I’m still very much at a beginner (Grade 1) level, and while I’m learning the basics, I’ve also started trying to play a few simple songs—mainly to see if I can get the hang of changing chords.
A Horse With No Name Chords
by America
I came across this strumming pattern and was hoping someone could kindly explain the part below the darker line—specifically, what the last 3 groupings mean?
Here’s what I think it might be:
D x x = Down strum once, then two muted?
DD x U Mute(D) = Two downs, then an up, with three muted down strums?
Then DU Dx4 x U = Down-Up, Down 4 times, mute, then Up?
I might be completely off here—apologies if it’s a silly question!
Please feel free to let me know if I should remove this and ask in a different section.
I can’t completely answer but my advice to someone in grade 1 would be to forget about the mutes initially and concentrate on nailing the ups and downs and chord changes because you’re probably overloading yourself.
It looks each of the 8 blocks are a 3 count with something happening on the 1 and the 3 of each (albeit some of the 3s have nothing)
The X’s probably are a mute, someone will confirm I’m sure but get the pattern learned first.
Firstly, no such thing as a silly question.
Secondly, a bit tricky to explain as it assumes prerequisite knowledge that I’m guessing you may not have acquired yet. So here goes anyway, perhaps for future reference;
The 1 2 3 4 etc are the 4 ¼ note beats in the bar.
Each of these are split into groups of 3, which is the notation you are referring to; the ‘3s’. These are called 8th note triplets; so the count is 123,223,323,423
So, you have a musical bar containing
4 x 3 8th note triplets. So 12 beats in total.
The up down arrows tell you on what beat to strum up or down.
So in your example, for the first line
1 2 3 4;
you strum down on beats 1,4,7,10 and you strum up on beats 6,9,12
The other beats (2,3 5,8,11) you do
not strum, but they still count as part of the rhythm.
The little ‘x’ notation in the second means ‘muted’. The little ‘>’ means to ‘accentuate’.
This particular tune is a shuffle type feel, so that complicates things a bit further. Have a listen
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and detailed response. You’re absolutely right! I’m very much a beginner when it comes to music, music theory, strumming, reading music, and just about everything related to playing the guitar.
Reading your clear explanation really helped ground me in the best way. It gave me a better perspective and reminded me that this is a journey, and I’m just at the start of it.
I truly appreciate the time and care you put into your reply. It was not only helpful, but something I’ll definitely save and revisit as I gain more experience and (hopefully!) some confidence along the way.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading and learning as much as I can. I’m absolutely fascinated, but often feel quite lost, but I think that’s just part of learning something new.
Thank you again for your kindness, support, and generosity.
As a beginner I strongly recommend checking out Justin’s song lessons just use the Song tab on the website and the search facility to find a song or filter by your level
Also though there some good and accurate song tabs on Ultimate Guitar there is as much inaccurate content - buyer beware and all that (even if its mainly free). If Justin has a lesson a song, go see the man. Simples.
For the song Horse With No Name, I think that is a horrible, definitely non-optimal and unclear way of showing the strumming pattern.
It would be much clearer and easier to follow shown as regular 8ths in a swung feel. And to remove some of those muted hits (X). There would be much less clutter and much more clarity to read.
Like this.
