Building an accompaniment
We will now look at how to build an acoustic accompaniment based on a very simple harmony, typical of a harmonic sequence for example. Each of the following examples are constructed using various accompaniment techniques, some of which you may recognize. To make the examples a little easier, the rhythm used in the first beat is also used in the successive chords.
Basic structure
The basic structure is composed of an 8 beat chorus. The chords used, as you can see, were built using 2 common notes for all the fingerings (the D and the G notes on the second and first strings respectively, played with the same finger). This has a more homogeneous change between chords.
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Example 1 The example seen here is very common rhythm in many songs, to be played with a precise strumming on every chord. The connection between the raise in the second movement and the beat of the third characterizes the groove. |
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Example 2 Another classical example: the use of the stops, placed in beat in the second and fourth movement. Its important to remember that the external part of the palm of the right hand must stop the strings, when using chords with open strings. |
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Example 3 We change rhythm, passing from the previous octaves to the use of sixteenths. We find a slur between the last sixteenth of the second movement and the first sixteenth of the following movement. |
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Example 4 This rhythm is interesting, which requires the alternating of the sixteenths on the lowest string of each chord, picking in beat on the movements of the measure. Remember that in this example, the bass stings are the sixth and the fifth on the chords of G and Em7, the fifth and the fourth on the chord of Cadd9, the fourth and the third on the chord of Dsus. |
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Example 5 We will use a system similar to before, but with more use of the higher strings. It's very interesting to note how the development of this type of strumming has such an efficient sound yield, especially from a rhythmic point of view. |
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Conclusion
We need to consider an important factor. Every song has its own history, and can be interpreted in different ways depending on your musical taste. Effectively, just change a picking, an accent or a group of strings to considerably vary the execution. This is the principle characteristic of strumming, and therefore the liberty in the execution, obviously respecting the typical parameters of the song being interpreted.
This reasoning is valid for all. It's obvious that sometimes you may be obligated to play more "hard" (rule: always the same, or however related to the score), like when recording.
Returning to our song that we built, you can listen to a version of it that's full of cues to help you understand how many ways of accompaniment in strumming can be used within a song.
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