How to Strum Like Your Guitar Heroes
Feb 20, 2009 Guitar Articles
There are few more enjoyable activities for a person than to interpret and create music by playing an instrument. And by far, the most popular instrument that people want to start to learn is the guitar. The guitar can be heard in practically any popular and rock music recordings, which almost all people are aware of. It is also an instrument that can be carried anywhere, and can be played for many kinds of music and songs. Whether you play the guitar with a band, a small instrumental group, or accompany yourself while singing, the instrument always delivers musical enjoyment. After learning the rudimentary chords on the fretboard, the aspiring guitarist always moves to learning guitar strumming so that he can carry a tune or song.
Strumming is one of the most difficult parts of guitar playing for the beginner. Many people would still believe that the key to playing is mainly attributable to learning to keep the strumming hand comfortable, flexible and moving fluidly.However, how the fretboard hand is used is just as important in strumming.
Below is a very short lesson to illustrate and study different 1-bar strumming patterns that can be adapted and applied to songs that the beginning guitarist would like to play. When playing the guitar in the example, or in any tune, for that matter, it is very important to remember these following reminders:
-Do not tighten the muscles of your strumming hand, keep it very loose;
-When strumming, always use an up and down motion, as one would do whenshaking the hands, from the wrist up and down to loosen it up;
-When playing sheet or tablature music, and you encounter a muted chord (shown as notes or tabs with an “x” crossed over them), take the pressure off the strings that you are pressing, and strum the chord. You should hear just a deep scratch of the strings, with no notes ringing;
-If the chord includes open strings, you might have to block them out by very lightly pressing on them with your non-fretting fingers. Also, you can just take the side of your fretting hand and lay it lightly across all 6 strings, and strum the guitar.
-The muted chord is one of the most important aspects of strumming. In addition to stressing the rhythm of the song, the muted chord when strummed can aid a guitar player simulate a percussion instrument together with the regular guitar strumming.
First, let’s pick three simple chords that you can interchange for practice strumming. These three chords have a structural relationship to each other and can be usually found used together in one song. Simple songs, such as pop or folk songs, are examples of songs that use these major chords frequently. The E major chord can be played with the open 1st, 2nd and 6th strings. The 1st fret of the 3rd string and 2nd frets of the 4th and 5th strings are pressed to complete the chord. The A major chord is played with the 1st, 5th and 6th strings open. The 2nd frets of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings are pressed to complete the chord. The D major chord is played by the 1st 4 strings and the 4th string open. The 2nd fret of the 1st string, 3rd fret of the 2nd string and 2nd fret of the 3rd string are pressed to play the chord.
Prepare by trying to get familiar with fretting just one particular chord (for instance, the A major chord). Try practicing getting both strumming and resting hands in place for muted chords, and then comfortably switching them back into the next position to play a chord. By practicing a few times, you can do this faster with the fretboard hand. In no time you can alternate muted chords while continuously moving the strumming hand up and down at the same time. This will make your guitar strumming sound a lot better.
In the short sample below, the timing is in 4/4 measure, meaning there are 4 beats to a bar. Down arrows mean a down strumming stroke, up means and upstroke and an “x” denotes a muted chord. Start slowly and complete the bars, then work up to a faster tempo when you are comfortable. Try to change the patterns and chords to develop your own practice. Afterwards, apply this to chords and bars of a song you know, and your on your way to playing songs on the guitar.
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Feb 18, 2009 Guitar Articles
Have you ever wanted to pick up the guitar and start strumming your favorite songs but procrastinated? What about admiring musicians who are performing on stage? Perhaps you would have even asked yourself: “How can I be like them?” Well, the first thing you got to do is to take action and learn the guitar.
Many new guitar players fall into the trap of jumping straight into learning difficult songs because they were motivated by the notion to play their favorites songs. These guitarists often skip learning the fundamentals of playing the guitar and overtime, they suffer from burnout as they find it increasingly difficult to achieve the results they want.
Well then, you’ll probably have this question in mind now. “Okay, I know I need to learn the fundamentals of playing the guitar but what exactly are they?” One of the first things that beginner guitarists need to know is basically how to tune a guitar. Just think of it, if you are playing an out of tuned guitar, how can anything sound good? Make it a point before every practice session that you ensure your guitars are tuned.
The next most important thing that novice guitarists should learn is the different parts of the guitar. Why? Many of the online guitar lessons will refer to specific parts of the guitar such as the bridge, body etc. Without prior knowledge of these guitar parts, a beginner guitar player may end up wasting more time and worse still, misinterpret the guitar lessons
and learn the wrong stuff.
Chord Progressions: Let’s Learn Some Real Songs
Feb 14, 2009 Guitar Articles
Guitar chord progressions are the sequences of chords that create songs. Your chord progression defines the basic melody of your song. The order of chords in the progression can be used to create (and release) ‘tension’ by varying levels of dissonance.
Most guitar tabs will give you the named-note chords for a song. Serious, ‘theory focused’ books will usually describe chord progressions in terms of scale degree, and use Roman numerals in place of regular numbers.
For example, a chord progression of C-G-Am-F-C will be written as I-V-VI-!, which translates to 1-5-6-1 (the scale degrees of the root notes of each chord).
Artist: Metallica:
Song: Nothing Really Matters
Key: G Major
Chord Progression Verse: Em-D-C on first three lines of each verse, then G-B-Em on the last line (‘And nothing else matters…’)
Chord Progression Chorus: C-A-D-C/A-D-C/A-D-Em
Artist: U2
Song: Sunday Bloody Sunday
Key: D Major
Chord Progression Verse: Bm-D-G *note, this progression is picked rather than strummed, using just the top three notes of each chord, except on G, which is modified as follows: B-D-F#, A-D-F# – G-B-E.
Chord Progression Chorus: Bm-D-G with percussive strumming.
Artist: Nirvana
Song: Smells Like Teen Spirit
Key: E major
Chord Progression Verse: The bass moves the progression using the same notes as the intro/main riff/chorus, while the guitar plays the notes B and E.
Chord Progression Chorus: This is the main riff: E-G-A-C. Instead of strumming full chords,use two-note ‘power chords’ (intervals of fifths) in the open position: (E/A) -(G/D) – (A/E) – (C/G).
Artist: Bob Dylan
Song: Tangled Up In Blue
Key: A Major
Chord Progression Verse: Intro to verse begins with 2 measures of A-Asus4-Asus4. Main verse is simply A – G for 3 measures, then D on the 4thth: A-G/A-G/A-G/D.
Chord Progression Chorus: E-F#m-A-D-E-F#m-A-D-E-G-D-A
Artist: The Killers
Song: Smile Like You Mean It
Key: G Major
Chord Progression Verse: G-Am7-Em/G-Am7-Em/G-Am-Em/G-Am7-Em
Chord Progression Chorus: B-C-G-D
Where To Go From Here
Now that you’ve learned some of the elementary skills and necessary for playing guitar, you can easily dive into a more formal guitar training course with a good degree of confidence. You can teach yourself via online guitar lessons, or hire a teacher, or both. Let’s look at the benefits, as well as potential drawbacks, for each case.
Tags: chord progressions on guitar, guitar chord progressions, guitar songs chord progressions, learn guitar songs
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