Cows with Guns

April 11, 2011 11:47 PM

What is the guitar strumming pattern for the Dana Lyons song "Cows With Guns"?

I'm a very new guitar student and I've yet to develop the ability to hear a song's strumming pattern. That's fine, usually I can find it online. But not in this case. I know the chords, its just the strumming pattern I can get right.

posted by Long Way To Go to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

Best answer: This is approximately it:

D u D u d U D U

(This is one measure with 8th notes. Capital letters are down or up strums, lower case are arm movements without a sound. It's a pretty loose strum and sometimes he strums one of the lowercase beats, often the third downstroke, or hits a string here and there.)

At the end of a line before the "Cows with Guns" bit he does a simple 1 2 3 4 pattern instead, with 1 and 2 on the A minor and 3 and 4 on the G, then back to the above pattern.

I'm a beginner too, at least when it comes to this kind of strumming, so I may not be exactly right. But it sounds close.
posted by mmoncur at 2:59 AM on April 12, 2011

http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/chords/dana-lyons-cows-with-guns/
posted by fozzie33 at 6:04 AM on April 12, 2011

mmoncur has it. You can count the basic pattern as 1-2--and4and 1-2--and4and. (Accent on the 2) He has a few small flourishes and variations here and there, but none are essential to the song.
posted by tdismukes at 6:16 AM on April 12, 2011