I downloaded the app to see how it’s played and slowed it down to think how I would tackle it and here is my thought:
Slow it down to 50% for starters. For chord E play Old Faithful strumming pattern for a full bar. Now for D and A you sort of split your bar between those two chords but rather literally splitting it I would play it this way:
D D U for D chord then
D D U to A chord and then
moving back to E chord for full bar.
Hope this makes sense but if not give me a shout and I can try to properly record it over later in the evening. I reckon properly writing it down would be like:
D
/
D
U
/
U
D
U
x
D
/
D
U
x
D
/
D
U
E
/
E
E
/
E
E
E
A
/
A
A
D
/
D
D
where x means space between each bar and / means missed strum.
I had seen the lesson but it was way beyond my level although Justin touches on the A D and E chords but the strumming does not seem to be Old Faithful as he is playing the base notes
@roger_holland@jjw@adi_mrok@Jozsef
Going to try the various suggestions to see what works best. Not tried a change of strumming pattern during a song. However I have been practicing Bad Moon Rising which has a change from A to G after second beat with Justin recommend pattern of DDDUDU, not got up to full bpm yet but getting there, could try that it has a D on beat 3. It doesn’t take long in your journey before things get complicated, but that’s the enjoyment of it.
I just listened to The Last Time on the app, and I don’t hear any strumming pattern at all on the D and A chords…just a downstrum on each beat.
My experience is that you have to focus on getting a solid chord change on the correct beat first, and bring that up to tempo a bit.
Then, dial back the tempo, and introduce the strumming pattern, and start bringing up the tempo again, while being absolutely certain you are still nailing each chord change at that tempo. If you can’t do that consistently, you are probably raising the tempo too quickly.
After my last comment, I actually tried to play The Last Time with the app.
Man, at 167 BPM - that’s fast!
At first, I could only keep up by just playing each chord once, while keeping my strumming hand moving. After a couple of minutes, I was able to play all the chords on the downbeats, on the correct beat.
Had to slow it down to 60% before I could do OF on the E, and all downs on the D and A.
Don’t compare yourself to me in terms of how fast you can play…I’ve finished Grade 2, so probably further along than you.
But I’m convinced the advice I gave in my previous comment is solid. Hope it works for you.!
Maybe this has been asked before. If I use “old faithful” strumming or other pattern, and there is a chord change within the four beats, how should the strumming be performed if it is normally on four beats? Maybe the strumming just continues after the coord change?
I’m a relative beginner so others may disagree but generally in the pattern there’s DDU which covers beats 1&2, then there’s half a beat to make the chord change as the D on beat 3 is skipped and then UD with the new chord, so I look to make the chord change during the 3rd downstroke but keep the strumming pattern going regardless. (and so yes it does mean you get 3 strums of chord 1 and 2 strums of chord 2)
Good suggestions above. However, sometimes when you change chords mid-bar, you really want to hit the new chord on the down beat. To emphasise that you are changing to a new chord. In that case, you can substitute a different strum pattern for the one bar, one that has a downstrum on beat 3. E.g . D DUD DU or D DUDUDU, or even D DUDU U
Within the app the song is using the old faithful strumming pattern. However, theres a D chord thats played on the third down strum which is the strum thats missed. Am I missing something here?
You can’t rely 100% on the app for strumming patterns. There are a number songs for which the pattern given sounds fine, but it is not what is used for the real song. My guess is that it’s because the app is aimed at beginners so they keep things relatively simple, sticking with patterns taught in Justin’s lessons.
If it seems wrong, your best bet is to listen carefully to the song (either in the app or the real version), and try to work it out yourself. It’s good practice and will come in handy for working songs out later on.
The dots above the line are to help you count the beats. The big dots are the beats and the smaller dots are the &s. So all it is saying is whatever strumming pattern you apply you want to have changed to D chord on beat 3. If you are applying old faithful then you’re just not strumming on beat 3. If you were doing pattern one on the song lesson (i.e. DDDD) then you would strum on beat 3.
Hi All…this is my first post so forgive me if I’ve made it in the wrong place but here’s my current difficulty…
Strumming down strums with the beat is pretty straightforward but also a bit boring, particularly with the BPM turned down (I’m using the app). However, trying to finding a strumming pattern that I can use with chord changes on the 1st and 3rd beat is proving to be a challenge, for example on Chocolate Jesus or Eleanor Rigby. Can anyone offer a nice easy alternative to boring down strums only please?
Have you tried slowing the tempo down until you can get the chord changes on point ? This is a good approach when things may be a little too quick for you. Once you get the changes in time, albeit at a slower place, gradually increase the speed until you get to the original tempo. You will come across this with many things where the desired tempo is just out of reach, even with licks or riff not just chord progressions. And the advice I received here for many years, was slow it down, get it right, speed it up (gradually).
Paul @PaulRM
First of all welcome to community
Not sure how far through the journey you are but like you I got bored with four down strums and started to use “ old faithful”
I have two songs I have of the five I am working on for Grade 1 that have a change on beat 3.
The first is Bad Moon Rising, if you go to Justin’s lesson on the song the pattern is DDDUDU. https://youtu.be/tFPs89WBPuU
The other one The Last Time by the Stones which is in the app has Old Faithful DDU UD. On OF I make the change on the missed D
Both songs are on the app but making the change half way through a pattern takes some practice.
Hope this is what you were after.
Michael
Hey Toby…thanks for the quick response. I’ve certainly tried slowing down the tempo but perhaps not enough to be able to concentrate on the strumming pattern rather than the chords. I have tried various strumming patterns though in the practice sections but haven’t as yet been able to incorporate those into the songs with any great success!
Cheers, Paul
)