Advice on chords/rhythm pattern?

[rWm]

Hi,

I've been playing guitar for some months now, and already quit once due to my lack of talent. I've tried some Dave songs and always failed because I couldnt figure out the rhythm pattern which belongs to the chord. E.g. for songs like #40 or Crash Into me. Eventhough I've listened to the songs countless times.

The left hand isnt really the problem, it's the right hand :/ Sometimes I dont know if I should hit a single note of the chord, or hit the whole chord, too. The only thing I can play somehow is the One Sweet World Intro, which took me some days.

I'm having a hard time to play songs where i only know the chords in general, too. Does anyone know what I could to solve this problem ?

[Gold]

my tip: start off with easier songs..dave's rythm patterns and strumming methods are hard to get down, and most of his songs are hard for people who are new to the guitar. I suggest you check out songs like Neil Young - Heart Of Gold (there's an excellent lesson for that one on guitarnoise.com) Beck - Guess I'm Doing Fine or songs like that. Then move on to Dave songs when you're more comfortable. Good luck!

[GSR]

My tip: don't quit because you don't immediately have talent.

[rWm]

my tip: start off with easier songs..dave's rythm patterns and strumming methods are hard to get down, and most of his songs are hard for people who are new to the guitar. I suggest you check out songs like Neil Young - Heart Of Gold (there's an excellent lesson for that one on guitarnoise.com) Beck - Guess I'm Doing Fine or songs like that. Then move on to Dave songs when you're more comfortable. Good luck!

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I just started with Dave songs because he was the reason I started playing. Guess I have to do all the lessons on guitarnoise for the next weeks/months, but that's ok with me.

My tip: don't quit because you don't immediately have talent.

Ok

[sfmartins]

Just practice an easy song and then try a hard one, dedicating a considerably amount of time to it (don't get disappointed if you don't get it right!).

Jump again to an easy song (more complicated than the first) and then get back to the tuff one. You will probably find it easier.

Then just repeat the process again.

That's what I usually do when trying to tap a hard song. You might even forget about the song for a couple of months. When you get back to it it's amazing the progress you've made!

Good luck man!

[RunsWithBuffalo]

For Rhythm problems of the right hand, make sure that your arm is incredibly loose and that you are not holding the pick very tightly. Tension of the hand and arm are killers for rhythmic playing.

[iiltoxic]

Like everyone else is saying, Dave doesn't really have any beginners songs. His songs for the most part, are downright hard to play and take a long time to master. I would definitely suggest working on common open chords to start with and work on your strumming. When I first started playing guitar, I don't think i started noticing any significant improvement until after about 10 months, that's what is so discouraging about playing, it takes a lot of patience and practice

but for god's sake, don't quit

if you're hellbent on learning a dave song, i think the first one i could accurately play was the Christmas Song, there are maybe a few others that may come easy to beginners, but definitely don't waste your time on tripping billies or the stone, they're incredibly hard to play even for an experience guitar player

[DMBZeppelin]

Ok I started playing guitar late. I had just graduated high school and I bought an acoustic with graduation money. So if I can learn anyone can. Crash was one of the first songs I learned. It took a while for it to click. My best advice is don't worry about hitting the bass notes. Obviously adjust the fingering, but until you get better at rhythm it will sound ok. The bass notes just wont be as prominent. Also an easy Dave song is Big Eyed Fish because it's pretty straight forward. Not a lot of trickery. If you can do the fingering on Crash then BEF won't be a problem. For a simpler pre-chorus (if you try playing it) just to get the rhythm down play G and C suspended for the first two chords in "Nooooo WAYYYY" because all you do is move index and middle finger down a string. Then you can practice on just rhythm instead of making more complex chords.