can anybody figure out the strumming?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGCUGVE11XU
ive been wanting to learn it but i cant figure out the strumming pattern

The main thing with that groove he is playing is the accents on beats 2 and 4. That just means they are played "louder" than the rest of the strums. You could use a really simple pattern such as:

/ ↓↑ ↓↑ ↓↑ ↓↑ / which is a simple down/up strumming pattern repeated 4 times (one for each beat in the bar). Translated to beats it would be / 1+ 2+ 3+ 4+ / with each strum being spaced evenly in time. The key here is to accent the 2 and the 4 (both ↓ strums) a little more loudly than the other beats. This gives the same sort of drive that a snare drum on those beats in a drum groove would have. The accents kind of push the groove forward and give it a dynamic.

In that video he is sometimes (interjected occasionally) adding an "anticipated" accent that happens on the upbeat before beat 4 as well. I would work out the simple version with just 2 and 4 accents and then add the anticipation. The difference would be this:

/ ↓↑ x↑ ↓↑ x↑ / (the x's are the accents on 2 and 4)

/ ↓↑ x↑ ↓x x↑/ (here the ↑ beat on the + of beat 3 is accented "anticipating" beat 4, which is also accented)

/ 1+ 2+ 3+ 4+ / (here are the numbered beats)

Try listening to the video and finding the accented (louder) beats and then trying to assign those a number (2 and 4) and count along with his playing. This should hopefully orient you somewhat as far as matching up the written out pattern with the music as it plays. I hope this makes some sense, this is much easier to demonstrate than write about for me!

yeah it helps out somewhat but im kind confused right now

Bravo123 said:

yeah it helps out somewhat but im kind confused right now

Click to expand...

Okay, try think of it like this:

The basic pattern he's using is very simple; it's the way he modifies that pattern with accents that is neat. The basic pattern, as Johnny GDS says, is just down-up down-up down-up down-up. Try doing that (without any further modifications) until you've internalised it. Don't try to change it in any way.

The first modification to add is the swing. In each "down-up" stroke, he's emphasising the "down" over the "up." The "down" is stronger than the "up" and lasts for slightly longer. See if you can add that bit to the "down-up" pattern.

The second modification involves the accents. You've already partly covered this; you're always emphasising the "down" stroke over the "up." Now it's time to add another accent. Think of the pattern as consisting of four "DOWN-up" units repeated over and over again (I've capitalised the "down" to remind you of the emphasis over the "up"). So one bar is 1) DOWN-up 2) DOWN-up 3) DOWN-up 4) DOWN-up. In every bar, you need to emphasis the second and the fourth "dpwn" strokes more than the first and third. The pattern should now look like this: 1) DOWN-up 2) DOWN-up 3) DOWN-up 4) DOWN-up. Again, remember that the "downs" are always slightly longer than the "ups."

That's the whole pattern. I hope this helps a little.

I've been able to figure some strums out by turning off the sound and just focusing in on the visual of watching the right hand do the strum. Pretty soon I can 'hear' it in my head and that has helped greatly. Good luck

I think this video from Bill Trainor might help demonstrate the strum. He ran a great workshop at the San Francisco Free Folk Festival a few weeks ago on various strumming patterns and these accented strums were included. Good luck!

okay thanks this helps out alot

I go .. udud dudu.....