I need some stumming help PLZ

thanks for the help do i strum the patter and then count, will this guitar ever make sense to me at all

Hi Acoustic!
I've been playing a year now and sometimes I have the same problem as you. You strum the patern til you feel you know it, start singing and the barain goes into panic mode... Nothing works.

At first I solved the problem by learning a simple strum pattern (d d u u du). Played that til I could do it in my sleep and used it for ALL 4/4 songs. It works but it doesn't allways sound right. When you get more familiar with the strumming you can test new styles.

Here is a site that gives you some reading abot strumming:
http://www.grouptherapy.guernsey.net/strumming.html

For the every rose i found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6moPFkgdK0

It's not optimal for learning the strum but you can hear it, and see hes strumming hand.

There was a great video on the song at nextlevelguitar.com but I just found out that those videos arn't free any more...

Hope it helps...

/Missen

25Frankster - I do it too.  No question.  Plus I'm way more handsome in my brain.

Acousticplyrsomenumberorother - It's a lot easier if you don't care about getting it right.  Accept that you are an amateur with one year experience and the folks who recorded the song on the album are professionals with many more years experience, and you'll soon cut yourself some slack. 

Plus, practice.  And take it easy on yourself.  It's supposed to be fun.  Concentrate on what you can do (like fingering chords, or moving between chords) and PRACTICE what you can't do YET until you can do it.  Once you get the basic skills of fingering chords and moving between then and some semblance of pick or finger control, THEN you need to practice the song a gazillion times.  Eventually, you learn new songs much more quickly.

- Zurf

One way I find myself practicing strum patterns to a song is listening to the radio (or CD) while driving. I keep a thin pick on my console and as the song plays I strum across my chest. Since I usually drive about 800 miles a week I have plenty of time to do this. By listening to the "beat" of a song and counting in your head you can come up with the strum patterns quickly. I listen mainly to the older country songs and the strum patterns for 4/4 time is usually:

Down.....Down.....Up.....Down.....Up.....Down......Up
    1            2         &          3         &          4          &

                                  OR

Down.....Down.....Up.....Down.....Down......Up
    1            2         &          3            4          &

                               OR

Down.....Up.....Down.......Up.....Down....Up.....Down.......Up
    1         &          2           &          3        &          4           &

To me 3/4 time gets a little more difficult:

Down.....Down.....Down
    1            2            3

                OR

Down......Down.....Up.....Down
    1             2         &          3

               Then comes the "Triplet"
And I have not quite mastered this, yet.

Nela

I use too have the same problem..the only why I could correct it was to stop singing...No seriously, now..I did have that problem and actually I still do..to a point..I never have that problem with songs I already know...BUT...When I was trying someting new..it was horrible and the reason, I think, why is this....Here you are, reading the lyrics, trying too make chord changes and play in some sort of rhythm you barely know..Heck..sounds hard just writing it...because it is...What I've done is now I listen to the CD while driving and learn the lyrics first...then I learn it on the guitar...It works for me...Try it....You got nothing to lose but your mind...

John