had in the beginning without a teacher.
so would it not be nice, or a good idea to start something with songs that will have strumming and finger picking patterns included.
my teacher puts it under every song i get, and for the what more difficult songs i get an extra sheet with explanation about how to play
Em C and so on.....
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
/ . / .
. . . .
. . . .
. / . / and so on........
something like this or many other different samples
then when the beginners or the some years players
wil have lots more fun to play because you will pick it up a lot faster then to do it on your own.
and i think it will be apreaciated even by the some better players.
and i think it will be a hit, because i see so many forems and tab sites that dont have the strumming and picking patterns.
so the one that starts just a site like or a part of a site (mabey with chordie?) will get lots of users who are searching for stuff like that
this all is just what i think.
and i really want to hear all the comments on this.
greetings eddy from holland
this is the thread i have been looking for!
i wanted to ask but didnt want to sound daft as i thought everyone else must know the strum patterns to use <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_redface.gif" border=0 alt="Embarassed">
i find the songs and can play the easier ones but they sound terrible because i havent got a clue what strum pattern i should use.i have been playing around with a guitar for about a month now so even if i know the song i still am not sure how i should be strumming so any help would be much appreciated <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_biggrin.gif" border=0 alt="Very Happy">
Well, I don't know too much about this, but... I have been classically taught for a couple of years, and played violin and fiddle for awhile before that. The problem is, even if you can read sheet music, that doesn't guarantee you can come up with a strumming pattern. One of the ways I usually do it is to look for the strong beat in the measure (1&3 if its in 4/4, or 1 if its in 3/4 or 1&4 if its in 6/8) and put a v on that and an ^ or a ^v on the weaker beats. It can sound really plain, but you can dress it up by alternating with fingerpicking, it just depends on what you're playing. <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_rolleyes.gif" border=0 alt="Rolling Eyes">
i love this info!
i feel so normal now
thanks for all the tips from everyone.
Welcome to Chordie!!! If you go to the top of the acoustic section you'll see a green sticky that will take you to some videos w/ some common strum patterns. Enjoy, there are good people here, nice to have you aboard!!!
I was glad to see this talked about for sure. I have had the same issue for a while now. I am an old starter (52 now) about two years into playing and feel better at chord changes and strumming but finding the strum patterns is hard work. I think a great feature to Chordie would be the addition of strum patterns. It's easy for people to say, learn to read music, takes years, etc. As beginners you want to see something from your hard work on chords and clean chord changes. How about Chordie?
I rarely see strum patterns,I listen to the song and play to the tune/tempo.
Hey folks... this is a very old thread and likely some of the original posters aren't here any longer (haven't posted more than once and it was a while ago).
Anyhow... as for Chordie adding strum patterns to songs... it just doesn't work that way. Chordie doesn't host any of the songs here. Chordie is more of a search engine that indexes songs from other sites around the web and pulls the chordpro formatting to make it look all pretty for you and work with it by transposing etc. Sooooo, if the original author that posted this somewhere else on the web includes a strum pattern, great, if not, there's nothing much chordie can do. I have noticed that some songs have been commented on (scroll to the very bottom of the song) and people have included notes for strum patterns, or minor corrections here and there. Not all of them of course, but some.
If you have a song that you're dying to get a strum pattern for... you could always post in the "song requests" section asking for that help with a link to a recording of the song (perhaps on youtube) for another member to listen to and give you their suggestion on a strum pattern. 
We're all here learning together!!
I cant find an "add button" on the songs, where is it so I can save my songs?
^It's right below the strumming pattern, a little to the left. Just beside the note about posting questions in irrelevant threads.
Seriously, on the right side of the page, look for Songbook: ADD - click on ADD and that should do it.
Welcome to chordie, please use the search feature on top of the forum or start a new thread if your question has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Hijacking a thread is considered poor manners.
Re strumming.....it can be tricky when you first start. I think it's very helpful to start with a song that you know really really well, so you can play it as you hear it in your head - so don't worry too much about 'patterns' and what's right - play it from the heart at first. If that makes any sense at all!!! Probably not!!
Hey jeff good one, you might have freeked out a few new members.
Hello everybody, My name is Joe and I am also new to this and having problems with understanding strum patterns. Many of the songs seems to have wrong chords, when played using the song pattern they sound awful, I've tried recording many of the songs using backing tracks and on playback, My reaction was 'what the heck'. Chordie gives you an idea and you just have to run with it and do a little experimentation.
Hey Joe (sorry, couldn't resist that one...),
I just try to let my right hand find the pattern... sometimes a song has a notable characteristic that you absolutely have to include in your strumming (Viva la Vida or First we take Manhattan spring to mind) but mostly you can and should try to make the song your own. Same with the chords: for someone (usually the guy who wrote them down in the first place) these chords work ok. For someone else (usually me) they might not. So it's back to your own version of song and chords and pattern and maybe even lyrics...
Cheers,
Tom
Hello everybody, My name is Joe and I am also new to this and having problems with understanding strum patterns. Many of the songs seems to have wrong chords, when played using the song pattern they sound awful, I've tried recording many of the songs using backing tracks and on playback, My reaction was 'what the heck'. Chordie gives you an idea and you just have to run with it and do a little experimentation.
Please bear in mind two things when looking at the chord charts. First, they are not entered to Chordie, but found and more 'reflected' here from somewhere else. Chordie is more of a song chart search engine than it is an original hosting location. So, we're not going to get the authors of the chord charts to do anything as we often don't know who they are. Second thing is that the chord charts are a representation of however the author of the chart plays the song - they are NOT necessarily the exact way the song was played by the original recording artist. They are all ARRANGEMENTS on the song meant for personal study, and not official, sanctioned versions. If you want to duplicate the original recording artist's version, I'm afraid that you're going to have to go buy sheet music for it. I have several books from Alfred publishing of that sort. "The Ultimate White Pages Acoustic Guitar Guitar Tab" and "Easy Guitar Tab White Pages". Each has hundreds of songs and cost about $30.
- Zurf
Just want to point out:
just because you buy sheet music, there is no guarantee that the songs will be anything like "official". With a lot of compilations it tends to be pretty much like here on the web...
I have a lot of "official" songbooks that are miles away from the real thing as well...
There is a three piece set of books here in Germany called "Das Ding" (The Thing). Together they offer about 4 inces of mostly well playable stuff (only few German titles in there) but they don't have patterns as well...
Cheers,
Tom
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Strumming Patterns with song books
