Video Question: Guitar Strumming Patterns

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Date: July 23rd, 2007 | Length: 2.18 | Instructor: Matt Brown

Ezclay says: "Strum D as shown by Steve is dn dn up up dn up but shown on the chart it is dn up dn up up dn up? Is there anything in your program that can give me the chords and words to You are my sunshine? How do you make a progress report? Thanks Clay"; Another benefit of being a member of JamPlay is the video response section. Our expert staff fields questions from our members and provides video responses each week.

Other Video Responses:

Chord Families - March 21st, 2008 (2 minutes, 14 seconds)

Jzcode asks, "Brad, I would like to know what chords and chord family's should I know to be considered a good Rock Rhythm guitarist? What other chords farther up the fret board should I learn that are usually not covered in beginning lessons? An example, Dmaj7 on the 9th fret. Thanks..." View Response

Wrist and Forearm Pain While Playing - December 3rd, 2008 (3 minutes, 00 seconds)

Lucasholland asked "Hello, I think there's something wrong with my technique. Even after playing very short periods of time, my left wrist and forearm (and sometimes my thumb as well) become really tense and I find it very uncomfortable to play. Yesterday, I practises for 2-3 hours (according to my mother, I didn't really notice...) and now my left wrist and to a lesser extent also my left forearm are in a terrible state. I realise that some of it might have something to do with muscle strength not being quite there yet, but surely playing guitar shouldn't hurt your wrist and forearm! Here's what I'm planning to do: 1. I'm gonna get a second strap button installed so I can wear a strap to angle my guitar. Also, I'm gonna have the action lowered and I'm gonna use lighter gauge strings. 2. I'm gonna warm up before playing, stretch my fingers and my wrists. 3. I'm gonna try to relax while playing, not push down too hard on the strings. Is there anything else apart from the things listed above that I can do to fix the problem? Thank you very much in advance and keep up the great work, Lucas." View Response

Playing Chords Beginner - September 19th, 2007 (1 minutes, 34 seconds)

Subwolley writes "Hello Jamplay, I am a beginner guitar player. I have a quick question about learning/playing chords. My question is: When playing a chord, does every finger needed to play a chord need to be placed exactly behind the fret? It seems to me, that for most of the chords I'm learning, it's impossible to get the needed fingers close to the fret. I know when you play a single note on a string, you need to place a finger exactly behind the fret to get a clear sound, but is this true with chords? Sometimes it's hard to tell from watching the videos where exactly the fingers are. Can you explain a little bit more about finger positioning when learning chords? Thank you, Amber." View Response

Galloping Rhythm - August 28th, 2008 (3 minutes, 44 seconds)

Ssnowman asked "Hey guys. First I just wanna say that I love JamPlay and I've learned a lot since I've signed up. My question is about galloping rhythms, such as in the song Barracuda by Heart and quite a few metal bands. Basically, why can't I do this? Albeit, I've only been playing for 6-7 months but I actually have an easier time doing 16th notes as opposed to triplets. I just can't keep a steady rhythm for some reason. Any tips on improving in this area?" View Response

Tuning Down a Floyd Rose Tremelo - October 8th, 2008 (5 minutes, 49 seconds)

Guitarguy asked "Hi this is for dennis. My Ibanez has a Original Floyd Rose tremelo system. While i was getting my strings done at guitar center, they asked what tuning i wanted. I said that i wanted D tuning(so i can play children of bodom lol). The guy told me my guitar wasnt made for "Down-tuning". so my question is, is there anyway i could tune down? thanks a bunch METAL FOR LIFE JAMPLAY ROCKS! GuitarGuy" View Response