Strumming Pattern for "Wheat Kings"?

September 28, 2006 4:55 PM

What is the rhythm guitar strumming pattern for the song "Wheat Kings" by Canadian band The Tragically Hip?

I am trying to learn how to play this song, but for the life of me I cannot figure out the strumming pattern. Internet searches have produced only the cord changes and the lead guitar riffs.

posted by Ark_Light to media & arts (6 comments total)

If you don't get any other help I'll record it, playing along with my bass to try and get you pointed in the right direction. It'll just be the bass straight into a mixer along with the cd player, then recorded onto my laptop so it's not going to sound fantastic.

I'll try and check this later but email me if you want me to record it.
posted by 6550 at 5:41 PM on September 28, 2006

Never tried writing it out before, but here goes (I'm sure that there's a standard way of doing this)

Gdown updownupCdown updownupdowndownup

Try reading that out loud, see if it makes sense to you..

The trickiest part is that switch to C - it comes a bit later(earlier) than you might want to play it.

The chorus is pretty simple so I won't try to butcher that as well..
posted by davey_darling at 6:17 PM on September 28, 2006

You are probably aware of this site, but just in case...
posted by Urban Hermit at 6:43 PM on September 28, 2006

From the link Urban Hermit provided: Wheat Kings. The key is the C comes in on the and before the 2.
posted by 6550 at 7:33 PM on September 28, 2006

i think davey_darling's close to it, although it's syncopated in a way that's probably impossible to reproduce on paper ... they do rush the beat on the chord change ... play it with the record, it's the only way

by the way, they're coming out with a new album very soon ...
posted by pyramid termite at 10:52 PM on September 28, 2006

audience videotape, vancouver 2002 ... people keep moving their heads around, but you can tell what they're doing
posted by pyramid termite at 11:11 PM on September 28, 2006