[font=trebuchet ms]Right, then. The next step (and this is one that a lot of players skip right past, to their great detriment), is to pick notes out of the chord between strums. This technique will allow you to enhance some of the melody while playing the rhythm part. That may not seem like much of an accomplishemnt, but when you're playing on your own, it does a lot to make it sound more interesting, and when you're backing up another player, it really improves the overall sound. BTW, that has to be one of the sappiest lyrics Clapton ever wrote, but the music is, indeed, wonderful. And as it happens, this technique works very well with it.
So, strum once to sound the chord, and then jump in with the pick and play a few individual strings while the chord is still ringing. The comforting thing here is that there are no 'wrong' notes, since the only ones available to you are part of the chord, right? Try different strings with the various chords, and you'll find you can set up what sounds like a harmonic counterpoint to the vocal melody.
This will give you a very important skill - making the
music sound better. A lot of people are so intent on becoming up-front lead-playing guitar heroes that they lose track of the concept that playing in a band is a
team effort, and the goal is to make good music. And as you've noticed by now, when you play on your own, just strumming the chords is not entirely satisfying.
So work on this stroke'n'pick style. I'm sure you will soon come to enjoy it. And it will serve you well as you get further into this adventure.[/font]
Lordathestrings
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