Strumming dynamics insights and suggestions

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I had a real life lesson about strumming dynamics – something I’ve learned in Justin’s strumming course – and thought I would weigh in on what I discovered.

I was listening to a solo electric guitar player – playing a nice semi-hollow 335 – while he was singing and playing in front of a group of people at this club. He was good. Some nice lead runs, mixing up the chords. Far better than I will ever be.

But after two songs I found myself bored.

I started taping my foot to the beat and I realized every song was the same tempo. He never played something slower, maybe even messing with the beat by stretching out the chords so it wasn’t exactly hitting on the beat. Never building to chorus, etc.

All the things Justin has preached.

Got me thinking about how I play. I do mix up the rhythm – mixing 8th note, 16th note strumming. Play along with the Justin metronome app at different speeds, using the bar break and dropping the beat function. This has allowed me not to think about a “strum pattern”, but to feel the music.

That said, I am an intermediate player doing strictly cover songs on my acoustic while I sing. How this has helped me is taking some popular songs and slowing them down, giving them a new feel. When I play multiple songs I thing about varying the tempo.

Before I get to my question – a thanks to Justin and all his courses.

Here it is:

I open use a cap that allows me to use open chords in familiar chords forms while changing the key. Most of my stuff is open – maybe capo on the first of second fret. Never higher.

I have been experimenting with strum, then some picking on strings, maybe an added note – all simple, but having the metronome going keeps me honest.

For someone at my level, what things should I practice to bring more interest in my cover songs that I am not yet doing?

And a thanks to this community. I check in on the board frequently, and continue to learn from all of you even if we are playing different styles of music and electric or acoustic.

tom

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What an interesting real life observation about the strumming dynamics. It is so key. You really need to shake things up when you are performing not matter how good technically you are.

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Thanks for this thoughtful post. Well I’m nowhere near intermediate, but from what you mention you have several options to make things more interesting. 1 altering the strumming patterns as you mention, 2 the dynamics in the song of doing quieter or louder parts and then 3 you have your voice as an instrument that you can add a lot of dynamics with and a lot of expression. 4 On top of that, if you are intermediate you can possibly mix fingerpicking melodies with the chords? I attempt the first 3 and I think it’s starting to work better but the 4th option is a very long way off for me.

Other thing I try and do on some songs is start simple with the chord progressions and then later in the song try to put in embellishments in the chords to make it more interesting. A good example of that is in Justin’s video of this years love. He plays and sings the full song at the end of the lesson and brings in a lot of those things starting simple then building the strumming pattern then adding embellishments and using dynamics with both his guitar and his voice. I found that video to be a very good demonstration of how to make a very simple song interesting.

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rhythm:
I like putting in a stop here or there, mostly right in front of a chorus. Or maybe a little shuffle where there wasn’t one before. Beats with muted strings, hits, that kind of thing. Percussions in general are fun to spice up things.

chords:
You can try and play other chords, barre chords if you can, triads if you cannot, or just open chord shapes in different frets (like how the c shape becomes an interesting d chord when you scooch it up two frets). Or if you want to stay with open chords, put a pinky down, or lift a finger off for add or sus chords when it’s good. I sometimes put my pinky on drone when I play a chorus repeat at the end, for added emphasis.

strumming:
Try just playing the deeper strings for the verses, and only include the highest in the chorus. It’s a nice variation. Dynamics (quieter and louder) is an obvious staple, but also try fingerpicking the verses and switching to a pick on the chorus. Different ways of strumming without a pick (also plays into dynamics). Maybe chips work sometimes, too.

genre:
I haven’t done this yet, but maybe giving a cover a bit of a funk/blues/metal/whatever makeover would spice it up. Or just borrow some elements for some parts of a song. Try some country alternate base picking in a rock song, maybe, or, idk, a flamenco-style opening for a pop song? I know too little of all the different genres yet to give better examples.

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Lots of good suggestions already…

To me, the best way to add interest is to start playing single notes in some way. For example, you could pick out individual strings while strumming:
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/how-to-pick-individual-strings-while-strumming-bg-1703

You could add bass notes to transition from one chord to another:
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/how-to-link-guitar-chords-using-scales-bg-1504

You could learn songs that have some melodic runs or riffs mixed in with the strumming: Needle and the Damage Done, Hey, Hey, My, My (and many others by Neil Young), Norwegian Wood, Here Comes the Sun, Simple Man, etc. Many of Justin’s song tutorials teach you how to include such riffs/lines to otherwise simple songs.

Now, depending on your level, some of these might be pretty difficult at first. If that is so, start with the “link chords using scales” video linked above. That’s a very useful technique which can be a jumping off point for adding single notes to your playing.

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Sevi:

Fantastic suggestions. Thank you.

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Prof:

Thanks for all this. Give me things to work on

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JJW:

Thanks for the links.