8 replies to this topic

[nobody]

our beloved john frusciante uses some of the coolest strumming patterns. i have learned a lot of his songs but since people don't write out the patterns in tabs, i'm playing mostly by ear, not counting 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and or whatever... so i've found it's hard to play some his songs correctly, like The Past Recedes for example, because I don't know when I should be strumming down or up, and recently I found out it changes between 4/4 and 3/4. Is there an easy way to do this or do you have to just listen and figure it out?

[fenderfunk14]

i just do it by ear

[horriblemashup]

its in 7/4, just try it out by ear without making it more confusing thinking of 4/4, then 3/4 then 4/4 etc

[Silverla]

If you listen to it enough times it's not too bad to get it by ear. I'm not a brilliant player or anything (I don't have time to practice enough to be ) but that's pretty much one of the best things I play. To me, John's songs are more about "feeling it" anyway rather than anything too technical.

[JF4ever]

Silverla, on Aug 30 2009, 02:53 PM, said:

To me, John's songs are more about "feeling it" anyway rather than anything too technical.[/color]

perfectly said...

[surfsunadam]

JF4ever, on Sep 23 2009, 03:34 AM, said:

Silverla, on Aug 30 2009, 02:53 PM, said:

To me, John's songs are more about "feeling it" anyway rather than anything too technical.[/color]

perfectly said...

But the two are one in the same ... John's talked about this ... He would feel it is in 7/4 and just know that it's in 7/4 without having to think about it. Because he's put the work in studying theory as a teenager. He has a quote "I don't need to think that something is a minor 3rd to play a minor 3rd, but I know it's a minor 3rd. It's not very complicated, it just sounds complicated because people don't use that language when they talk.".

It'd be the same with time signatures.There's nothing wrong with learning theory and rythm, it doesn't make you play with any less feel ... things which are about feel DO boil down to technical concepts, whether you are aware of them or not, and you can't help the fact that they are. They just co-exist! If anything, being in better control of the technical aspects gives you more feels to play from. And when I say technical, don't give me examples with malsteem or satriani or anything to prove me wrong, because I'm talking about subtle technicalities too, minute bends, slides, hitting the beat slightly forward or laying back on it, dynamics, you know, everything that the players we love do.

[irondethpepper]

fenderfunk14, on Aug 29 2009, 10:23 AM, said:

i just do it by ear

+1

'The Past Recedes' was difficult at the beginning but after listening to it over and over I finally got down the strumming pattern...same with '21st Century'. I find rhythm a lot harder than lead, when learning, I don't rely on tablature to figure it out...all by ear as fenderfunk said

[Mr. Maniac]

i think if you're used to 4/4 only, like most people, because that's the standard in almost all music styles, (it's weird why 4 seems to be such a ..."complete" sequence for human beings), then you might have difficulties playing other time signatures.

i say it's just a matter of being used to odd time signatures. the more music you're playing&listening to, which has odd rhythms, (e.g. frank zappa, the mars volta, venetian snares, hella...) the more comfortable it becomes for you. at least it helped me.
i know a drummer who breaks it into several parts, learns each part seperated and then plays these parts in a row.
you could also try that.
in this case it's pretty easy. you have 7/4, so break it down into 4/4 and 3/4. both signatures are pretty common in western music.

learning by doing!

[edit]
i just read that you already figured that out...
well, then i don't really know how to get into detail.
maybe watching this can help:

[busaextravaganza]

I learned the strumming pattern by studying the guitar tab book that actually shows the strumming pattern for The Past Recedes. You can find it on this site http://www.invisible...bs/curtains-tab