Hey, how are you doing? Justin here.
Today we gonna talk about the push which is a rhythmic device
where a chord is changed on the & after four instead of the one.
Now, the & after four is an up strum. So what's happening is we're changing
the chord on the up strum before a bar line.
Now let me just explain what this is and how it feels.
I use use the chord D to G.
So if we have a bar of D and a bar of G in a song 1, 2, 3, 4 & G 2, 3, 4.
That's the most--even if the rythm was different, that would be the most
common thing, would be to have that chord change there falling on beat one.
So even if we had 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.
That would be the most common kind of chord change that we have. It's where
it changes on the beat or half way through a bar exactly.
With the 'push', because it's coming, the chord change is coming a little
bit earlier, it feels, I always imagine it like you get pushed in the back
a little bit earlier than you're anticipating, you get lurched forward
kind of thing. You end up with this: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 1, 2, 3, 4 ,1, 2, 3, 4 & 1
1, 2, 3 & 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 & 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1
If we get a little bit faster.
1, 2, 3, 4 & --2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 & OK? This little 'push', 'push' forward is a
very, very effective rhythmic device. Before you start learnig to 'push' you
have to get your chord changes super fast. So when you're practicing this you
have to practice it with chords that you're really confident with. Now,
when I first thought about including this in the course, I was thinking for
La Bamba which is a song we're about to learn, which is got this little 'push'
in the chord progression.
1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1, 2
That little chord coming a little bit earlier there, being that's the riff
we're doing, I'm like "Ya we're going to learn that", but actually to go
from the little mini F to the G chord with the 3rd and 4th fingers,
NITSUJ found it like "Man I ain't doing that, that's not working for me".
So what I would recommend that you do is practice up the technique of this
using chords that you know. I'd suggest maybe D to G to start off with because
D chord to the 4 finger G or 3 finger G, you know, rock G without the first
finger, that one, should be a relatively easy change for most of you and
it would give you a chance, a fighting chance, of learning to get the 'push'
rhythm right and then if you want to expand into learning La Bamba as
your riff develops and you get better at playing the 'push' and you get better
at playing the 3 and 4, the weak finger G those things that you need to be able
play that song then the song should come together nicely. There are lots
of different approaches to using the 'push'. Lots of different strumming
patterns but I'm gonna give you one which is, I think is the most commonly
used one and it's definitely the most effective way of learning this
particular strumming pattern. So let's take a bit of look at it.
So starting on the D chord, we're going to go down, down, down, up change up.
So 1, 2, 3 & 4 & and there's our change on the & after 4. 1, 2 ,3 & 4 & 1.
&1 OK? We're not playing on beat 1 and that's one of the key thing on
the 'push' it's not playing on the 1. OK? That really makes the 'push'
stronger. There are some songs that 'push' and play on the 1 but we're not
going to be doing that for now. OK? So 1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3, 4. OK?
So once we've changed to the G, we're going to play on the & after 4 which
is an up and then we're going to play & 2 so the & after 1 and the down
strum on 2 and then 3, 4 or 3 & 4 if you want. It doesn't really matter
what we do after that.
1, 2 ,3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3, 4 down, down, down, up
up, up, down, up, down maybe down, up, down. 2, 3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3 & 4
1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3 & 4 down, down, down, up, up, up, down,
down, up, down. A little bit faster. 1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3 & 4
1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3 & 4. A little bit faster still.
1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3 & 4
A little bit faster again.
It'a a really, really effective little rythmic device that you will see
and hear a lot more than you probably think. Now that you're aware of what
it is start keeping you an ear out for it when you're learning songs or
when you're listening to new songs. See if you can figure out the songs
that have got that 'push'.
When I'm teaching very often for real beginner easy stuff I remove all of the
'pushes' and I just simplify things down so that it's playable and possible
for beginners. Particularly at the start where you're just playing one strum
on beat 1 everytime. You don't want to be going into doing 'puches'.
That would be carzy. But actually as you're learning, getting deeper into
the songs, you gonna start going "Ah that one got a 'push' in it, That
sounds better with a 'push'". One example of song that you
might have learned already is "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo
Springfield which you can play really simply playing it with down
strums on the beat, but when you listen to the original recording you
hear very clearly that there is a 'push' for most of the chord changes.
So, that's one that you might want to revisit and just, again, be aware of
where those chord changes are because it can really make a difference on the
feel of the song when you add a 'push' in where appropriate.
One thing that you might like to try if you're finding this super difficult is
to practice the strumming pattern on it's own. So, just using your fretting
hand to mute all of the strings, strumming with mutes there and then
working on down, down, down, up, up, up. down, down, up, down.
1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3 & 4 1, 2, 3 & 4 & 1 & 2, 3 & 4
down, down, down, up, up, up, down, down, up, down.
Some of you will find that not strumming on the 1 is the hurdle. Maybe you can do
your chord changes fast enough. But this idea of not strumming on beat 1 might
suddenly throw you off that one. So that happens to be the case for you, the
solution is practicing it with the fingers muting all of the strings.
For now I would recommend that you just practice the D to the G chord or another
pair of chords if you're feeling super confident with that particular chord
change. If there is a song that you know already, maybe one that you've
learned in the past already that might have a 'push', maybe you've learned
a simplified version of it, but you can revisit it now, adding that 'push'.
You can also experiment with the rhythm. I've given you one specific rhythm pattern
but you might find there's a different pattern that fits for a particular song
and it's OK to experiment. You're at a stage now where you already understand
the importance of keeping the hand moving and that if your hand is moving
you're staying in time. You know where you are in the bar. It's OK to add in
some strums which changes it a little bit. So feel free to do that if that's
going to work better for you. This is one of those things that you're
going to encounter in songs that you want to learn.
So now that you know what it is, you can choose to practice it now as part
of your routine or if there's other things that are more pressing you
could choose to leave this latter until you find a song that you really want
to learn it in. But at least now you know what it is. You know how
to practice it. You've got an example of a strumming pattern that you
could use to apply it to and that's the really important thing.