taylor - jack johnson

[danster]

does anybody have any tips they can offer me on how to get the strumming down for this song?

[mccar172]

I learned it from here:http://www.stanford.edu/~reedg/tabs/taylor.html
and at first I would play the chord 5 times without the mute in between the inital chord and the open, just so i could get the strumming down, and once you have that, just take out the 5th chord strum and add in a mute.

if that makes no sence tell me so I can put more time and detail into it.

[Pipsqueak]

see the thread about 5 down from this one called "Please Help"

I gave some general strumming tips there. (not related to any particular song...but they might help you out)

[jkanter]

There are 3 parts to each chord played. There is the actual chord followed by a quick mute then the open strings. Here is what sounds really good to me(and how I play it). I'll break down the strumming into those 3 sections(chords, mute, open):

Chords: Down, Up, Down, Up
Mute: Down(a slightly harder down stroke to accent the mute)
Open: Up, Down, Up

So the way you play that is basically 4 sets of down/up. I never stop moving my hand. The down on the mute is a played in complete succession with everything else. Keep your hand moving in the down/up motion and just play what needs to be played. As stated...try to make the down stroke for the mute just slightly harder to make sure you accent that mute. But if you need practice...just basically sit there and strum your finger(Jack doesn't use a pick on this one I don't believe) down then up without stopping to get a smooth motion then throw in the chords/mute.........ENJOY