need help

[cory]

ok when i look at tab i can read it in all but i never can understand how to strum it, ill listen to the song but im just not good enough yet to hear what they are doign in the strumming, any suggestions on what would help me understand how to strum the song? i can find any chord and all but i cant find anywhere that tells me how to strum
thanx
cory
the song i was tryign to play was a sister hazel song but the drums and his voice is drowning out the ability to hear the guitar well ,, im a begginer

[StoneDragon]

Tab doesn't show rhythm, so you are pretty much on your own with that.

The best way to pick up the rhythm is by listening to the recording, but as you say, that isn't always easy either.

On thing that will help, is becoming familiar with some of the basic rhythm patterns that are used.

Here are some links that might help:

Beginner Strumming Patterns (http://www.guitar.about.com/musicperform/guitar/library/weekly/aa072299.htm)

A guide For Beginners - Strumming (http://www.wholenote.com/cgi-bin/page_view.pl?l=19&p=1&a=0)

Strumming patterns For Guitar (http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~desmith/guitar/acoustic/info/strumming.htm)

Strumming (http://www.grouptherapy.guernsey.net/strumming.html)

[Sonja]

This site is amazing,I am sitting here wishing for information about strumming and lo and behold here it is.
wow.
wow.
I am blown away, and wish that I could bring my guitar to work.... heeehaa.

Peace.

[ghodaddyyo]

Cory,

Start out with very easy rhthms when learning the song. For instance, listen to the snare drum. Try to anticipate it. Strike your chord once everytime you hear the snare. This will show you how long you stay on a chord before it changes to the next.

Ex:
[----------Loop----------]
Snare - base - base - base - Snare - .....
STRUM - - - - - - - - - - - -STRUM - .....

It wont take long to figure the changes like this, so once you can do it like that, start adding in more strums. Try mixing and matching with upstrokes -

Ex:
[----------Loop----------]
Snare - base - base - base - Snare - ....
Down - Down - Up - Up - Down - ....

From there mix it up even more like:

1. Down - Up - Down - Up
2. Down - Up - Up - Down
3. Down - Down - Up - Down
4. Up - Up - Up - Down

From there you can even double the amount of strums per beat. The links Stone gave you above will go into much more detail.

[TLD]

You might check out Cyberfret.com-they have strumming lessons under "techniques" with video and audio files so you can see and hear what you should sound like, plus short bits from songs to practice on.

[StoneDragon]

That looks like a great resource, TLD. Now, I know where to send people to see how pinch harmonics are played http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif


I wish they'd get rid of those stupid pop-up windows, though.

[Sixstring]

There are many utilities for killing pop-ups. I've been using this (http://www.popupstopper.net) one.