Supplemental Material for Page 11 (Chapter 1)
Strums/Rhythms; Blues Progressions
HOME<<<>>> Back to page 10<<< See Page 11 (PDF) > >> Ahead to pages 12 & 13
Related audio: CD Track 2 (Tuning Notes); Track 9 (Audio for Page 5)
Go to page: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12, 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26, 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32, 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73.
General info about page 11:
This page does two important things:
The top half of the page introduces a new rhythm: the eighth-note triplet. It's a relatively easy, and very important (and fun!) strum for guitarists.
The bottom half of the page introduces the 12-bar blues, an absolutely critical form to understand as a guitar player.
About the eighth-note triplet:
Be sure to strum exclusively in downstrokes. Remember that triplets are evenly spaced (each "strum" takes up one third of a beat.) If you are holding/playing one strum longer or shorter than another, you're not playing triplets correctly.
Important tip: If you're strumming these triplets with a fairly uniform sound (so each strum sounds about the same), you'll notice that it's easy to lose the beat. Musicians might say you're "Losing where the '1' is", meaning that it's hard to tell what beat you're on. The first beat of each measure (the "1",) should (generally) be clearly defined. Similarly, the other "downbeats", (beats 2, 3, and 4), should also be slightly accented in comparison to the subsequent two strums of each triplet. This lets the listener (and your band mates!) know where you are within each measure. So...
On the downbeats (where you count 1, 2, 3, or 4), strum as normal. On the next 2 strums, where you're counting "TRIP-LET", strum lighter. To achieve the "lighter" strum, there are two techniques. Do both:
1. Play lightly, with your strumming hand loose and relaxed, and...
2. Strum less strings (perhaps just strings 1, 2, and 3) on the "TRIP-LET" portions, while striking the downbeats as normal. (This is an inverse approach: instead of hitting the accented portions harder, you're strumming the non-accented spots with more finesse.)
Before going on to the 12-bar blues at the bottom of page 10, I strongly recommend playing progressions 1-4 from page 10 using triplets!
About the 12-bar blues:
The text in the book presents the most important points. Read it, and know it. The importance of the 12-bar blues cannot be emphasized enough. As a guitarist playing any style that is even remotely influenced by American blues, jazz, rock, country, or folk music, you simply must be comfortable with the form of the 12-bar blues.
Oops!...
In some editions of Sensible Guitar, the first blues progression on the bottom half of the page is not numbered. Clearly it should be marked "1." If you're using a physical copy of the book, please write in a "1".
Copyright 2005 C. Cass Music Publishing
All rights reserved