who do you love

Hey Mike. Big fan of your videos. Ive been playing about 6 yrs. I am really having a tough time with the main progression bars 1 and 2 in the Who do you love lesson. You say down, down, up, up, down then up down, down. The notation on the tabs say something different. Either way I play it I just cant get that beat right. I have googled Bo Diddly beat and practiced it but I cant get it. I get bar 3 easy enough. I am not that talented a player but feel I should be able to get it. Any suggestions. Keep up the awesome job.

First off, sorry the strumming approach for this song is a little confusing. I think I could’ve explained it a bit better in the videos.

[br]There are a few differences in the strum pattern depending on if you are doing the low dynamic palm-muted approach (first few bars) vs. the full out wide open strums.

[br]I’m glad you are getting the strum in Bar 3 correctly, since that is the clearer example of the Bo Diddley rhythm. It gets a bit more complicated when we add the palm muting and bring the dynamic down under the singing, because there are more strums to keep track of.

[br]The TAB notation is correct for those first 2 bars. I encourage you to slow down the performance video to half speed (click on the cogwheel on the bottom right of the video panel, and select SPEED - 0.5x), watch the first 2 bars repeatedly, and match the strums to the notation. Slowing it down will hopefully reveal how to put those upstrokes into the strum pattern. Essentially, you are using the downstrokes as steady palm-muted 8th notes, with some accented upstrokes in between (16th note accents).

[br]Hope this gives you a bit of direction on how to proceed and conquer - let me know how it goes!

Mike

Thanks brother, I got it. I do always slow it down, I just could'nt get it. I finally got the 3rd upstoke. Thanks for the help.

Excellent!

Mike