strumming chords in songs

hey everybody...
ok this is something thats always confused me...as you guys know there are a lot fo sites out there that give you the song lyrics with the chords on top so you can play it...for example with brown eyed girl:

[F] Hey, where did [Bb] we go? [F] days when the [C7] rains came
[F] Down in the [Bb] hollow [F] playin' a [C7] new game

that sounds easy enough but here is my question...when following this instruction you're obviously supposed to play the new chord when that word in the song comes up. but some chord changes come quicker than others. say youre using dduup for this song. if youre not yet done with your dduud phrase are you supposed to change chords mid phrase? or are you supposed to adjust the speed of your phrase to be able to finish it before the next chord change?

thanks for your help!

That is a seriously good question and i unfortunately can't answer it technically. What I do is not follow strumming patterns. I play the music with feeling. It sounds right if I change it on an up stroke or a down. when i get to the word i change it. I can't play within strum patterns. I get confused. Experiment with it. That is what music is about. Put your touch and feelings into it. make the song yours.

man. this is something i wish i knew. i usually just go dd and then dd(or uu) on the next chord, but sometimes that doesnt sound rite. i dont know if this makes any sense to u(now reading this over and im not sure it makes sense to me. haha)

This is why I don't like it when a song's chords are shown like that. In addition to trusting that the guy who posted these chords was correct, you're also guessing as to when to change chords.

I much prefer a measure by measure display of a song's chords.

In the case of Brown Eyed Girl, I'd write it like this:

| F - - - | Bb - - - | F - - - | C7 - - - |
Hey, where did we go? Days when the rains came
| F - - - | Bb - - - | F - - - | C7 - - - |
Down in the hollow playin' a new game

My advice to you is take all online chords with a grain of salt, and trust your ears over all. If you work at it enough, you'll find when to change.

thanks everyone!

If you're familiar with the song and melody, you'll know when the chord changes occur. I use those sites as a reference and as seeso alluded to, the chord changes aren't necessarily where it's supposed to be. As far as strumming goes, I'll initially use a simple strum (DUDU) then make adjustments as you become more familiar with the song.

When I was starting out,I would sometimes dwell too much on what was presumably the correct tabs for a song.I later found that I could often get the tune down quicker if I would just scan the tabs,sing the song and change chords when it seemed natural, despite when the tab said to change.I think listening to yourself more instead of being too focused on the tab will help.