Are you supposed to play the blank line after a chord?
Hi Richard, the D marker is for the first strum of that chord, or in this case bar. After that it’s kind of up to you, just do down strums on each beat until the next chord shows or build in a strumming pattern if you’re at that point.
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Generally, yes.
Normally, you would play a strumming pattern. The App has suggested strumming patterns for each song…under the song’s About menu, IIRC.
But this might be too much when you are just starting as a beginner.
To start out, you can just play the chord once for that line. But try to keep your strumming hand moving in time, even if you don’t actually strum the strings.
Next, you can strum 4 times in that line, on the downbeats - which the App shows as large dots. You can work up to this by playing 2, then 3, then 4 strums per line.
When you can do that, then you can start to play an actual strumming pattern.
Finally, don’t be afraid to reduce the song’s tempo until you can accomplish all of these things…even if you have to go as slow as 50% (the lowest limit on the App).
It’s much better to play slowly in time than quickly, but not in time.
N
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Experiment and remember the adage of if it sounds good then it is good!
Depending on the song I’d generally be tempted to continue playing the same as you did on the line above, unless it sounds wrong.
And when I say wrong, I don’t mean different from the original recording, maybe I should say if it sounds bad.
I use the songs app. I often start with a down strum per beat and then add some extra strums once I know the beat and general rhythm of the song
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It only shows up occasionally in a few songs in the app. Where the blank line is it would have another D, even if it was D for 20 bars in a row it would still not have a blank. That’s why I was wondering what gets played for that particular bar. I follow the strumming pattern suggested by the app as well. Thanks.
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Might be an error in the song. I’ve seen a few that have problems.
Which song is it?
American Country Love Song by Jake Owen.
ah you mean the second barre ?
yeah i was wondering myself if it was a no strumming barre or a keep playing D but as you say there should be another D at the beginning
maybe tag musopia to get an aswer
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OK, finally found it at 1:07 in the song. I don’t think it’s a mistake, but it’s confusing.
I think the backing track just lets the D chord ring and fade out in that “empty” bar. But if that doesn’t sound right, try all the other chords there, with a single strum, and find out what sounds good to you.
This is a good exercise to start using your ears, which will pay off big in the long run.
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