Horribly Strumming: House of the Rising Sun

[alterin]

So I’m doing fairly well with the picking part because I’ve been working on picking to the point that I’ve neglected strumming all around. And this song seems absurd fast to me so now that previous neglect is biting me in the ass :p

I can do the first strum melody measure decently at 40 bpm. It seems rushed if I speed up even to 45 bpm.

Would I be better off just practicing this one measure until I can get it faster or should I continue on with the song and hope my strum gets better through practicing the rest?

Or should I forget about the chords altogether and just work on the pattern? Or is there another exercise altogether that will help me tackle this?

I know the answer is “practice more,” but what exactly I need to practice to advance is the detail I’m missing.

[Andrew]

Have you tried simplifying the way you strum it? Check out the video in this post that I made for another member. It also talks about counting the rhythms as you play. That should help out a lot.

See if you can get through the first few chords w/ method above and post a video of it. Happy to take a look and offer further suggestions.

[alterin]

So I don’t think I have the same problem as him, but hearing you count 5 and 6 is helping me immensely.

I was counting 2 3 between the 1, 2, 3, 4 counts. 1 5 & 6 & 2 5 & 6 3 5 & 6 & 4 5 & 6 is so much easier.

I’ll work at it and post a video, thanks!

[Andrew]

Awesome, glad that helped 🙂

[joe150]

Andrew it helped me a lot. I understand what I doing known, the question is can I make my self do it right.

[Author]

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