• Registered: 2007-03-29
  • Posts: 3

Topic: Playing Songs Question

I am very confused by the way the music is written when looking at the chords and words.  I understand that in this example below that you are supposed to play Gm7 for "I am a lineman for the".  What I cant figure out is how many times you are supposed to strum the guitar in that amount of time it takes to sing those words.  That is one thing I just cant get from this if you are playing at home by yourself without a beat to go to how can you figure this out with the information given here? 


I would also like some examples of other songs that you can copy and paste to your response.


Thanks,


Joe


WICHITA LINEMAN

Glen Campbell

[Gm7]  I am a lineman for the [Bbmaj7]county       [F]and I drive the main [Gm7]road . . . .


Please Note:

Further lyrics edited by forum moderator.


Posting of copyrighted material on the forum can result in legal complications for chordie.com.


Forum users may quote a phrase or small parts of songs, but extensive use of copyrighted material is not possible.


Sorry for the intrusion,

James McCormick

Forum Moderator

  • From: Scotland.
  • Registered: 2006-07-13
  • Posts: 218

Re: Playing Songs Question

The only way to work out how many strums you need is to listen to the tune and persevere with a trial and error approach I reckon. Unfortunately I dont think you can figure it out from the information you have.


I'm afraid I haven't a clue how to play this particular song so I can't even tell you how to do it.


Not sure where you are in you're learning, I'm pretty much a novice so I hope i'm not insulting you by suggesting this... Maybe you could try 'strumming' the side of your leg when listening to the tune, see if you can get a feel for the rhythmn of the track. Then try the same pattern you've been using on your guitar. It sometimes works for me when I'm trying to figure rhythmns out.


Hope that's helped a little (I doubt it has though!) But I'm sure someone else will be able to give better advice later anyway.



Craig.

Blind acceptance is a sign, of stupid fools who stand in line.  John Lydon.

'Mod' is a shorter word for 'young, beautiful and stupid' - we've all been there." - Pete Townshend.
  • From: Murphysboro Il
  • Registered: 2007-02-10
  • Posts: 292

Re: Playing Songs Question

That kind of format is really only helpfull if you basicly know the tune you just need the chord changes. A lot of people post there own compositions on this site and some have a link where you can go to hear it and some don't. I like the ones that don't in that 20 people try it and 20 different results come from it based on everyones individual styles. but for a published song thats easy. Listen to the song, Find the time (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8. ect...), then find the strum pattern to give it the feel you are going for and most likely the chords/tabs are posted here or someplace online. Put them all together and you have your song.

"Nobody paints by ear so why would I play guitar by sight?" hmm
  • From: Almancil, Algarve, Portugal
  • Registered: 2006-09-02
  • Posts: 6,205

Re: Playing Songs Question

Hello SkyHarborCowboy,


I hope this will help with this particular song. Every chord shown is a beat of music in it's place within the lyrics so although the pacing looks uneven the chords are played at an even tempo. If you just downs stroke each one for now until you get the rhythm you can add the upstrokes later.

WICHITA LINEMANUndefined


[Gm7] I [Gm7]am a [Gm7]lineman [Gm7]for the [Bbmaj7]county,[Bbmaj7] [Bbmaj7] [Bbmaj7]





[F] [F]and I [F]drive the [F]main [Gm7]road,[Gm7] [Gm7] [Gm7] . . . . . . . .




Roger


PLEASE NOTE:

Further lyrics were edited out by moderator - see original posting for this thread.  Users are reminded to refrain from extensive quoting of copyrighted material as legal complications can arise.

Moderator

"Do, or do not; there is no try"

Roger Guppy's Website

  • Registered: 2007-03-29
  • Posts: 3

Re: Playing Songs Question

Thanks you guys!  I am a complete neophyte when it comes to this.  I am just learning.  I just havent found the explanations for the beat yet.  For example, I havent even found anything that explains 1/4, 2/4 or even 4/4 is or how it effects how you strum the guitar.


Joe

  • From: Sweden
  • Registered: 2007-01-09
  • Posts: 85

Re: Playing Songs Question

Hi Joe!

Try to get some real sheet music. This will help you to get the hang of the beats and how to strum them.

Many books have sheet music with notes, guitar chords above the notes and lyrics under them. This give you a great picture of when and where to strum and change chords.


I uploaded a simple sheet. You do NOT need to know how to read notes, but it helps to learn the basics.

Read thru the:

<a href="http://www.notationmachine.com/how_to_read_sheetmusic/readingmusic.htm" target="_blank"> http://www.notationmachine.com/how_to_r … sic/readin gmusic.htm</a>

it will pay off...


The song is in 3/4 (most modern music is in 4/4) this means you have 3 beats/bar (the bar is the portion between 2 vertical lines in the notes). Begin with one simple downstrum/beat while counting 1  2  3  1  2  3... in an even rhythm (if the song is 4/4 you count to 4 instead).


In this sheet the chord changes is always on the start of a new bar, so your changes should always be just before you count the 1 in your rhythm.


Thus the bars and your count gives you exact points in time when to change chord. If you buy a book with lyrics the words will be writen under the right notes/bars and give you the "time code" to strum, sing and change chords perfectly. As you get the hang of the count you can develop your strumming still keeping the rhythm.


Hope this helps, and good luck.

/Missen

If you love what you do, there's no need to be good at it...
  • Registered: 2007-02-02
  • Posts: 30

Re: Playing Songs Question

your best shot is to just listen to the song and try and work it out from that. :)doing this will probably get the timing more accurate than you could get from reading any type of tab. also sometimes(usually when i cant be bothered to listen to the song <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_lol.gif" border=0 alt="Laughing">) i just strum any old pattern. I am quite good at strumming and have enough musical knoledge(from learning other instruments) and sense of beat so that when i do this it doesnt sound bad but i dont know about anyone else.


stick with it

12345abcd3

  • From: Bellevue, WA
  • Registered: 2006-06-15
  • Posts: 3,336

Re: Playing Songs Question

<table border="0" align="center" width="90%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td class="SmallText"><b>SkyHarborCowboy wrote on Sun, 01 April 2007 22&#58;41</b></td></tr><tr><td class="quote">
Thanks you guys!  I am a complete neophyte when it comes to this.  I am just learning.  I just havent found the explanations for the beat yet.  For example, I havent even found anything that explains 1/4, 2/4 or even 4/4 is or how it effects how you strum the guitar.


Joe
</td></tr></table>



Chord and tablature don't give you any rhythmic information at all.  If that's what you want, you'll need to either learn to read standard notation, which contains things like key, time signature, and rhythm, or just listen to the song you want to play and see what you can do.


Personally, I like to play songs I haven't heard before, then work them out to see how close I am to the original.

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

jerome.oneil's Website

  • From: Almancil, Algarve, Portugal
  • Registered: 2006-09-02
  • Posts: 6,205

Re: Playing Songs Question

<img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_redface.gif" border=0 alt="Embarassed"> Sorry James, Sorry everyone, I should have known better <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_redface.gif" border=0 alt="Embarassed">


Roger

"Do, or do not; there is no try"

Roger Guppy's Website