Green Day's strum patterns

[November's Storms]

A very interesting little thread I can't believe I've had to listen to Basket Case and American Idiot again to hear new stuff, their two biggest songs.

[Vic_Rattlehead]

Billie's palm muting strumming pattern, like the one in Basket Case, is actually pretty hard to replicate.

[JulienT]

Hey guys, just one quick question about the strummingpattern for Basket case : is it downstrum all the way ? The first part with the muted powered chords is definitely fast downstrum but for the rest I can't really figure out ( I am beginner guitarist)

And more generally, are most of green days song all downstrum ?

[Guest]

Hey guys, just one quick question about the strummingpattern for Basket case : is it downstrum all the way ? The first part with the muted powered chords is definitely fast downstrum but for the rest I can't really figure out ( I am beginner guitarist)

And more generally, are most of green days song all downstrum ?

Just watch and copy.

Beginners put way too much emphasis on strum patterns. It's not really something that you can teach or learn. You just pick it up by gaining fluidity in your playing style. Some people never get the hang of it. My brother played guitar for 3 years and still had trouble with strum patterns. I started teaching myself and was better at them than him after a couple of months.

[PanicAttack!]

Hey guys, just one quick question about the strummingpattern for Basket case : is it downstrum all the way ? The first part with the muted powered chords is definitely fast downstrum but for the rest I can't really figure out ( I am beginner guitarist)

And more generally, are most of green days song all downstrum ?

Yes, the first part is definitely just muted down strums, that's one of the song's trademarks I'd say. It goes back into this with the chorus after the instrumental. The rest of the song has both up strokes and down strokes, and the change happens at "..think I'm cracking up". It goes vv v^v^ ^v^v^v^, at least that's how I'd play that little part. The rest of the song has a similar pattern, but it varies. As long as you got the palm muting down, you're good. It doesn't actually matter that much when it's the drums that carry the rhythm. I'd be much more concerned with nailing the right strum pattern with a song like Good Riddance.

[JulienT]

thanks a lot for your answers guys !

Just watch and copy.

Beginners put way too much emphasis on strum patterns. It's not really something that you can teach or learn. You just pick it up by gaining fluidity in your playing style. Some people never get the hang of it. My brother played guitar for 3 years and still had trouble with strum patterns. I started teaching myself and was better at them than him after a couple of months.

actually I am not really struggling with getting the strumming patterns right (I can get it with hearing the record) but to know what is a good way to play the strumming pattern.

with power chords I am used to do only down strum so I was wondering whether it was a good way to do it or not ? It seems really easier to do only downstrum but I don't want to get bad easy habbits.

thanks for the vid, actually I have already tried to look what he is doing live, but it is quite hard to see where he put up and down strum because of the video quality + usually some latence between vid and sound

Yes, the first part is definitely just muted down strums, that's one of the songs trademarks I'd say. It goes back into this with the chorus after the instrumental. The rest of the songs has both up strokes and down strokes, and the change happens at "..think I'm cracking up". It goes vv v^v^ ^v^v^v^, at least that's how I'd play that little part. The rest of the song has a similar pattern, but it varies. As long as you got the palm muting down, you're good. It doesn't actually matter that much when it's the drums that carry the rhythm. I'd be much more concerned with nailing the right strum pattern with a song like Good Riddance.

thanks a lot that is exactly what I was looking for. So even if it is power chords he still alternates both down and up strokes ? Is it bad pratice not to do it and just to down strokes ?

[PanicAttack!]

thanks a lot for your answers guys !

actually I am not really struggling with getting the strumming patterns right (I can get it with hearing the record) but to know what is a good way to play the strumming pattern.

with power chords I am used to do only down strum so I was wondering whether it was a good way to do it or not ? It seems really easier to do only downstrum but I don't want to get bad easy habbits.

thanks for the vid, actually I have already tried to look what he is doing live, but it is quite hard to see where he put up and down strum because of the video quality + usually some latence between vid and sound

thanks a lot that is exactly what I was looking for. So even if it is power chords he still alternates both down and up strokes ? Is it bad pratice not to do it and just to down strokes ?

Well, generally I'd say yes, it is bad practice to only play down strokes, especially if it's a fast pattern, which Green Day songs usually are. If you play fast down strokes - that are not palm muted - I'd describe it as a typical "amateur" sound, because combining up and down strokes can be hard for beginners. But when you've got it down, it has two very important advantages;

Technic: It is easier to play faster because your hand is naturally below the strings after a down stroke and can just hit the strings again on it's way up. It saves time. As fast as you can strum a chord with only down strokes, twice as fast can you potentially strum it with both. It's also easier to keep a good flow this way because your wrist doesn't cramp out as fast.

Sound: It gives some important dynamics to the chords themselves. When you strike a chord from above, the strongest emphasis will be on the lowest note of the chord because that is the string you hit first. Opposite that, when you strike the chord from below you will hit the highest string first and the chord will have a different quality to it. It's similar to a "bass - snare - bass - snare" dynamic. This is more relevant with regular chords though, as power chords only uses two or three strings and are usually blurred with distortion, but it still matters a little bit.

Playing only down strokes is definitely a bad habit that you should get rid of, it'll become a major hindrance down the line.

[Todd]

thanks a lot for your answers guys !

actually I am not really struggling with getting the strumming patterns right (I can get it with hearing the record) but to know what is a good way to play the strumming pattern.

with power chords I am used to do only down strum so I was wondering whether it was a good way to do it or not ? It seems really easier to do only downstrum but I don't want to get bad easy habbits.

thanks for the vid, actually I have already tried to look what he is doing live, but it is quite hard to see where he put up and down strum because of the video quality + usually some latence between vid and sound

thanks a lot that is exactly what I was looking for. So even if it is power chords he still alternates both down and up strokes ? Is it bad pratice not to do it and just to down strokes ?

Just practice alternating your strokes. You'll pick it up pretty fast, I played only down strokes for a year, and I don't even remember a transition to doing more complex strokes, I simply picked up on it once I realized there are different strokes. It takes a week or so to get used to it, and once you do, you'll realize how awkward playing all downstroke sounds

[xLumian]

I've gotta say, I have been playing guitar for 9 years and know every Green Day song, but I have never gotten into strum patterns or really think about it when learning a song. I just kind of figure out what sounds right and that's it